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International Environmental Agreements (2006) 6:109111 Springer 2006
DOI 10.1007/s10784-005-4661-2
Conca, Ken, and Georey D. Dabelko, Eds. Environmental Peacemaking. Washington, DC:
Woodrow Wilson Press, 2002.Since the end of the Cold War, issues surrounding economic development and theenvironment have gained considerable attention in geopolitical discussions.Increasingly, the links between environmental degradation and violent conict havebeen examined through the environmental security discourse. While most scholarsremain skeptical of negative environmental change as a direct catalyst for interstatewar, many argue that the tensions created by such change, particularly those basedon class, race or ethnicity, can trigger violent outbursts on a local or regional level.Rather than continue with this line of discussion, Environmental Peacemaking asksthe question, can environmental cooperation foster peace and regional stability?The authors of this volume express concern that the current environmentalsecurity agenda fails to adequately identify the possibilities for peace as a directconsequence of environmental cooperation. The goal of Environmental Peacemakingis, rst and foremost, to examine the synergies for peace created through cooperationover environmental issues; can environmentally induced conict not be simplyforestalled, but can regions progress along the peace continuum? Additionally,volume contributors attempt to specically identify the conditions and institutionalforms needed to realize these benets.Two theoretical pathways to achieving peace and regional stability throughenvironmental cooperation are examined in this volume. The rst focuses on atransformation of the most...