Environmental Peacemaking

About this book

How can environmental cooperation be used to bolster regional peace? A large body of research suggests that environmental degradation may catalyze violent conflict. Environmental cooperation in contrast has gone almost unexplored as a means of peacemaking even though it opens several effective channels: enhancing trust establishing habits of cooperation lengthening the time horizons of decisionmakers forging cooperative trans-societal linkages and creating shared regional norms and identities. This volume examines the case for environmental peacemaking by comparing progress prospects and problems related to environmental peacemaking initiatives in six regionsSouth Asia Central Asia the Baltic Southern Africa the Caucasus and the U.S.-Mexico border. The regions vary dramatically in terms of scale interdependencies history and kinds of insecurity. But each is marked by a highly fluid changing security order creating a potential for environmental cooperation to have a catalytic effect on peacemaking. Among the volumes key findings are these: that substantial potential for environmental peacemaking exists in most regions; that significant tensions from narrower efforts to improve the strategic climate among mistrustful governments can impair broader trans-societal efforts to build environmental peace; and that the effects of environmental peacemaking initiatives are highly sensitive to the ways they are institutionalized. Contributors include: Doug W. Blum Providence College; Ken Conca University of Maryland; Geoffrey D. Dabelko Woodrow Wilson Center; Pamela M. Doughman University of Maryland; Ashok Swain Uppsala University; Larry A. Swatuk University of Botswana; Erika Weinthal Tel Aviv University; Stacy D. VanDeveer University of New Hampshire.