Conflict resolution

The world increasingly relies on groundwater resources for drinking water and the provision of food for a growing population. The utilization of aquifer systems also extends beyond freshwater supply to include other resources such as heat extraction and the storage and disposal of substances. This volume is unique in focusing exclusively on conflicts over groundwater and aquifers.

Some two dozen countries are already classified as water-scarce, and this-as areas as diverse as Israel, southern California and even the Netherlands know - is not a problem confined to the South. Already, as this book shows, fresh-water shortages are becoming a major cause of conflict both domestically and between states. In the future, the growing world population, further spread of irrigated agriculture and industrialization will all make increasing demands on scarce water resources.

This discussion paper explores the potential for addressing conflict in the forest sector through the use of company-led tools and mechanisms. A major conflict issue for many is that of recognising and negotiating rights to land and resources. Conflicts also arise between companies and communities or civil society organisations over conservation priorities, environmental pollution and benefit sharing.

This report, which inaugurates a new policy series by UNEP on the environmental dimensions of disasters and conflicts, aims to summarize the latest knowledge and field experience on the linkages between environment, conflict and peacebuilding, and to demonstrate the need for those linkages to be addressed in a more coherent and systematic way by the UN, Member States and other stakeholders.

This report inventories and analyses the range of international laws that protect the environment during armed conflict. With a view to identifying the current gaps and weaknesses in this system, the authors examine the relevant provisions within four bodies of international law – international humanitarian law (IHL), international criminal law (ICL), international environmental law (IEL), and international human rights law (HRL).

This report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how peacekeeping operations affect and are affected by natural resources and environmental conditions. The report is divided into two main parts. Part 1 reviews the environmental management of peacekeeping operations and showcases good practices, technologies and behaviours that have already been adopted.

This paper will review the performance of existing routes in the Middle East and North Africa to glean lessons for proposed pipelines in Southwest Asia. With sufficient political will -- and a more informed understanding of the binding power of pipelines -- the United States, European countries, and international bodies can begin to utilize pipeline construction as both an engine of cooperation and a tool of diplomacy.

Contains articles on human-wildlife conflict written by presenters and participants of the workshop "Creating coexistence between humans and wildlife: global perspectives on local efforts to address human-wildlife conflict" at the 5th (fifth) IUCN World Parks Congress.