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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/09/countries-can-rewild-borders-to-deter-invasions-says-eu-environment-chief>
"Countries should look to rewild their land borders as a deterrence to invasion
and build up other geographical defences to attack, Europe’s environment chief
has said.
Jessika Roswall, the EU’s commissioner for the environment, water resilience
and a competitive circular economy, said nature should be used to improve
national security. “Investing in nature and using nature as a natural border
control is necessary, and actually increases biodiversity. It’s a win-win,” she
said.
Poland and Finland, which both share land borders with Russia or Russian
allies, have rewilded areas near their frontiers, making invasion more
difficult. “I’ve visited them: they transfer the land to more hostile nature,
leaving bushes and trees. Then it’s not so easy for others to cross it,” she
told the
Guardian.
Restoring wetlands also provided a natural barrier, she added. “It’s very
difficult for big tanks to go through.”
Roswall wants countries to treat nature as a defence asset, and to consider the
national security implications of their environmental failures. Having a
thriving natural environment was a core part of food supply and water security,
both of which should be seen as essential national security assets, she said.
“We need to invest in nature. Water is the most obvious example. If we don’t
have water, we don’t have [security]. Look at Ukraine [where water
infrastructure is under attack]. It is crucial to invest in the infrastructure,
and protect the infrastructure,” she said.
Protecting towns and cities against flooding should also be seen in security
terms, she argued, in an interview with the
Guardian before the US-Israel
invasion of Iran. To reduce the impact of floods and droughts, “we have to
invest in nature – nature-based solutions like sponge cities”, she said.
“That’s also a security issue. It’s another part of security.”"
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
