Achieving Global Security: Disarmament & Development - Paul F. Walker, Ph.D. Green Cross International

Achieving Global Security:
 Disarmament & Development
             Paul F. Walker, Ph.D.
Director, Environmental Security & Sustainability
           Green Cross International
 Geneva, Switzerland & Washington DC, USA

               Rio+20 UNCSD
             Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
                June 16, 2012

                                                    1

Violence and Public Health
   War and violence, at any level, is not healthy
    for humans or the environment
   We face many threats – nuclear war, terrorist
    attacks, radioactive “dirty” bombs, chemical
    attacks, biological attacks, and regional and
    civil wars – which undermine sustainability
   War preparations and military spending
    detract from public health and development
                                                     2

Overview of Presentation
   Nuclear Weapons & War
   Nuclear Testing
   Fissile Material Control
   Chemical Weapons
   Biological Weapons
   Global Arms Trade
   Global Military Spending
   War and Climate Change
                                3

Nuclear Weapons
   Still 20,000 in nine
    countries – US, Russia,
    UK, France, China,
    Israel, Pakistan, India,
    & North Korea
   US tactical nuclear
    weapons still stationed
    in Europe, 20 years
    after Cold War

                                 4

Nuclear Weapons and Famine
   Use of only 100 nuclear
    weapons in regional war
    would bring famine to 1
    billion people globally.
   US corn production
    down 10% for 10 years.
   Chinese rice production
    down 21% for 4 years.

                                 5

Nuclear Arms Control
   New START Agreement
    in 2010 reduced US &
    RF active nuclear
    warheads to 1,550
   Deeper cuts needed, &
    eventual abolition of all
    nuclear arsenals
   But $100 billion spent
    annually on nuclear war
                                  6

Nuclear Testing Moratorium
   India & Pakistan last
    tested in 1998
   China & France last
    tested in 1996
   US in 1992, UK in
    1991, RF in 1990
   But North Korea in
    2006 & 2009

                                  7

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
   Voted by 158 nations on
    September 10, 1996
   Bans all nuclear testing
    underground, underwater,
    & atmospheric
   But still not entered into
    force – 44 nuclear-
    capable States Parties
    needed

                                 8

CTBT Entry Into Force
   9 countries still needed:
    China, Egypt, India,
    Indonesia, Iran, Israel,
    North Korea, Pakistan,
    & US
   US Senate rejected
    CTBT in 1999 by vote
    of 51-48

                                  9

Victims of Nuclear Weapons
   1945 Hiroshima &
    Nagasaki – 250,000+
    dead immediately
   10,000’s of victims from
    nuclear testing at
    Nevada, Semipalatinsk,
    Lop Nor, Novaya
    Zemlya, South Pacific,
    and North Africa

                                   10

Fissile Material Control
   Nuclear Security
    Summits in Washington
    DC in 2010 & Seoul in
    2012
   High Enriched Uranium
    (HEU) and Plutonium –
    sufficient for 100,000
    nuclear weapons
   2,000 cases of theft
    since 1993
                                    11

Nuclear Power and Proliferation
   Need to remove all
    HEU and PU from all
    power & research
    reactors globally
   Need to stop producing
    medical isotopes with
    HEU-fueled reactors
   Need to secure all
    radioactive sources

                                  12

Chemical Weapons and War

   Over 1 million injured by gas attacks, and some
    90,000 killed

                                                      13

Chemical Weapons Destruction
   72,000 MTs in 7
    possessor states –
    Russia, US, Albania,
    India, Iraq, Libya, &
    South Korea
   Over 50,000 MTs
    destroyed, 1990-2012
   Ongoing terrorist
    threats of WMD

                                   14

Chemical Weapons Convention
   1997 Entry into Force
   188 States Parties
   8 Countries missing –
    Angola, Egypt, Israel,
    Myanmar, North Korea,
    Somalia, South Sudan,
    & North Korea
   Model for global
    abolition of weapons
                                  15

Buried & Sea-Dumped
           Chemical Weapons
   1,000s of burial sites
    in all warring
    countries of 20th
    century
   300,000 MTs
    dumped in every
    ocean of the world
    except Antarctica

                                16

Biological Weapons Convention
   Entered into force in
    1975
   165 States Parties
   Prohibits development,
    production, stockpiling,
    & use of biological &
    toxin weapons
   Mozambique and
    Burundi new members
                                    17

Bioweapons Threats
   Ongoing terrorist threats
    of WMD
   2001 US Anthrax attack
   Aum Shinrikyo
    biowarfare program
   Iraqi biowarfare
    program pre-1991
   Cold War US, USSR,
    and other offensive
    programs
                                 18

Global Weapons Trade
   $45-60 billion/year
   Major sellers – US,
    Russia, France, UK,
    China, Germany, Italy
   Arms Trade Treaty
    negotiations begun in
    2006; will meet this
    July in New York
   Strong, robust, global
    regulation needed
                                19

Global Military Spending
   Some $1.5 trillion in
    annual military
    spending – 2X Africa’s
    total GDP (2011)
   Over $700+ billion
    annually by US alone
   About 10% of this on
    weapons of mass
    destruction, and more
    on Cold War weapons
                                  20

War and Climate Change
   Military forces are
    largest users of fossil
    fuel – on & off the
    battlefield
   One gallon of jet/diesel
    fuel in Afghanistan costs
    $800+/- to get to troops
   Military therefore large
    contributor to global
    warming
                                 21

Conclusions
   Good security and safety are prerequisites
    for healthy people and communities
   An unhealthy community is fertile ground
    for violence and war
   Over-militarization detracts from socio-
    economic needs and can catalyze violence
    and worsen poverty, health, and education
   Demilitarization supports a healthy society
                                                  22

What’s To Be Done?
   Join global arms control regimes and
    eliminate weapons of mass destruction
   NPT needs 4 countries: India, Israel,
    North Korea, and Pakistan
   CWC needs 8 countries: Angola,
    Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea,
    Somalia, South Sudan, & Syria
                                            23

What’s To Be Done?
   BWC needs 31 countries: Andorra, Angola,
    Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad,
    Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt,
    Eritrea, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Israel,
    Kiribati, Liberia, Malawi, Marshall Islands,
    Mauritania, Micronesia, Myanmar, Namibia,
    Nauru, Nepal, Niue, Samoa, Somalia, South
    Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, and Tuvalu

                                                   24

What’s To Be Done?
   Universalize and implement other
    global treaties – Comprehensive Test
    Ban Treaty, Land Mines Treaty, Cluster
    Weapons Ban, Arms Trade Treaty
   Educate the public about the inherent
    link between peace, non-violence,
    public health, and development

                                             25

What’s To Be Done?

   Take a holistic, global approach to
    addressing these and other related
    issues – as complex as it may seem,
    we need to address them all on a
    global level, given the global nature of
    threats to the environment and
    humankind
                                               26

In Conclusion
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft
from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are
cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not
spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its
laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its
children… This is not a way of life at all, in any true
sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is
humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
-- Former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953
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    pwalker@globalgreen.org
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