Introduction

This is a research project that is financed by the EU Seventh Framework Program for Security Research. It will run from April 2009 to March 2011 and has three partners from Hungary, Germany and Sweden.

Environmental security is becoming an important issue for the future development of the European Union. New threats and the potential consequences of these are becoming more difficult to predict so that authorities can be well-prepared. SECURENV is part of the EU FP7 Security Research that aims to develop technologies and knowledge needed to ensure the security of citizens from threats from non-state actors, natural disasters and industrial accidents while respecting fundamental human rights.

Developments during recent years have shown that industrial accidents and natural disasters are still of major concern for the EU and the international community. The future developments concerning such risks and how human actions of various types may affect them is not well understood.

Industrial accidents and natural disasters have repeatedly shown how sensitive the environment is to human negligence. Despite all efforts and advances in security and civil protection, the human habitat remains most vulnerable. The overall objective of the project is to increase the knowledge base needed to ensure the security of the natural environment. The project will analyse major industrial and environmental accidents from a security perspective using foresight methods and scenario-building techniques to give end-users a better understanding of future risks. Natural phenomena (fires, floods), industrial accidents (chemical, biological etc.) and other possible threats in a broad perspective will be investigated. The project will directly contribute to the implementation and planning of the future Security theme of the 7th Framework Programme and it will also help shaping EU policies in related fields.

Securenv 2009