Book Description

Rational exploitation and utilization of natural and environmental resources is more difficult in cross-border areas than in areas under the jurisdiction of a single authority. Moreover, cross-border resource management is constrained by the number of independent stakeholders involved. The primary reasons for this come from the uneven spatial distribution of production factors as well as the non-cooperative cross-border mechanism resulting from two or more political regimes. Faced with cross-border pollution, policymakers tend to be shortsighted, emphasizing the direct costs and benefits of their own regional development at the expenses of their neighbors. In addition, research institutions and international donor agencies have not paid full attention to the problems common in cross-border areas. Consequently, cross-border area studies remain a marginalized, easily forgotten topic. The main objectives of this book are to clarify how natural and human systems interact in cross-border areas under conditions of uncertain, imperfect information and, in some circumstances, irreversibility; to identify and, where possible, quantify the various impacts of the 'border' on the environmental activities in cross-border areas; to evaluate the costs and benefits of cross-border cooperation in the exploitation and utilization of natural and environmental resources; and to recommend measures in improving national and international legal and regulatory mechanisms for resource exploitation and environmental protection in cross-border areas.