Environmental Peacemaking

In divided areas such as North and South Korea, Peru and Ecuador, China and Vietnam, and Cuba and Mexico, long time warring nations are finding reasons for peace. Environmentalists and historians refer to this phenomena as “environmental peacemaking”. Nations around the world are laying down hostility to work together in making struggling natural habitats safer. Some credit this peacemaking to the SARS epidemic, which has “revealed the link between the consumption of wildlife and public health. [Nations have] become much more serious about stemming use of wildlife in medicine and stopping the trade in these species,” says Tom Dillon of the World Wildlife Fund. Recently, enemies China and Vietnam put aside political disagreements to put an end to the illegal smuggling of fauna and flora across their borders. Smuggling takes place in these countries more than anywhere else in the world. Trucks filled with sacks of snakes, turtles, pangolin, mongoose, and civet cats have been heavily trafficked across the borders of China. Rare or valuable animals are often traded and sold on the black market. Snake skins and turtle shells are popular in medicinal traditions, and mammals have valuable furs. For years, China has appeared relatively unconcerned, while Vietnam was furious over losing its wildlife. But in the past year, the two nations have begun working much more closely on enforcement measures to stem the tide of Vietnamese wildlife smuggling, reports Dillon. The United States, Mexico and Cuba have also begun working together over concern for the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Ecologists believe that Gulf currents carry fish, lobster, and larvae of other species from Cuba and Mexico into United States waters, and the sea turtles that nest on United States’ beaches feed in Cuban waters. All three countries have recognized the importance of this movement, and are doing what they can to protect the natural currents. David Guggenheim, head of the newly formed Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University quotes, “Despite a chillier and chillier political climate between the US and Cuba…We have gained support from the highest levels of government in Cuba”. Also involved in environmental peacemaking are the five countries (Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan), surrounding the Caspian Sea. Mnemiopsis, a type of jellyfish, are reproducing at rapid paces, eating food vital to fishing stocks. Only ten years ago, the jellyfish population was larger than the world’s entire commercial fish catch. The countries around the Caspian are putting their differences aside to prevent this from happening once again. A five year program to clean up the Caspian is currently in the works. When it comes to who gets the rich oil deposits under the Caspian, the five nations that border it are still fierce rivals. When it comes to the sea’s environmental quality, however, they are quickly learning to “bury the hatchet” and work together. Mnemiopsis reproduces quickly with about eight thousand young every day. Just two inches long, the Mnemiopsis came to the Caspian in ship ballasts from the Volga River. Even before this invasion, oil slicks, sewage, and over fishing threatened fish depletion. Environmental consultant Mary Matthews, who is working on the cleanup expressed that, while there are still many problems, there is now “new hope for the Caspian”. Nations have also been working together to create “peace parks,” which are reserves in areas of ecological significance. In 1998, there were only fifty nine parks, but the number has more than doubled with 169 parks in 113 different nations. Thirty three of these protected areas include territory from two or more different nations. Several of these lie in unsettled nations such as Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Bangladesh and India, and Poland and Slovakia. Peru and Ecuador, two nations often barraging each other with bullets, are doing what they can to preserve parts of the rainforest, despite their hostilities about everything else. In Africa, peace parks have been popping up along borders where civilians and leaders are still fighting with one another. Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOETME) have been working together with Jordan, Israel, and Palestine to pipe water from the Red Sea into the dying Dead Sea. This project is slow in the works due to renewed hostilities. Workers haven’t given up hope and are inspired by the efforts other countries have been making. The Dead Sea has gone from 1,280 feet below sea level to more than 1,360 feet below sea level in the past fifty years, evaporating to just a third of its former size. An eight hundred million dollar pipeline from the Red Sea would eliminate sink holes, restore the Sea, and increase tourism. Gidon Bromberg of the FOETME says that while the project is currently at a standstill, the parties will eventually put differences aside and concentrate on the severity of the Dead Sea crisis. In the long run, these efforts of peace and concern over the environmental issues are expected to succeed more often than not, predicts Matthews. “There’s not much in the way of political stakes, so if all fails there’s not nearly the embarrassment there would be on a cooperative deal on the economy or military,” she says. “The environment is just a nice soft-political backdoor way for countries to get along.” While many differences may seemingly never be put aside, any effort for peace is better than none. What better issue to agree on than the health and well-being of the planet we all live on?