Regional Security: Transfrontier Cooperation

Abstract

To achieve comprehensive human security requires the satisfaction of both of its two somewhat intertwined components, social security (with its political, military, economic, and ethical elements) and environmental security (with its utilization-oriented and protection-oriented elements) (Westing 1989a).

This Chapter is reproduced from the author’s Entry #245 provided in Chap. 2, with the original title, ‘Building confidence with transfrontier reserves: the global potential’. It is used here by permission of the United Nations Environment Programme, the copyright holder, as given on 18 March 2013. The author is grateful to Naigzy Gebremedhin and Carol E. Westing for their guidance. A preliminary version of this Chapter was presented at ‘The IVth World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas’, Caracas, 10–21 February 1992, of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (Gland, Switzerland). All International Union for Conservation of Nature species threat categories have been updated to March 2013 (cf. www.iucnredlist.org).

Appendices

Miscellaneous International Agreements (Actual or Proposed)

1.1 Benin/Burkina Faso/Niger W Parks

A reserve established by France during the time it exerted control over West Africa (so named because the Niger River flowing through it takes the shape there of a ‘W’) subsequently became fragmented into three parts: W National Park in Benin (568,000 ha; established 1954; IUCN II); W National Park in Burkina Faso (235,000 ha; established 1954; IUCN II); and W National Park in Niger (220,000 ha; established 1954; IUCN II). In 1965, the regional intergovernmental Council of the Entente (Abidjan) submitted a plan to the three relevant governments to establish a single reserve authority, which has not been acted upon as of early 1993 and which is no longer an activity of the Council.

1.2 Roosevelt Campobello International Park

In 1964, Canada and the USA established the former Franklin Delano Roosevelt estate on Campobello Island (which is Canadian territory) as an ‘International Park’, placing it under the control of a joint Canadian–US ‘International Park Commission’ (UNTS 7674; for the relevant US legislation, cf. USCA 1992, Title 16, §§1101–1113). The Roosevelt Campobello International Park (1,000 ha; established 1964; IUCN unlisted), although not so much a natural reserve as an international memorial and museum, is of interest in the present context because it functions as a true bilateral entity under the legal control of a bilateral commission.

1.3 Machias Seal Island International Park

Machias Seal Island is an approximately 6 ha island in the Bay of Fundy. It is located about 16 km from both Canada and the USA (at 44°30′N–67°08′W). Both countries claim the island (Line 1973; McNeil 1991). The island is an important nesting site for various colonial seabirds, including the Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica; IUCN Least Concern), razorbill (Alca torda; IUCN Least Concern), Leach’s storm petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa; IUCN Least Concern), and thin-billed murre (Uria aalge; IUCN Least Concern), and is also an important rest stop for numerous migratory birds—making the island a favorite site for ornithologists to visit. One solution to the contested sovereignty of the island would be to establish it as an international wildlife sanctuary, either under unchallenged or joint sovereignty (McNeil 1991).

1.4 Bialowieza Primeval Forest

The Bialowieza forest, which straddles the Belarus/Polish border, is one of the largest remaining relatively undisturbed forest ecosystems in Europe, inter alia, providing the habitat for the wisent (Bison bonasus; IUCN Vulnerable) (Krasiúski 1990; Sokolowski 1983; Westing 1980: 57). Some level of protection is now provided by the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Hunting Reserve in Belarus (87,600 ha; established 1940; IUCN IV) opposite Bialowieza National Park in Poland (5,300 ha; established 1932; IUCN II; world heritage; UNESCO biosphere reserve). The Global Environment Facility (Washington) (GEF 1992a) has recently approved a project, with substantial funding, in support of the Polish portion of the forest (GEF 1992b); and is considering similar support for the Belarus portion (GEF 1992b: 69–72).

1.5 La Amistad International Park

Three contiguous protected natural areas encompass the middle and upper reaches of the Talamanca Mountain range, meant to protect one of the largest and most biologically diverse virgin forests in Central America: Chirripó National Park in Costa Rica (50,200 ha; established 1975; IUCN II), Cordillera de Talamanca (= La Amistad) National Park in Costa Rica (193,900 ha; established 1982; IUCN II; UNESCO biosphere reserve), and La Amistad National Park in Panama (207,000 ha; established 1988; IUCN II). Among the extraordinarily rich flora and fauna in these parks are a number of mammals threatened with extinction, including the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis = Felis pardalis; IUCN Least Concern), jaguar (Panthera onca; IUCN Near Threatened), and Central American tapir (Tapirus bairdii; IUCN Endangered); as well as a number of birds, including the resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno; IUCN Near Threatened) and harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja; IUCN Near threatened). An agreement for natural resources border cooperation was concluded between Costa Rica and Panama in 1979, and a decision to establish an international friendship park was reached in 1982. Currently, the Organization of American States (Washington) is in the process of reaching an understanding with the United Nations Environment Programme (Nairobi) to assist Costa Rica and Panama in developing a program of forest management for the region, and to provide funding for that endeavor.

Waterton–Glacier International Peace Park

In 1932, the US Congress authorized that, pending similar action by Canada, Glacier National Park ‘shall become a part of an international park to be known as the Waterton–Glacier International Peace Park’ (USCA 1992, Title 16, §161a). However, the portion within the USA ‘shall be designated as the Glacier National Park’ (USCA 1992, Title 16, §161b); and the Glacier National Park ‘shall be under the exclusive control of the [US] Secretary of the Interior (USCA 1992, Title 16, §162). In the same year, the Canadian Parliament took similar unilateral action. However, no bilateral treaty has as yet been concluded between Canada and the USA that would provide for the establishment of a transfrontier protected natural area.

The 1924 Cracow Protocol

In connection with a boundary dispute in the aftermath of World War I, representatives of Czechoslovakia and Poland produced a joint protocol (Cracow, 6 May 1924; entry into force, 5 September 1924; LNTS unlisted), inter alia recommending the establishment of four pairs of contiguous frontier protected natural areas and calling upon their two respective governments to conclude a bilateral treaty to enable such coordinate action (Goetel 1925; Goetel et al. 1926). The Protocol called for the establishment, in the first instance, of independent contiguous reserves in the border-straddling Tatra Mountains (outlined in the text above). Another of the three other recommendations has also come to pass: the Pieninsky National Park in Slovakia (2,000 ha; established 1967; IUCN II) opposite the Pieniny National Park in Poland (2,000 ha; established 1932; IUCN II). However, no bilateral treaty has as yet been concluded between Slovakia and Poland that would provide for the establishment of a transfrontier protected natural area.