Environmental degradation and competition for natural resources could sharpen disputes in areas of the southern Caucasus already mired in conflicts, a report issued by the OSCE, UNDP and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in Tbilisi on October 22 says.
According to the report the militarized situation in such places as breakaway Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent regions of Azerbaijan also hamper waste management and disposal, and the maintenance and renovation of irrigation and hydroelectric dams, leading to stifled economic growth, according to the report, entitled: Environment and Security: Transforming Risks into Cooperation – The Case of the Southern Caucasus.
“The assessment demonstrated that in the worst case, environmental stress and change could undermine security in the three South Caucasian countries,” Frits Schlingemann, Director of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe, was quoted in a joint press release issued by OSCE, UNEP, UNDP.
Access to natural resources in conflict areas, management of cross-border environmental problems and the rapid development of the capital cities of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are some of the concerns highlighted in the new report, part of a wider effort called the Environment and Security Initiative, run jointly by OSCE, UNEP and UNDP.