Intergovernmental organizations’ impact on environmental democracy in post-soviet countries and their contribution to the transboundary cooperation: the case of OSCE in the South Caucasus region regarding the water/energy nexus
Intergovernmental organizations’ impact on environmental democracy in post-soviet countries and their contribution to the transboundary cooperation: the case of OSCE in the South Caucasus region regarding the water/energy nexus
Date
2020
Authors
Wolff, Lynn
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Abstract
2020 marks the 22nd birthyear of the Aarhus Convention which is the regional legal document
for the implementation of environmental democracy in Europe. This study provides a broad
comprehension on the principle of environmental democracy by outlining the impact of the
intergovernmental organizations work on the concept of public participation, including
information sharing and the public participation in the decision-making process, as well as, on
their contribution to establish transboundary cooperation in environmental matters. The thesis
project is introducing a case-study, namely the impact of environmental democracy and
transnational cooperation in environmental matters in the South Caucasian region, more
precisely in the energy- water nexus, promoted by the OSCE.
After situating the discussions on the theoretical framework, new institutionalism, this thesis
investigates how the OSCE acts as a stimulus to strengthen public participation and to
contribute to transnational cooperation among Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. This thesis
based its discourse analysis on the statements produced during the annual Economic and
Environmental Forums of the OSCE, and is including information produced in the Envsec
Report on Climate Change in South Caucasia from 2017.
This thesis argues, that the work of intergovernmental organizations is essential in order to
keep environmental matters and the full implementation of environmental democracy high on
the agenda. However, the South Caucasian case demonstrates that the political work of the
OSCE is time consuming and progresses slowly. This region is reluctant to implement fully
public participation, especially the pillar on information sharing, and is only selectively
cooperating on certain topic, excluding the water management. This study confirms that OSCE
work is essential, however, certain components such as the frozen conflicts, nationalism,
influence of third states, as well as, national interests and selective economic cooperation in
the energy sector, hardens the work of the OSCE. Economic benefits are prioritized, meaning
that safeguarding the environment through transnational cooperation and enabling public
participation are not high on the priority list of the South Caucasian countries.
Keywords
Discourse Analysis; New Institutionalism; Environmental Democracy; Aarhus Convention;
transboundary environmental projects; OSCE; South Caucasus; water/energy security;
Description
Second semester University: Université Libre de Bruxelles
Keywords
environmental policy,
OSCE,
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters,
South Caucasus,
former Soviet Union Republics,
participation,
international cooperation,
energy policy,
water resources