Post-Conflict Resource Management Institute lawyers travel to Tokyo to conduct symposia addressing water resources and security

• Pages: 54-54

Page 54 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2010, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, Sept./Oct. 2010

ELI Report

implications for other

transboundary approaches

was followed by a presen-

tation of case studies on

transboundary impact as-

sessment from the Danube

Delta, the Caspian Sea,

and the Mekong River

Basin. Panel discussions

focused on specif‌ic issues

associated with developing

and implementing trans-

boundary EIA.

e symposium closed

with calls for further de-

velopment and ref‌inement

of transboundary EIA

frameworks in shared wa-

ter basins, particularly in

light of the recent decision

by the International Court

of Justice.

e following day,

the University of Tokyo

convened speakers for a

half-day working session

to discuss next steps for

researching and develop-

ing transboundary EIA.

e participants examined

a range of opportunities

for building capacity in

international basins for

transboundary impact

assessment and the role

of transboundary EIA in

building conf‌idence be-

tween nations and with

local populations.

Bruch and Goldman,

along with ELI Research

Associate Akiva Fish-

man, participated in a

two-day symposium and

consultative meeting in

Tokyo on Strengthening

Post-Conf‌lict Security

and Diplomacy: Policy

Recommendations to

Integrate Natural Re-

sources, Infrastructure,

and Peacebuilding. e

event, convened by ELI,

the University of Tokyo,

and the Global Infra-

structure Fund Research

Foundation Japan — and

with support from the

Center for Global Partner-

ship of the Japan Founda-

tion — was the second of

four symposia to examine

American and Japanese

experiences with post-

conf‌lict natural resource

management. e June

symposium and consulta-

tive meeting analyzed les-

sons from 16 case studies

to formulate initial recom-

mendations for improving

programming by U.S. and

Japanese aid agencies in

conf‌lict areas.

e U.S. and Japanese

authors presented their

f‌indings from the case

studies, emphasizing les-

sons learned before a

diverse audience of more

than 90 practitioners, re-

searchers, members of the

media, and students. e

participants engaged in

an animated discussion of

experiences in Africa and

Asia that examined the

link between natural re-

sources and security in Af-

ghanistan and Cambodia;

forest resources in East

Timor and Liberia; gover-

nance and infrastructure

in Afghanistan, the Philip-

pines, and Sri Lanka; and

water management issues

in Iraq and Sudan.

Carl Bruch moderated a

discussion focused on en-

hancing U.S. AID’s natural

resource-related peace-

building initiatives. An

energetic dialogue helped

solidify the recommenda-

tions around f‌ive focus

areas: improvements to the

general approach to work-

ing in post-conf‌lict coun-

tries; adapting post-conf‌lict

programming; improving

coordination; planning

and managing for the long-

term; and monitoring and

evaluation.

More information

about the project and

symposium is available at

www.eli.org/Program_Ar-

eas/SPCSD/.

In June, an ELI team of

post-conf‌lict experts trav-

eled to Japan to conduct

symposia addressing water

management and security

and conf‌lict issues in war-

torn regions of the world.

Senior Attorney and

Co-Director of Inter-

national Programs Carl

Bruch and Senior Attor-

ney Lisa Goldman partici-

pated in a symposium in

Tokyo on Reducing Con-

f‌lict and Enhancing Se-

curity in Water Manage-

ment: Lessons Learned

from Transboundary

Environmental Impact

Assessment and the Espoo

Convention.

e symposium was

organized by the Univer-

sity of Tokyo, ELI, the In-

stitute of Advanced Global

Studies, and the Research

Center for Sustainable

Peace, and coordinated

by University of Tokyo

Professor Mikiyasu Na-

kayama.

Bruch’s presenta-

tion, “Assessing Past

Transboundary Impact

Assessments: Strengths,

Weaknesses, and Future

Directions,” was based on

an ELI analysis compar-

ing predicted impacts

with actual impacts for

f‌ive projects in Asia and

Africa. Bruch noted how

the recent decision by the

International Court of

Justice in the Pulp Mills

Case drew renewed in-

ternational attention to

transboundary impact as-

sessment.

An overview of the

Espoo Convention and

Post-Conict Resource Management Institute lawyers travel to

Tokyo to conduct symposia addressing water resources and security

Carl Bruch (second from right) moderates a panel at the “Reduc-

ing Conict and Enhancing Security” symposium.