Reports

Security and the Environment in the Mediterranean in the 20th Century - Conceptualizing Security and Environmental Conflicts

4th Pan-European Conference at the University of Kent
University of Kent, Canterbury, UNITED KINGDOM, September 8-10, 2001

The Canterbury Workshop, the first in a ten-session series, brought together political scientists, international relations experts, and specialists on demography, climate, desertification, water, food, and urbanization from Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Japan, and North America to discuss Mediterranean security and environmental challenges in the twentieth century. The workshop was organized by Dr. Hans Gunter Brauch and sponsored by the NATO Office of Information and Press, the US Naval War College, AFES-PRESS, and UNISCI (Complutense University, Madrid).

The three goals of the workshop were to (1) facilitate a North-South scientific debate on conceptual security and relevant political issues; (2) encourage an interdisciplinary debate and learning among the aforementioned fields of attendees; and (3) foster a dialogue between academia and policy makers in international organizations, national governments, and non-governmental organizations.

The first part of the workshop addressed the military factors that have contributed to conflict in the MENA region. Among the topics addressed were NATO’’s Mediterranean security dialogue between 1995-2001, security in the post-Cold War period, and security challenges in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The second part of the workshop focused on non-military factors that have also contributed to conflict in the region such as the environmental consequences of wars and migration in the Mediterranean region, and desertification and water scarcity in the MENA region.

The second workshop, held in Valencia in March 2002, analyzed in greater detail the future effects of population growth, climate change, urbanization and pollution, water scarcity and management, soil erosion and desertification, and food scarcity in the Mediterranean.

In addition to the workshop, AFES-PRESS will be publishing the 30 papers presented at the meeting, along with an additional 18 commissioned papers, in February 2003.

Summaries of the workshop proceedings are available at the conference website listed below.

For additional information, contact Hans Gunter Brauch, Peace Research and European security Studies (AFES-PRESS) e.V., Alte Bergsteige 47, 74821 Mosbach, GERMANY; phone (49-6261)12912; fax (49-6261)15695; e-mail ; website .

Bulletin of Regional Cooperation in the Middle East Winter 2001-2002
Copyright 2004 Search for Common Ground