Environmental Conflict And Cooperation

Environmental Conflict and Cooperation explores the evolution of environmental conflict as a field of research and the study of cooperation as an alternative to war. Over four key parts, James R. Lee navigates the contours of this growing field and paints a vivid framework for better understanding issues around environmental conflict and security: • The premise of the field and its historic manifestations • The definition and purpose of research • The persuasions or types of environmental conflict and cooperation • The promise of research in leading to better decision-making and to broaching new challenges. Over the course of these parts, the author outlines the deep historic record of this discipline, arguing that it will play a key role in understanding important future trends. Utilizing a wide variety of case studies that range from ancient examples, including conflict over the Cedars of Lebanon and the role of tin in the Peloponnesian Wars, to future-oriented scenarios, including expanded island-building in the South China Sea and the global politics of geo-engineering, Lee highlights key concepts, metrics, and policy contexts that will test current understandings. He also examines a variety of research methods and provides examples of the ways in which such research can be used to inform policy improvements. This book will draw specific interest from students and scholars of environmental conflict and cooperation, as well as researchers of environmental politics and security studies.

A comprehensive tour d'horizon of the debate on the environment and security, focusing on the various policy options for building peace and preventing environmental conflict. Experts from the areas survey the key environmental challenges in Eastern and Central European states and those of the former Soviet Union, extending the debate to such regions as the Balkans, the Black Sea and Central Europe. This is the first time such extensive case study research has been reported for these regions. Both practical and theoretical approaches to the debate are presented, within a multi-disciplinary framework, the contributors ranging from academic experts involved with peace and conflict research to actual policy makers active in the fields of environmental and security policy. Readership: Experts already working in the relevant disciplines, both academic and governmental, as well as those seeking an introduction to the various policy fields. A graduate-level study text, excellent survey for policy makers and an academic contribution to ongoing studies.

This book examines the recent development and use of computer modeling and simulation as an important tool for understanding environmental and resource-based conflicts and for finding pathways for conflict resolution and cooperation. It introduces a new, innovative technique for using agent-based modeling (ABM) as a tool for better understanding environmental conflicts and discusses the application of agent-based modeling for the analysis of multi-agent interaction and conflict and demonstrates the natural interdisciplinary convergence. The authors explore numerous examples of environmental and resource conflicts around the world, as well as cooperative approaches for conflict resolution.

The past two decades have witnessed the emergence of a large body of research examining the linkage between environmental scarcity, violent conflict, and cooperation. However, this environmental security polemic is still trying to deliver a well-defined approach to achieving peace. Studies are being undertaken to find the precise pathways by which cooperative actions are expected not only to pre-empt or moderate resource conflicts but also to help diffuse cooperative behaviour to other disputed issues. The recognition that environmental resources can contribute to violent conflict accentuates their potential significance as pathways for cooperation and the consolidation of peace in post-conflict societies. Conceived as a single and reliable reference source which will be a vital resource for students, researchers, and policy makers alike, the Routledge Handbook of Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding presents a wide range of chapters written by key thinkers in the field, organised into four key parts: Part I: Review of the concept and theories; Part II: Review of thematic approaches (resources, scarcity, intervention, adaptation, and peacebuilding); Part III: Case studies (Middle East, Iraq, Jordan, Liberia, Nepal, Colombia, Philippines); Part IV: Analytical challenges and future-oriented perspectives. Enabling the reader to find a concise expert review on topics that are most likely to arise in the course of conducting research or policy making, this volume presents a truly global overview of the key issues and debates in environmental conflict and peacebuilding.

Conflict is a major facet of many environmental challenges of our time. However, growing conflict complexity makes it more difficult to identify win-win strategies for sustainable conflict resolution. Innovative methods are needed to help predict, understand, and resolve conflicts in cooperative ways. Agent-Based Modeling of Environmental Conflict and Cooperation examines computer modeling techniques as an important set of tools for assessing environmental and resource-based conflicts and, ultimately, for finding pathways to conflict resolution and cooperation. This book has two major goals. First, it argues that complexity science can be a unifying framework for professions engaged in conflict studies and resolution, including anthropology, law, management, peace studies, urban planning, and geography. Second, this book presents an innovative framework for approaching conflicts as complex adaptive systems by using many forms of environmental analysis, including system dynamics modeling, agent-based modeling, evolutionary game theory, viability theory, and network analysis. Known as VIABLE (Values and Investments from Agent-Based interaction and Learning in Environmental systems), this framework allows users to model advanced facets of conflicts—including institution building, coalition formation, adaptive learning, and the potential for future conflict—and conflict resolution based on the long-term viability of the actors’ strategies. Written for scholars, students, practitioners, and policy makers alike, this book offers readers an extensive introduction to environmental conflict research and resolution techniques. As the result of decades of research, the text presents a strong argument for conflict modeling and reviews the most popular and advanced techniques, including system dynamics modeling, agent-based modeling, and participatory modeling methods. This indispensable guide uses NetLogo, a widely used and free modeling software package, to implement the VIABLE modeling approach in three case study applications around the world. Readers are invited to explore, adapt, modify, and expand these models to conflicts they hope to better understand and resolve.

As environmental security gains increasing attention, there is a pressing need for rigorous examinations of environmental causes of conflict and the potential for conflict resolution. Environmental Conflict explores the role of environmental degradation or scarcity in intrastate or interstate violent conflict and how cooperative efforts might forestall such undesirable consequences. By presenting cutting-edge conceptual and empirical research examining how environmental factors may influence group and state decisions to employ violence, this book enhances understanding of the possibilities for future conflict and how to prevent it.

Eight contributions written by professors of political science, government, and politics as well as researchers and program directors for environmental change, energy, and security projects provide insight into the process of environmental peacemaking, based on their experiences in a variety of international regions. An initial chapter makes a case for the process; successive chapters address the Baltic, South Asia, the Aral Sea basin, southern Africa, the Caspian Sea, and the US-Mexican border. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

This book analyzes the results of environmental cooperation in conflict areas around the world. Through examination of multiple case studies, the book explores the scope and effects of environmental cooperation on peacebuilding and conflict resolution.