The OSCE and the environment

I will give you a brief overview on environment and security issues from the OSCE perspective. As you know, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is a pan-European security body composed of 55 participating States, including the countries of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. As a regional arrangement under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, kans and Eastern Europe. As a regional arrangement under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, the OSCE is a primary instrument for early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. The OSCE's unique approach to security is comprehensive in that it deals with three dimensions of security: the human dimension; the politico-military dimension and the economic and environmental dimension. Since the early 1990s, policy-makers have been faced with the complexity of an international security system in which non-traditional security threats to local, national, regional and world-wide scope are increasing and where many processes are beyond the control of individual governments. The role of regional institutions, such as the OSCE, is adjusting to this changing framework through adopting a comprehensive and broad security approach. The economic and environmental dimension is one of the components of the OSCE's comprehensive approach to security. It operates on the premise that economic and environmental solidarity and co-operation can contribute to peace, prosperity and stability. Therefore, the OSCE believes that increased attention needs to be given to the relationship between environment and security. As a regional security organization, the OSCE has the authority to mandate peace-keeping operations, engage into conflict prevention and management, and foster economic cooperation and development throughout its area of responsibility. The risk of conflict may indeed drastically increase over the next decade, with potential infra-state as well as inter-state conflicts, combined with a growing demand for resources, population growth and increased consumption per capita, and thus a likely exhaustion of the environment. By providing a platform for discussion among national governments, private business, international organizations and NGO's to interact, to exchange thoughts, comments and criticism, OSCE activities can have a lasting impact. The OSCE is able to promote the articulation of, and adherence to, shared standards and norms for economic and environmental behavior, and can develop and intensify contacts with relevant international organizations. The special role of the OSCE is to identify priority projects and submit such projects to international organizations which have the economic and financial means to address them concretely. Thus, the OSCE can act as a catalyst. Mutual information and regular contacts are being organized, for instance, with international financial institutions, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission (EC). Also, NGO's have a valuable contribution to make to the economic and in particular to the environmental dimension. Their independence, technical expertise and their know-how with regard to fact-finding, promoting dialogue and building confidence is of substantial benefit to the OSCE process. In accordance with the mandate of die OSCE Office in Minsk and at the request of the Belarusian government, the OSCE has pledged to undertake a number of activities in the sphere of environment. The OSCE Office started its activities in February and a businesslike cooperation has quickly evolved between the Belarusian government and the OSCE Office. Four working groups have been established. One of them is dedicated solely to environmental matters and was inaugurated by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection L.I. Khoruzhik. We have already held two constructive meetings of the Working Group on the Environment and have identified three possible areas of cooperation in water management, environmental education and in the creation of regional environmental networks. We continue to progress with our efforts to identify suitable partners and currently enjoy a constructive dialogue. The OSCE would like to thank you once again for the invitation to today's conference. We look forward to ongoing and constructive work in Belarus. (Authors)