Environmental Mediation

working title:
"Experiences with the employment of environmental mediation in the European Union"

Commissioned by:
Federal Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family, Austria, Präsidialabteilung 3 / EU-Angelegenheiten, A-1010 Wien, Stubenbastei 5
Partners:
ISTM Institute for Systems & Technology Management, Wien, Dr. Andreas Gotwald
MEDIATOR - Zentrum für Umweltkonfliktforschung und Umweltmanagement GmbH, Oldenburg, Prof. Dr. Horst Zilleßen

What is environmental mediation?
Environmental mediation is an informal procedure for conflict resolution, where the conflicting parties, with the help of a neutral intermediary person (mediator), in voluntary negotiation procedure try to reveal interests, discuss their differences, develop options and find alternative solutions.

Criteria for mediation are:

  • The participation in the mediation procedure is voluntary
  • Mediation is an informal procedure
  • The solution for the conflict is not given from outside, the conflicting parties develop their own solution in direct communication and negotiation
  • There are (one or more) neutral People involved, which act as mediators, moderators or facilitators, by structuring and supporting the process to develop solutions, but they do not have any authority to decide on the solution for the conflict
  • Representatives of all conflicting parties are directly involved, to identify solutions
  • They do not delegate the solution to lawyers, judges or other external People
  • The results of the environmental mediation process, act as preparation for political and administrative decisions
  • Environmental mediation does not replace political or administrative decisions!

Comparable procedures to mediation are:
These are procedures for conflict resolution "out of court", where the conflicting parties are directly involved and try to find a consensual solution for their conflict. For example: round table, consensus conference, co-operative planning, open discourse and others.

The project

There are already first studies on the employment of environmental mediation in Austria and Germany, however there is still the need for a comprehensive comparison of the legal status and past experiences with environmental mediation in all EU countries and the neighbouring Middle and Eastern European countries. Research on these issues is the basic precondition for a further development of environmental as a tool for constructive resolution of environmental disputes.
This study therefore surveys the application of environmental mediation and related methods in practise for all EU member countries. This includes a. o. the fields to which mediation is applied, the maturation of the process techniques, and the legal framework for alternative dispute resolution.

Based on the survey data gathered by ISTM and Mediator, the Sustainable Europe Research Institute as a "neutral Instance" will further investigate the following issues:

Mediation in the context of European environmental Policies

The focus of this part is the question whether Mediation is a suitable tool for addressing the two major challenges which European environmental policy currently faces:

  • Enlarging the scope of environmental policy towards a policy of sustainability which pursues the goal of deducting tangible targets and timetables from the abstract concept of Sustainable Development, based on a broad public debate in all parts of society. In practise the (true or perceived) trade-off between ecological, economical and social aspects of S. D. frequently results in a obstructive behaviour of some actors. This is all the more likely the more concretely measures are discussed. Here is where Mediation comes into the picture. By focussing on the underlying interests of all participants and thereby underlining the common positions rather than the differences, it corresponds to the basic idea of S. D.: that social, ecological and economical aspects must not be considered as oppositions, but rather as complementary aspects of one common goal, where one can only be achieved through the other.
  • the integration of environmental concerns into other policy areas of the EU based on the idea that an environmental adjustment of other policies represents a more powerful tool for achieving ecological aims than traditional environmental policy as a second-rate sectoral policy. Although this approach has de jure been incorporated as a fundamental organisational principle of EU politics by the treaty of Amsterdam, the actual application of this principle suffers from the fact that environmental concerns are insufficiently specified. On this basis the question is discussed whether mediation represents a suitable method of developing a positive vision of environmentally sustainable proceedings in the respective sectors, and at the same time to ensure coherent interpretations of Sustainable Development in the different policy areas.

Limits to the mediation process

This topic investigates the restrictions which currently hinder an application of mediation, as well as corresponding policy measures which may help to overcome these restrictions. Among other aspects, this includes issues such as how the binding force of mediation results can be ensured. Where available, solutions to these issues from different European countries are compared.
Another focus of this part is whether there are situations where mediation is per se an unsuitable proceeding, such as the existence of local cultural peculiarities that make mediation redundant and let other, established dispute resolution methods seem more favorable.

Potential of environmental mediation on a European level

The past experiences with environmental mediation are by and large restricted to projects with only local impact. Therefore this topic evaluates the potential of employing mediation on the European level, e.g. in order to incorporate the interests and the specific knowledge of all stakeholders in the process of formulating legal directives.
Furthermore, the possible benefits of a European-wide harmonisation of mediation procedures on the level of member states are discussed, particularly related to the EU enlargement process.

Contact

Fritz Hinterberger

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by abono 1999