Peace-building is an important activity that has to be considered by any corporation, organization, or person to achieve a better future. Nowadays, there are many conflicts based on different environmental problems. Some organizations build peace by means of environmental cooperation.
Still, these organizations have to remember that environmental cooperation is a concept with a lack of analysis. It may “forestall violence, mitigate conflicts, or otherwise enhance the chances for peace” (Conca & Dabelko, 2002, p.3) or create more new problems within a short period of time. The current report aims at working out the effective ways to build peace through environmental cooperation, promote peaceful relations between the parties in conflict, and help people view the environment in the form of dialogues.
All means of building peace through environmental cooperation may be divided into three main categories: the effective ways to prevent environmental conflicts like pressure on the resources people depend on, and attention to the dialogues between the conflicting parties in case other political or economic ideas have already failed, and the creation of a solid basis for peace, for example, water management (Carius, 2007, p. 9).
The peculiar feature of environmental cooperation is the possibility to enhance trust, create identities, and elaborate rights and freedoms for different parties. It seems to be so easy to build peace and follow the rules set. Unfortunately, not all companies are ready to consider the ways of peace-building chosen by the other participants of the conflicts, and it is important to consider the interests and wishes of all parties, define a number of common concepts, and introduce the most appropriate ways of environmental cooperation.
One of the possible ways to build peace through environmental cooperation is to prevent any kind of violence and conflicts between the parties and minimize the chances of eco-destruction.
On the one hand, it is possible to gain control over the resources, which people need the most. On the other hand, it is also easy to cause a number of misunderstandings and problems between the representatives of different ethnic groups. There is one possible way to control the conflict – to offer more interesting futuristic ideas that can improve human lives considerably.
Another effective way of peace-building is the creation of dialogues between the conflicting parties. It was proved that “countries whose relations are otherwise characterized by distrust and hostility, if not open violence, have found that environmental issues are one of the few areas in which they can sustain an ongoing dialogue” (Carius, 2007, p. 7).
The peculiar feature of the chosen means is the time when the dialogue should be started. It is important to evaluate the situation between the parties and think about how it is possible to create a dialogue. If the conflict is hard to overcome or solve by means of the dialogue, it is still possible to come back to the previous idea and control the access to natural resources.
Finally, peace-building has to be based on a number of future prospects. Sustainability is the key to environmental cooperation between the parties. For example, the experts offer to pay more attention to water management because water is the resource that is required by any party anytime.
In general, the ways of building peace through environmental cooperation discussed in this report play an important role in the development of the relations between the representatives of different countries. Certain attention has to be paid to the prevention of environmental conflicts, the development of dialogues, and the creation of a sustainable basis for the relations.
Works Cited
Carius, Alexander. Environmental Peacemaking. Adelphy Report, 2007. Web.
Conca, Ken, and Dabelko, Geoffrey. Environmental Peacemaking. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002. Print.