Sustainable development requires nuclear disarmament

Nuclear weapons have become a potent symbol of the Anthropocene. As the new UN report on human development shows, questions of extinction and survival loom large in political debates about human development. In their brief contribution to the report, Rens van Munster (DIIS) and Casper Sylvest (University of Southern Denmark) argue that nuclear weapons are detrimental to human development and risk jeopardizing the ecological systems on which it depends.

The vast economic resources required for their production and maintenance diverts funds away from human development and hinders the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Nuclear war would also have grave humanitarian consequences, including large-scale displacements, long-term harm to human health, restricted access to food and catastrophic damage to the environment.