Collaborative Environmental Conflict Resolution Practices in the North American Great Lakes Region
Publisher: Palgrave Handbook of Positive Peace
Author(s): Olga Skarlato
Date: 2021
Topics: Conflict Prevention, Cooperation, Governance, Renewable Resources
Countries: Canada, United States
The scholars and practitioners in the Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) field have developed, analyzed, and applied a number of approaches to conflict resolution in the past decades, including multiple types of third-party interventions, negotiations, policymaking as well as other creative conflict resolution and peacebuilding initiatives aimed at building relationships and trust, encouraging cooperation and facilitating dialogue. Public participation in environmental advisory groups and resource governance can also help resolve existing environmental and resource conflicts and prevent future disputes by creating and implementing resource management plans, forming alliances and coalitions as well as implementing other collaborative initiatives. This qualitative exploratory study examined the perceptions and experiences of 52 key stakeholders – policymakers, researchers, academics, and community members – from the coastal areas of the Great Lakes Region of Canada and the United States with the key focus on environmental and resource conflicts and conflict resolution practices. This study has illustrated that a number of specific environmental conflict resolution mechanisms and opportunities are in place in the Great Lakes Region including stakeholder dialogue processes, environmental alliance building, public participation in environmental and resource forums and advisory groups. At the same time, the extent of public participation in decision-making and implementation of resource and environmental management in coastal areas remains problematic. There is a challenge and an opportunity to design and implement comprehensive, practical, and efficient collaborative environmental conflict resolution and conflict prevention strategies to help build and maintain Positive Peace in the Great Lakes Region and beyond.