Environmental problems can be of concern for security both between but also within countries. Addressing these risks has been at the heart of Zoï’s work providing support to the the UN and the ENVSEC initiative implemented by a consortium of international organizations on Europe’s borders: South Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. Video clip: ENVSEC
Through innovative methodologies for mapping and visualizing the risks we have contributed to flagship assessments with wide recognition throughout the region and world-wide. The assessment reports explain complex environment-security connections to normal people and politicians and help trigger solutions to problems on the ground. The assessments are participatory, focused, concise, attractive and easy-to-understand and widely recognized as powerful communication tools.
Zoï staff led and contributed to ENVSEC’s assessments by developing methodologies, desk studies and actual work in the regions and countries such as Central Asia, the Ferghana Valley, the Eastern Caspian region, the Amu Darya river basin, the South Caucasus, Nagorny Karabakh, the Balkans and Eastern Europe.
Our on-going work focuses on assessments in the Central Asian Water-Environment nexus, transboundary environmental problems Eastern Europe (Dniester and other rivers), Mining in the Balkans, Central Asia and Armenia and keeping an eye on the environment in areas of frozen conflicts in the Caucasus.
We initiated the MEDSEC initiative, extending Environment and Security assessments to the Southern Mediterranean region. The current activities focus on Jordan, Egypt and the Nile river and Palestine.
The 1992 Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents is designed to protect people and the environment against industrial accidents. The Convention aims to prevent accidents from occurring, or reducing their frequency and severity and mitigating their effects if required. Zoï is providing support to the convention's capacity building programme in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Zoï Books are produced for the United Nations, the European Union, regions and countries and a growing community of readers world-wide. We closely cooperate with GRID-Arendal in providing environmental information for decision-making.
The prime aim of this report is to identify the environmental stress points in the Amu Darya basin which have, or may have, security repercussions for the states and population.The report then suggests solutions to the challenges identified during the assessment. All in all, the field missions covered more than 3 000 km. Participants included experts from the region and from international organizations. Almost 100 experts were directly involved or consulted during the process.
ENVSEC Project “Reducing vulnerability to extreme floods and climate change in the Dniester river basin” (Dniester - III floods & climate).
Summary of the baseline studies for Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, February 2011.
Jordan is an ideal case study to highlight the tension between available resources and rising demand in the Middle East, but also globally. Jordan is an extreme case in that it lacks all three key necessities for human civilization: food, water and energy. This report explains that in order to provide long-term answers securing the well-being of future generations there are no short-term answers, nor yet within the boundaries of the nation-state. Regional cooperation is needed to maximize shared benefits.
The photographs in this book form part of a project commissioned by the Environment and Security Initiative (ENSEC) published in association with Zoi Environment Network. Alban Kakulya is a writter and photographer based in Switzerland.
Over the last few years UNEP and its ENVSEC partners have been working to identify and reduce transboundary environmental risks from hazardous mining operations in South Eastern Europe, with the focus on Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. This document seeks to provide an overview of the results and experience created over this period to facilitate related work in the future and ensure broad dissemination of the lessons learned to guarantee that the efforts made so far can be sustained.
Monograph on water management on the upper Pripyat river between Belarus and Ukraine, prepared by the project team to present project results to the professional audience (Russian).
Mapping flood risks in the Styr-Prostyr basin part of the upper Pripyat basin
Action Programme to Improve Transboundary Cooperation and Sustainable Management of the Dniester River Basin (Dniester - III)
The maps are JPG images in Russian ( large files):
topography of the basin
areas affected by floods with probability 0.5% - 1% - 10% - 25%
infrastructure in the basin
infrastructure at risk from floods with probability 0.5% - 1% - 10% - 25%
This synthesis report makes these complex issues better understandable to decision-makers and a more general public. The concise analysis produced integrates the regional environmental and security, political and economical discourse.
This report considers the role and impact of environmental factors in securing human safety and sustainable development of the eastern Caspian Sea region, including the parts of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan opening onto the Caspian Sea.
A team of Belarus, Ukrainian and international experts visited the area around the Vyzhevsky water gate of the Beloozerskaya water-feed system, on 30 June - 4 July 2008. The report is in Russian.
This publication highlights the importance of recognising the region’s geopolitical positioning between the EU and the Russian Federation, improving energy security without jeopardising the environment, addressing the Transnistrian conflict in Moldova and strengthening cooperation over shared rivers and ecosystems.
Environmental protection is one of the areas where the Balkan countries still face a big challenge to catch up with their western neighbours. After the 1990s conflicts and the breakup of Yugoslavia, six new Balkan states emerged. Apart from integrating environmental concerns into the new policies, a major challenge is environmental management across new borders.
The mandate of the mission led by OSCE was to assess the short-term and long-term impact of the fires of summer 2006 on the environment in the fire-affected territories and to make recommendations on how to counteract any detrimental impact of the fires and on an environmental operation.
In recent years the Caspian Sea has been the focus of increased global attention. The world-wide decline in oil and gas reserves and have heightened interest in an area where there is still growth potential in oil and gas exploration.
Environment and Security, Priority areas in Eastern Europe, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine.
The assesssment has been produced upon request of the countries of the Ferghana Valley - Kyrgzystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - and has widely benefited from their inputs. it shows how the Environment and Security initiative has helped identify both environmental threats to regional security and opportunities for cross-border dialogue.
The report briefly presents a preliminary assessment of environment and security linkages in the Southern Caucasus, carried out at the request of the host governments and in consultation with national experts. Its purpose is to establish the parameters for follow-up action by national authorities and international partners.
The text on this poster is in Russian.
This report focuses on the environmental stress affecting security in two case regions, Central Asia and South Eastern Europe. It provides maps with an overview on major environmental risks to human development and security. The maps are derived from information gathered at consultation workshops in Belgrade and Ashgabat, which were attended by local experts, government and non-government representatives.
