The environment is something we are very familiar with. It's everything that makes up our surroundings and affects our ability to live on the earth—the air we breathe the water we drink, the animals and plants around us, and much more. The environment also refers to surrounding conditions, circumstances, or influences in which a thing is situated or is developed. Environment is the external forces affecting living things.
Therefore, it`s inevitable that any destruction or depletion of potentially renewable resources will cause environmental degradation. Environmental degradation and natural resource scarcity triggers conflict that is sometimes accompanied by violence, which threatens the security of the involved communities. In the mean time, the environment itself can be dramatically affected by conflict.
On the other hand, it has been recognized that using the environment as a peacebuilding tool offers unique opportunities to bring the disputed parties the same table and enhance cooperation between them. This allows them to share a common and positive goal: improving their environment. Environmental cooperation can strength trust and is the basis for deeper and sustainable peace building.
Environment and Conflict
Environmental degradation may trigger intense conflict that is sometimes accompanied by violence. Severe environmental damage such as pollution, natural resource depletion, and poor air quality can deepen divides and trigger social conflict for communities that depend on theses resources for their livelihoods and the fulfillment of basic needs. Furthermore, the environment itself can be dramatically affected by conflict. About seventeen violent conflicts have been estimated between 1990 and 2002 central on the exploitation of natural resources, nine of these conflicts were in Africa.
Growing competition and desire for access or control of extracted valuable natural resources - for instance diamonds, oil and drugs- can trigger or drive conflict. For example, in Liberia it is estimated that Charles Taylor has made hundreds of millions per year between 1992 and 1996 from diamond wealth, helping to fuel war. Also, instability can spread into neighbouring countries when groups or governments of these countries become involved.
Locally, tensions over non-extractive natural resources that have an impact on livelihoods, such as water or land, can also trigger and may drive conflicts (i. e Sudan). Tension can result from inequitable distribution and utilization within a given context and the decline of limited sources, this may spill over into wider instability and violence, especially if the natural resources are manipulated for political reasons. In the case of Darfur, one of the reasons that led to violence is competition between herders and farmers over land; historical ethnic divisions compounded this conflict.
The environment as a peace-building tool
Peacebuilding or post-conflict reconstruction is a process that tries to prevent recurrence of violence and facilitates the establishment of sustainable peace, by addressing effects of conflict through reconciliation, institution building and political as well as economic transformation.
Recognizing the linkages between environment and insecurity, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for integrating environmental initiatives to solve conflict and instability into the U.N.’s conflict prevention policy. So, if environmental degradation can trigger conflict and violence, then environmental cooperation initiatives can be used as peacemaking tools. Why?
The environment offers some unique initiatives that lend themselves to peace building and conflict resolving. It can create dialogue between parties in conflict. Environmental challenges such as pollution are global issues that ignore political boundaries. These challanges require a long-term perspective to achieve sustainable management, encourage local and nongovernmental participation, and extend community building beyond polarizing economic linkages. Furthermore, environment cooperation can build bridges across boundaries and between peoples, and enhance building a more sustainable peace. Environmental cooperation itself can be an important means for creating shared regional identities around shared resources.
Because of incomplete information and lack of understanding about the other, suspicions about hidden motives may slow down cooperative behavior between parties. Environmental cooperation and mutual interest can be initial building blocks for building confidence, and it helps to enhance trust between communities. As a result, reducing uncertainties take away tension. Cooperative sharing of resources encourages common goals, and establishes recognized rights and expectations.
Further more, initiatives of cooperation to manage environmental resources will promote peace between disputed parties and may establish sustained interaction and long term relationships, encouraging stability. Forcing the involved parties to think about the future reduces the risk of environmental conflict and helps achieve lasting peace. Planning for future can also helps develop political and social cooperation beyond the environment issue. Environmental initiatives become more frequent and may transform both how people view the environment and how they approach conflict. The more environmental initiatives exist, the more conflicts that will be resolved in a non-violent manner. Environmental initiatives can be used to initiate dialogue between disputed parties even for non-ecological conflicts.
Shared water supply is an important domain for environmental peacemaking. Growing water demand as a result of population growth, physical scarcity, and natural resource depletion. May all trigger violent conflicts over transboundary water sources. Still, there are strong comprehensive initiatives and cooperative possibilities around shared water supplies. Several of the world’s major river basins, including the Nile and the Jordan, have been the subject of cooperative negotiations among the governments sharing those rivers. Water crisis in Israel and Palestine direct the attentions to increase cooperation between both sides to ensure sustainable, equitable and efficient supply of water. The joint of shared water resources management represents an opportunity to keep the dialogue alive between Israel and Palestine, even though the water problem is not the actual cause of the conflict between the two parties.
Management of biodiversity conservation over disputed areas is also another domain of environmental peacebuilding strategies. This may help to reduce tensions and achieve win- win solutions between local communities. It has been recognized that political borders could inhibit effective conservation programs. Recently, establishment of transboundary “peace parks” have been used as conservation tools to promote international peace and to enhance cooperation. Usually they are developed on local natural resources where surrounding communities are dependent on for their survival and livelihood. Peace parks, not only have an ecological benefit, but may also enhance environmental security.
Managed shared resources, can bring economic benefits, especially through ecotourism. Ecotourism means to enjoy nature based on a clean and healthy environment, as a result, if there is not good environmental quality, no tourism can be developed. Establishment of parks is a very good instrument to develop tourism in a sustainable and regulated manner.
One example is, in 2000 the government of Georgia that had also mediated a dialogue on environmental issues at earlier stage, was able to convince Armenia and Azerbaijan to set up a trilateral biosphere reserve in the southern Caucasus region- the dispute over Nagorny Karabakh. Cross border activities of this kind will play an important role in conflict transformation.
Encouragement of local and nongovernmental participation is another aspect related to environmental cooperation. Public awareness and motivation of local community participation will advance environmental responsibility and security. NGOs can play a role as mediators in the post conflict phase; they can enhance the chances of sustainable peace by promoting local participation. Therefore, we must strength their influence in policy decisions that are related to environmental security. For example to combat forest destruction in Kenya the Green Belt Movement was created by Wangaari Maathai who won the Nobel peace prize, incorporates projects to preserve biodiversity, educate people about their environment, and to promotes the rights of women.
In conclusion, environmental related programs rely on the use of the environment as an integral part of the negotiation and mediation process. They have multiple direct and indirect benefits for development. Because of their potential to open a new page they can pave the way for dialogue and cooperation, helping to enhance trust, build confidence, and reduce uncertainties. This will result in taking away tension and opening up a possibility of dialogue over shared resources. Environmental initiatives can be implemented at any point in the conflict cycle. In this way, the natural environment can provide a powerful tool for conflict prevention and peace building. Even in post conflict situations, there are particular opportunities to strengthen environmental management and harness its positive effects on peacebuilding and development. Programs can be put in place at any point in the conflict cycle; they can proceed between parties facilitated by third parties. However, little is known about the best design for the environmental peacebuilding initiatives and conditions under which they are most likely to succeed. Without better knowledge, powerful peacebuilding opportunities might be missed in the environmental domain.
References
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