Environmental security and the recombinant human: Sustainability in the twenty-first century

Examining the concepts of 'security' and 'sustainability', as they are employed in contemporary environmental discourses, the paper argues that, although the importance of the environment has been increasingly acknowledged since the 1970s, there has been a failure to incorporate other discourses surrounding 'nature'. The implications of the 'new genetics', prompted by research into recombinant DNA, suggest that future approaches to sustainability need to be more cognisant of changes in 'our' nature, as well as those of 'external' nature, the environment. This broadening of the compass of 'security' and 'sustainability' discourses would help provide greater insight into human security, from an environmental perspective.