BBC News, UK
Oct 23 2004
‘Environment threat’ to Caucasus
Disputes over natural resources and the extent of environmental
degradation may worsen tension in parts of the southern Caucasus, an
international team says.
A report by the UN and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in Europe says old weaponry is another problem.
It says rapidly swelling numbers in the area’s capitals and how to
share water resources are key regional concerns.
But the report also says environmental problems can be a catalyst for
security if the political will is forthcoming.
Environmental stress and change could undermine security in the
three South Caucasian countries
The report is entitled Environment And Security: Transforming Risks
Into Cooperation – The Case Of The Southern Caucasus.
It was prepared by the OSCE, the United Nations Development Programme
and the UN Environment Programme.
The report says environmental degradation and access to natural
resources could deepen contention in areas of existing conflicts in
Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent regions of
Azerbaijan.
It says the militarised situation also hampers waste management and
disposal, and the maintenance and renovation of irrigation and
hydroelectric dams, constraining economic growth.
But it says environmental cooperation can be a basis for
international peace-building, and for post-conflict reconciliation
and reconstruction.
Mount Ararat overlooks a troubled Caucasus
The report says “a convincing body of work” has shown that countries
are likelier to cooperate than to fight over control of international
river basins.
Frits Schlingemann, director of Unep’s European office, said: “The
assessment demonstrated that in the worst case environmental stress
and change could undermine security in the three South Caucasian
countries.
“However, sound environmental management and technical co-operation
could also be a means for strengthening security while promoting
sustainable development if the three governments would decide to do
so.”
Shared worries
The report forms part of a wider effort, the Environment and Security
(Envsec) Initiative, which is run jointly by the three agencies in
the Caucasus, south-eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The report concentrates on what it says are three areas of common
concern for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia:
environmental degradation and access to natural resources in areas of
conflict
management of cross-border environmental concerns including water
resources, natural hazards, and industrial and military legacies
population growth and rapid development in capital cities.
The report says the methods and effectiveness of agreeing how to
share water resources – both surface and underground and including
the Caspian and Black Seas – are key concerns.
It is also worried about the disposal of abandoned Soviet weapons and
chemicals and the reclamation of contaminated lands in the region.
Emerging problems
Kalman Mizsei of UNDP said: “The Southern Caucasus countries are
confronted by similar social, political and economic transformations
that are altering century-old relationships within and between them,
and shaping their development.
Campaigners are worried about the disposal of weapons
“Each of these transformations both has an impact on and could be
affected by the state of the natural environment.”
Roy Reeve, the head of the OSCE mission to Georgia, said: “We are
facing a variety of non-traditional threats to security posed by
socio-economic and environmental issues.
“The OSCE has a duty to identify these threats… The ENVSEC
Initiative… is assisting us in fulfilling this mandate.”