Avoiding Resource Wars – How to Design Fair Resource Using Regimes?

"Investing in Ecology and Peace: Perspectives of Transatlantic Cooperation" was the theme of a conference at the Protestant Academy of Loccum, Germany, organised in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, and the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) of the United Nations Environment Programme. R. Andreas Kraemer prepared the discussion on "How to Prevent Wars over Natural Resources?", thereby responding to the Worldwatch Institute's "State of the World 2005" summary presented by Michael Renner.

The introductory contribution of R. Andreas Kraemer focused on the importance of security arguments put forward after the events of 11 September 2001, which have marginalised the topic of environmental protection in international relations and, importantly, in the domestic politics of the US. The sole exception is climate protection, which has increasingly moved up the agenda, even if it remains a controversial point in transatlantic relations. Climate protection is becoming twinned with issues of energy security and the security policy implications of energy policies, with China and Russia emerging as new challenges for both the US and the EU.