A relatively early strand of action, urged to meet severe transboundary environmental threats, was premised on the need to maintain and promote ‘security’,1 denominated in a number of ways – as international peace and security, national security, human security, ecological security, and so on. Writers who argued that environmental devastation and competition over scarce resources are as significant a destabilizing influence in international relations as direct military threats supported this approach.2 To effectively promote environmental protection, it was argued, is to effectively enhance (or at least not undermine) security.