Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and cooperation go in tandem and should be analysed simultaneously (Zeitoun and
Mirumachi 2008; see also Van der Zaag and Carmo Vaz 2003).
A focus on interstate water relations alone is insufficient, because the multi-level
nature of water security must be taken into consideration. Sub-state actors see their
insecurity increased as a result of violent acts, interstate collusion in hydraulic devel-
opment (Furlong 2006) and war. It is therefore important to focus one's analysis on
how violence (war), development (peace), water and 'virtual water' flows between
states impact on the security of affected groups, and on relations within and between
communities and regions at the sub-national level.
2.3 CONFLICT AND COOPERATION ON NATURAL RESOURCES:
THE POLICY PERSPECTIVE
2.3.1 International concerns
Though the environment has been an important thematic domain within global devel-
opment cooperation since the 1980s and conflict too entered the arena in the latter
part of the 1990s, the nexus between environment and conflict was relatively underex-
posed in international policy debates. Despite vehement discussions of the topic in the
late 1990s in academia (mainly with regard to the causation of conflict), this debate
did not reverberate in policy circles to such a degree that it impacted policy design and
implementation. The debates at that point in time were still insufficiently couched in
operational terms, and it was therefore difficult for policy makers to conceive initiatives
that could be translated into 'bankable projects'.
There was probably also a need to first collect more evidence-based material and
carry out case studies to inform policy. One can, however, observe a recent change
and the nexus environment and conflict has clearly entered into the policy debates in
a number of prominent institutions, while programmes are being defined or imple-
mented that deal with the issue in practice. For a historical overview of (inter)national
initiatives on environment, conflict, peace and security, see Conca et al. (2005: 146-
149). Additionally, there are an increasing number of case and thematic studies focused
on pertinent aspects of the problem. A report by DFID (2007), for example, described
in detail the trade flows of natural resources and other commodities out of the Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through the Great Lakes region and East Africa.
The goal of this project was to enhance the sustainable and equitable use of the DRC's
natural resources in the interest of poverty reduction in the country and stability in
the region by way of building a robust evidence base for policy. The purpose was to
provide a regional dimension to the analysis and understanding of natural resource
exploitation in the DRC. Apart from the exploitation and trans-boundary trade in
natural resources, the report stresses the importance of local livelihoods and gover-
nance. This study is exemplary of many others that underlie a wide range of policy
initiatives undertaken over the last couple of years.
Below we offer a selection of some major policy initiatives in this regard. These
are presented with the purpose of illustrating the recent trend by focusing on a limited
number of institutions of different types rather than to suggest any representative or
exhaustive overview.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search