Although globalization has produced remarkable opportunities and improvements in the lives of people around the world, there are a number of others who have suffered increased insecurity, according to an Indian scholar who, in 1998, became the first Asian economist to win a Nobel Prize.

More efforts should be made to understand the nature and causes of the problem so that remedies can be implemented, Amartya Sen, master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge in Britain, told a lecture meeting Monday at the Keidanren Kaikan building in Tokyo.

Sen has written many books dealing with economic inequality, poverty and social welfare, and has contributed to the field of welfare economics. He jointly chairs the Commission on Human Security, an independent body established in 2001 to explore ways to reduce human suffering and insecurity, with Sadako Ogata, the former United Nations high commissioner for refugees.

"Globalization has enriched the world scientifically and culturally, and has provided vast economic benefits," the 68-year-old economist said, adding that global interaction throughout human history has contributed to the development of every region in the world.

Yet serious problems -- including poverty and inequality generated by global relations -- still exist today, Sen maintained.

"There are important issues of equity and fairness that have to be addressed by each country and also by the global community," he said. "What is needed is the fair production of gigantic opportunities, potentially offered by economic as well as scientific globalization."

While part of the world's population enjoys prosperity brought about by interaction beyond national borders, Sen pointed out that there are still serious problems of insecurity and inequity on a global scale, caused by the nature of the contemporary world.

Turning to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 and subsequent events, Sen said such incidents illustrate the insecurity that is peculiarly global in style and content, noting that the terrorists blamed for the attacks were globally organized and funded.

The problem of waves of refugees crossing national borders and the proliferation of diseases such as AIDS are also another aspect of the global nature of human insecurity, Sen said. He noted that if globalization is properly oriented, it can help the world find solutions to these problems.

In solving the problem of insecurity and inequality, the role of local and national institutions and policies are crucial, Sen said, adding that the influence of public policy -- in areas such as education, health, land reform and appropriate legal protection -- will be significant.

"These things are to be done by public action that can radically alter the outcome of local and global economic relations," the scholar said.

As an example of an unhealthy global arrangement that has undermined the positives aspects of globalization for the poor, Sen criticized the involvement of the world's foremost powers in the global trade in weapons.

He pointed out that the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council were responsible for 81 percent of the world's arms exports between 1996 and 2000.

"The world leaders who express deep frustration at the irresponsibility of antiglobalization protesters, in fact, lead the countries making the most money in this dreadful trade," Sen said.

He also charged that the governments of poor countries are actively purchasing instruments of destruction, which have caused poverty and instability for the vulnerable people of their nations.

Emphasizing the urgent need to establish human security, Sen quoted the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's address to an international conference in 1998 that human beings should be able to lead a life of creativity without having their survival threatened or their dignity impaired.

"The overreaching involvement of human security, which Obuchi rightly emphasized, has to be the guiding focus in all the political analysis that will be needed," Sen said. "This is an engaging challenge as well as an exciting prospect."