Civil Georgia, Georgia
Oct 22 2004

UN, OSCE Report Speaks of Environmental Impact on Conflicts

Environmental degradation and competition for natural resources
could sharpen disputes in areas of the southern Caucasus already
mired in conflicts, report issued by OSCE, UNDP and the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP) in Tbilisi on October 22, says.

According to the report the militarized situation in such places as
breakaway Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent
regions of Azerbaijan also hampers waste management and disposal, and
the maintenance and renovation of irrigation and hydroelectric dams,
leading to stifled economic growth, according to the report,
Environment and Security: Transforming Risks into Cooperation – The
Case of the Southern Caucasus.

`The assessment demonstrated that in the worst case, environmental
stress and change could undermine security in the three South
Caucasian countries,’ Frits Schlingemann, Director of UNEP’s Regional
Office for Europe, was quoted in a joint press release issued by
OSCE, UNEP, UNDP.

Access to natural resources in conflict areas, management of
cross-border environmental problems and the rapid development of the
capital cities of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are some of the
concerns highlighted in the new report, part of a wider effort called
the Environment and Security Initiative, run jointly by OSCE, UNEP
and UNDP.