Facing the polycrisis: human-environmental security for planet earth

Morrissey, John. (2025). Facing the polycrisis: human-environmental security for planet earth. In Ruth Rubio Marín, Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Benedita Menezes Queiroz & Fulvia Staiano (Eds.), Handbook on Migration and Human Rights (pp. 349–360). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035302253.00028

Abstract

This chapter reflects on the urgency of a holistic vision for human-environmental security for the future of the planet. It begins by setting out how a widening of the UN concept of ‘human security’ can aid us in devising effective governmental strategies in facing the overlapping human and environmental crises of the Anthropocene. In particular, it points to how ‘human security’ objectives can be allied with ‘human rights’ concerns in the envisioning and operation of responsible government policy in the safeguarding of planet Earth. It then showcases an illustrative example from the Caribbean of what is possible when such a security vision is legally enacted, resourced and systematically administered. The focus then turns to ‘migration’, its contextual understanding, and the necessary holistic strategies of response that factor in the historical and contemporary human and environmental dimensions that lead to ‘crises’. Finally, the chapter concludes by offering constructive ways in which we can enable solidarity and responsible governance in tackling the overarching human-environmental polycrisis the world faces. It sets out core mechanisms of governance that can be mobilized in a more responsible regulation of the economic modalities of late modern capitalism, and the curtailment of its destructive ecological and social effects.

Publisher

Edward Elgar Publishing

Rights

CC BY-NC-ND

cbn

Collections

Geography (Book Chapters)