Preface

Christopher Flavin, President, Worldwatch Institute

When the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai in October 2004, the Nobel Committee's decision was met with dismay in some circles. To many traditional security specialists, it seemed frivolous at a time of military conflict, civil wars, terrorism, and proliferating nuclear materials to give this most prestigious of international awards to a person known for planting trees rather than signing treaties. Indeed, a leading politician in Norway, which sponsors the prize, commented, "It is odd that the committee has completely overlooked the unrest that the world is living with daily, and given the prize to an environmental activist."

In our view, the award could not have been more fitting. The life history of Wangari Maathai is testimony to the fact that the insecurity the world struggles with today is pacekeeping, and conflict prevention with underlying efforts to meet health and education needs and to restore ecosystems.

It is fitting that the Foreword of State of the World 2005 is by another Nobel Peace Prize winner: former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, who is now Chairman of Green Cross International. Gorbachev, who played a starring role in the conclusion of the late twentieth century's biggest security challenge, the cold war, has devoted much of his energy over the last decade to one of the great challenges of the twenty-first century—creating an environmentally sustainable world.

Wangari Maathai and Mikhail Gorbachev represent living bridges between the environment and security. Our futures will be shaped in large measure by how quickly the world follows their lead.