On state securitization, artificial NGOs, and environmental journalism: An interview with Peter Schwartzstein, environmental security journalist, author, and researcher

This is an interview with environmental journalist Peter Schwartzstein. In the interview, Schwartzstein discusses how states are increasingly securitizing and weaponizing climate change and the environment. This can happen directly, for instance when militaries prepare for climate change or when governments use the environment in strategic ways to cover up their actions. But there are also indirect ways, such as artificial NGOs that serve governmental interests. Schwartzstein further discusses opportunities and challenges for environmental security journalists, including the need to work on the ground and the often-complex intersections between climate and conflict. He identifies declining state legitimacy as the most concerning development in the environmental security field in the coming years.