Book Summary of Mediating Environmental Conflicts by J. Walton Blackburn and Willa Marie Bruce, eds.
Citation:
Mediating Environmental Conflicts. J. Walton Blackburn and Willa Marie Bruce, eds. Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books, 1995, 309 pp.
This Book Summary written by: Conflict Research Consortium Staff
Mediating Environmental Conflicts discusses both the theory and
practice of environmental mediation. The collected essays explore the nature of
environmental conflict, and examine various approaches to its mediation.
Mediating Environmental Conflicts will be of interest to those who
seek a better understanding of environmental conflicts, and of the use of
mediation in resolving such conflicts. This work is divided into eighteen
chapters, with bibliography and index. Each chapter is an independent article.
Chapter One, written by the editors, describes environmental conflict and
mediation, and introduces the subsequent chapters.
In Chapter Two Christine Reed argues that the new environmental agenda calls
for new approaches to environmental conflict. Such approaches should aim at
creating sustainable communities. She argues that environmental mediation is one
promising approach.
Chapters Three and Four focus on the theory of mediation. Rosemary O'Leary
offer an critical overview of research on environmental mediation. She
particularly emphasizes the problems of knowledge development in environmental
mediation. Peter Maida explores environmental mediation from the perspective of
law and economics. He argues that these perspectives provide better insight into
the environmental mediation process.
Chapters Five and Six discuss training mediators. John Allen describes how to
train environmental mediators to take a community-based approach. He also
discuses issues involved in designing and managing community-based mediation
efforts. James Dworkin and G. Logan Jordan present a teaching case, with
instructions on its use. Their case raises real world issues in the context of a
dispute over an electric utility and air pollution standards.
Returning to the theme of community-based mediation, Kenneth Klase discusses
the special issues which arise in environmental mediation in small communities.
Guy and Heidi Burgess follow with a discussion of environmental conflicts which
are not amenable to mediation. They offer a procedure by which to identify
currently unmediable environmental conflicts, and describe a strategy of
constructive confrontation. Constructive confrontation may be used to turn an
unmediable conflict into a conflict suitable for mediation.
Chapters Nine, Ten and Eleven follow the theme of citizen participation in
environmental mediation. Bruce Clary and Regan Hornney discuss the role of the
public in citing nuclear waste facilities, and argue that the alternative
dispute resolution (ADR) format is a useful way of promoting citizen input.
James Richardson explores the importance of negotiating community consensus in
the early stages of preparing an environmental impact statement. He draws on a
case study of a proposed copper mine outside Prescott, Arizona. Sondra Bogdonoff
examines the use of negotiated rule-making in the development of Maine's
transportation policy.
Chapter Twelve, by William and John Stephens and Frank Dukes discusses
ethical issues in environmental conflicts. They argue that the environment
itself is due ethical consideration, and discuss who is best situated to
represent the environment. Carolyn Blackford and Hirini Matunga discuss issues
of cultural difference in environmental mediation, using the example of the
Maori of New Zealand.
Chapters Fourteen through Seventeen examine cases. Clare Ryan discuses the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) use of regulatory negotiation. She draws
on three case studies to evaluate the successes and failures of regulatory
negotiation. In Chapter Sixteen, J. Lynn Wood and Mary Guy suggest methods for
building political consensus on potentially environmentally damaging
initiatives. Dennis Baird, Ralph Maughan and Douglas Nilson draw conclusions
from the unsuccessful mediation of the Idaho Wilderness controversy. In Chapter
Seventeen Mollie Mangerich and Larry Luton asses the use of ADR via the case of
the Inland Northwest Field Burning Summit.
In conclusion, Blackburn describes the issues and challenges presently facing
research in environmental mediation, and suggests useful approaches for the
future.
Mediating Environmental Conflicts provides an accessible introduction
to contemporary issues and approaches in environmental mediation.
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