Ecological security and the promotion of peace: A DMZ Eco-peace park

The quality of the ecological environment and security are trans-national and national public goods, respectively. Conceptually, there are three different causal relationships between ecology and security. First, the improvement of security may make the ecological environment better in such cases as détente, followed by environmental cooperation while the degeneration of security deteriorates the ecology in such cases as war. Second, a military confrontation may restore natural ecological systems in such cases as the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Third, ecological cooperation can result in politico-military cooperation while environmental conflict can instigate military conflict. Though the causal path from ecology to security is limited, it needs to be considered as a means to build up security and confidence. A peace park may belong to this category. The Park Geun-hye government has proposed a World Eco-Peace Park to be built inside the Korean DMZ. There is no precedent for the DMZ Peace Park to wholly imitate since no existing peace park was created without some form of prior political and military resolution. The project of the DMZ World Eco-Peace Park should be promoted while considering what facilitates its creation as well as what effect the park will have.