Climatologists are warning of the increasing frequency and severity of heat waves and bushfires in Australia. Significant policy, planning and regulatory efforts have been directed at the problem of rising heat crises in Australia. This paper takes up the challenge posed by Luque-Ayala and Marvin (2015) to critically engage with the role of smart urbanism as a security response to urban heat threats and disasters. As new digital technologies enter our cities, our homes and workplaces (e.g. big data, city sensors, urban apps, smart meters and grids), we now see more technologies performing complex human practices, and more human practices becoming dependent on sophisticated technologies and digital infrastructures. Despite the ubiquity of smart city technology and infrastructure an array of important considerations lurk in the shadows, including financial arrangements, decision-making processes and security discourses that seek to give shape to everyday experience. This is not however uncontested and smart city technologies are also able to extend the possibilities for localized, grassroots community adaptation, mobilization and resistance to threats and disasters. In this paper we explore the tensions and contradictions underpinning the smart city response to urban heat crises, and highlight the implications for our understanding of what constitutes environmental security.

The water-energy-food (wef) nexus promotes the efficient use of resources for enhancing wellbeing and quality of life. However, the nexus concept is often criticized as ‘an economic project’ or ‘engineering exercise’ in scarcity management whereby humans are removed from the equation. The importance of understanding the relationship between livelihoods and the wef nexus is well recognised however, there are a paucity of approaches that define the inter-linkages between natural resource supply and human demand on the environment. The Environmental Livelihood Security (ELS) approach integrates the water-energy-food nexus with the sustainable livelihoods framework providing a holistic method for understanding the relationship between wef resources and the livelihoods they sustain. This paper illustrates the application of the ELS framework to three case studies: Western Australian Wheatbelt; Ba watershed, Fiji; and Prek Prasob District, Cambodia. Through a series of field visits, participatory mapping exercises, and expert workshops, the respective wef systems of each were described. The relationship between nexus resources and livelihoods were then identified including pressures influencing the coupled systems. The results provide an illustration of how the ELS concept can be applied as a baseline for understanding human use systems and a tool for identifying the impacts of resource scarcity on livelihoods.

Climate Change has been called a threat multiplier. The Defence White Paper 2016 (DWP16) notes Climate Change will affect stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region. This will not be its only effect on Australian Defence and security. Climate change is one of nine planetary boundaries proposed for The Anthropocene Era and the others will also affect our region. The Department of Defence routinely prepares for the future, from two to 50 years away. This includes analysing changing mission geographies and tasking. DWP16 makes several references to Climate Change impacts on Defence and security. Strategic Military Geography 2.0 is used to explore the scope, extent and interactions of likely effects of the geographical changes inherent in the nine planetary boundaries, particularly Climate Change. The analysis shows that there are systemic and organisational impacts, such as how and where Defence personnel are trained and conduct exercises. There will also be challenges and opportunities at the tactical, operational and strategic levels of activity, including how we engage with Allies and regional forces. While Defence is not a leader in many of the areas of impact, it does have roles to play other than the primary duty to protect Australia and its interests.

This article provides a comprehensive test of the idea that cooperation on shared environmental problems can improve tense relationships between states. In a first step, a modified environmental peacemaking hypothesis is developed: Environmental agreements concluded by a limited number of states can facilitate (already ongoing) reconciliation processes between states in conflict. In a second step, the study constructs a new dataset on international rivalries, transboundary protected areas and international freshwater agreements, and employs a multi-method approach to test the developed hypothesis. More specifically, a statistical analysis, a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and seven qualitative case studies are conducted consecutively. Triangulation of results from all three analyses provides little support for the modified environmental peacemaking hypothesis. By way of conclusion, the study reflects on settings in which environmental peacemaking is more likely to be successful, and which should consequently be assessed in greater detail by future research.