The European Union's environmental policy should now be considered a key part of Europe's defence strategy, Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, said.
She noted that many of the environmental concerns felt by the bloc, including the impacts of climate change, pose an existential risk to Europe and its security.
"There are a lot of examples. [Like] water, which is not only a resource. We need water for our daily lives; we need it for energy production; we need it for food production. And when water gets scarce, we are in trouble, and that eventually is also a security threat to us," the Commissioner said on Euronews' interview programme The Europe Conversation.
"On a global level, we also know that water is driving conflicts and so forth," Roswall said.
However, she noted that natural resources can also be used as strategic tools. For example, Poland, Finland and Lithuania are evaluating the restoration and re-flooding of drained peatlands along their eastern borders as a dual-purpose strategy for climate change and national defence.
