Combat today’s greatest climate threats with an Australian first major at Murdoch

With the world facing increasing security challenges created by climate change, the need for professionals with a specified skillset to address these challenges is undoubtable.

To meet this ever-growing demand, Murdoch University introduces a major in Environment, Conflict and Security commencing in 2022.

With unprecedented challenges set in motion by climate change threatening all corners of today’s world, the need for university courses to skill the future workforce in tackling these challenges head on is clearer than ever.

Environmental stressors can have widespread implications beyond what you hear of rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns. The effects of climate change can also be seen in the world’s overall security and wellbeing.

Murdoch lecturer in Politics and Policy, Dr Tobias Ide, explains that issues of armed conflict, climate change, biodiversity loss and groundwater degradation increasingly overlap in our modern world.

“Future decision makers and political analysts therefore need to understand security and environmental challenges, as well as their intersections,” says Dr Ide.

The consequences of such intersections can be seen in water and food insecurity, forced migration and social and political conflict.

This is where the Murdoch’s new major in Environment, Conflict and Security comes in.

An Australian first, this Bachelor of Global Security major will tackle such interrelationships head on, equipping students with important knowledge on how environmental issues effect conflict and security, and then what can be done to address these global issues.

Among students and policymakers, there is growing demand for expertise and skills on both traditional security challenges, including terrorism and war, and non-traditional security challenges such as climate change, pandemics, water scarcity."

“With the creation of the new major, we react to this demand. This is particularly important as to date, there is no other program is Australia integrating insights from environmental sciences and security studies,” says Dr Ide.

Students will also be given the opportunity to critically analyse complex networks of interwoven social, environmental, economic, and political factors, determining their role in the production of insecurity, vulnerability and harm.

The major will also touch upon further interrelated security challenges of the 21^st century, such as pandemics, water scarcity and food insecurity.

“I would expect our future graduates to find good positions in government agencies, non-governmental organisations, think tanks, media outlets and universities in an effort to create a more sustainable and peaceful world.”

With possible careers as a Climate Risk Analyst, Foreign Affairs Specialist, Sustainability Consultant or even Peacebuilder, there is no time like the present to secure our future through studies in Environment, Conflict and Security.