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Chapter One: Environmental complexity & international environmental conflicts. 

As an introduction to the study, this chapter provides a framework for analysing IECs as a basis for preventing and resolving IECs at regional and global levels. Some fundamental conceptual and theoretical reasonings are discussed. 

From an historical perspective, the UN possesses important attributes necessary for effective prevention and resolution of IECs. The chapter briefly outlines the role of the following UN organs, organizations, and agencies in prevention, avoidance, settlement and resolution of IECs: the Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, Permanent Court of Arbitration, Secretary General, United Nations Environment Programme, and Bretton Woods Institutions. Some observations about the Vatican, the International Committee of Red Cross, and various regional organizations and their role in preventing and resolving IECs also are briefly outlined. 

Various non-legal and legal approaches to prevent, avoid, settle, and resolve IECs are examined in this chapter. Certain mechanisms are applicable for different organizations. The main focus is on such mechanisms rather than organizational capacities (as discussed in the previous chapter). Special emphasis is on prevention and resolution of IECs of a legal character. 

Part Two deals with IECs related to international river systems, coastal areas, forestry and biodiversity, land resources, and secondary effects of environmental degradation and disruptions -- environmental refugees. The main focus is put on why IECs generate and escalate at an international level. This provides a basis for an assessment of means to prevent and resolve IECs at regional and global levels.  

Chapter Four: Methodology and analysis. 

This chapter explores the development of a Systems Approach in order to link traditional conflict analysis with ecosystem analysis. The purpose of this chapter is to outline an analytical framework for analyzing IECs applied on the various themes and case-studies selected. 

This chapter assesses the driving forces behind IECs related to international river systems and illustrates some of their main components through brief case studies, such as the Indus, Jordan, Nile, and Ganges river systems. A more in-depth case study focuses on IECs and how they have been managed in relation to the Zambezi river system in Southern Africa. 

Coastal areas, as transitional zones between land and sea, are increasingly affected by aquatic and terrestrial human activities. The many national and international interests associated with the use of these areas make them particularly interesting to study in the light of IECs. A case study from the Mediterranean, which is shared by 18 nations, is discussed in light of the origins and management of coastal IECs. 

This chapter examines some of the driving forces behind IECs related to forestry and biodiversity, and assesses some of their main components through several case studies. A more in-depth case study focuses on conflicts related to the tropical forest shared by Cameroun, the Congo, and the Central African Republic in Central and West Africa. 

This chapter outlines systemic linkages between land resources and economic, political, social and other environmental factors related to IECs. The main conflicts are between development and environmental requirements (in particular, how to satisfy human needs while at the same time protecting land resources for future use). IECs associated with 'air pollution' as a cause of land degradation is of particular interest since there are some lessons learned in prevention and resolution of such conflicts in Europe. 

This chapter deals with environmental refugees as sources of IECs caused by secondary effects of environmental degradation or disruptions. The causal linkages between degradation of natural resources and cross border movement of people are complex, but of great interest in the context of IECs. 

Foreword by Mohamed T. El-Ashry 
Chairman, Global Environment Facility 


International environmental conflicts that come to the attention of the United Nations and other international organizations typically reflect an aggregation of unresolved local, national and regional resource-based problems and disputes. Because the nature of conflict changes and often becomes more complex as it moves from local to international levels, analysts suggest that such conflicts might be managed more effectively if intercepted for resolution before reaching multilateral stages.  

International Environmental Conflict Resolution: The Role of the United Nations examines the issues and problems relating to international environmental conflicts from the perspective of many disciplines, and pays particular attention to theoretical and analytical as well as empirical issues. The case studies presented in the book highlight the variety of resource-based conflicts that are emerging throughout the world. The causes of such conflicts are as varied as their effects and complexity underscores the difficult challenges to the world community to find satisfactory ways to respond to the scientific, economic and political problems presented.  

The book also focuses on the fact that nations have developed different ways for managing competition for natural resource utilization as well as for responding to the effects of environmental degradation. Evidence suggests, however, that many such ways are being strained by accelerating competition for increasingly scarce resources and the resulting conflicts that are emerging. Existing resource management policies at many local, national and international levels simply do not meet the demands of rapidly growing populations and sustainable development needs.  

This perspective also was taken by the World Comission on Environment and Development, which expressed great concern over the increase in international conflicts due not only to political and military threats, but also to environmental degradation and the preemption of development options. The stakes are high for governments everywhere -- whether they represent affluent industrialized countries with powerful economies or developing countries in need of economic growth simply to meet the most basic needs of life.  

Against such a background, the role of the United Nations is of particular interest, especially with regard to issues relating to the development of norms and procedures that recognize national sovereignty yet also accommodate transboundary environmental concerns. At a time when traditional sovereign interests are being challenged as never before by the demands and obligations of a greater global interdependence, the book is timely and a welcome contribution in an important field.  

Mohamed T. El-Ashry, Ph.D.  
Director, Environment Department, The World Bank  
Chairman, Global Environment Facility, UNDP/UNEP/The World Bank  
 
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Comments on the Book from Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland,  
Prime Minister of Norway  

Review from Word Trade: A Readers Guide to Recent Books & New Media (April 1997)

Review from World Arbitration and Mediation Report 
(February 1997) 

Review from 
World Arbitration and Mediation Report 
Vol. 8, No. 2 (February 1997), at 43-44.  
Copyright © 1997 Juris Publishing, Inc. 
 


The environment and issues related to the environment have increasingly, in recent years, become the source of conflict between nations and subnational entities.  As the transnational effects of activities which may compromise the environment are increasingly realized, the involvement of the United Nations and other international bodies in the resolution of conflicts and the development of common goals and approaches to those goals has become increasingly important.  In this book, Jon Trolldalen examines a range of types of environmental conflicts, offering case studies of particular conflicts as well as a general description of the issues that may be involved with a particular subject matter, and draws together the learning from these detailed studies to suggest some common features of international environmental conflicts and the manner in which they develop or are managed.  

The general approach to examining international environmental conflicts that Trolldalen uses is a systems one.  It assumes the existence of a potential conflict over the use of natural resources and examines the interaction between the human "demand" system and the resource system itself.  Conflicts include issues over access to or control over resources, including the unsustainable use of a resource, and conflicts caused by the consequences of use of a resource or factors affecting its use (i.e. pollution).  

The specific areas considered by Trolldalen are international River Systems (case study: The Zambezi), Coastal Areas (case study: The Mediterranean), Forestry and Biodiversity (case study: Cameroon), Land Resources (various limited case studies) and Secondary Effects of Degradation (semi case study: environmental refugees).  In each area he examines the range of international environmental conflicts that occur and then focuses in on the specific case, looking at the sources of conflict and the conflict management activities that have been or are engaged.  

Based on the information from the background analysis and case studies, Trolldalen offers three chapters which provide a general outlook on the problem of international environmental conflicts and the role of international organizations.  He begins by classifying the conflicts and the understanding of these conflicts, and then looks to institutional responses including the United Nations and its agencies, the International Court of Arbitration, the World Bank, various regional organizations, and independent organizations such as the Red Cross and the Vatican.  Finally he analyses ways of managing international environmental conflicts including both formal and informal structures working within and outside of recognized legal institutions.  

Trolldalen provides an excellent overview of the process by which international environmental conflicts are dealt with in the modern world.  His focus on institutional response undervalues, to some extent, the use of bilateral and multilateral treaty devices as means of dealing with these conflicts, but provides a useful focus.  That there is a need for effective international institutional involvement in these crises is beyond question and Trolldalen provides useful insights into how this may best be accomplished.  

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