P R O D U C T I O N
Professor Charles Wiggins of the University of San Diego's California Law School loves a good argument. So much so, he makes a living out of solving disputes. He spoke at "The Mediation Process: Teaching and Training," a joint workshop with the training organisation Partners Hungary, where 20 participants were taught how to practice their mediation skills, including developing the ability to negotiate and communicate in a professional context.
Mediation is one way to settle environmental conflicts of interest, compared to traditional forms like litigation, legislative and regulatory change or alternative methods, such as arbitration, med-arb and consensus building. It can be applied to resolve both site-specific and policy level disputes, including land-use, resource management/use of public lands, water resources, energy, air quality and toxins issues. Essentially, mediation is facilitated negotiation. When direct negotiation has reached a deadlock, parties can bring in a trained professional mediator like Wiggins, to help them resolve the dispute. Participants in a mediation might include a mixture of environmental groups, private companies and government entities. The mediator is neutral; he or she must not be an advocate for either party, although the mediator can help to overcome a marked imbalance in power between the parties. The mediator is not a decision maker; but assists the parties in reaching their own, mutually agreeable decision.
Environmental mediation was first used in the U.S. in the 1970s. Fitchburg, a suburb of Madison, was serviced partly by a municipal water facility and partly by a temporary private system, built in the 1940s and 1950s. A new municipal water facility was expected to be built to permanently service the whole area, but no one wanted to pay for it. By the late 1970s that had not been done and the situation had become tense. Residents looked, in turn to developers, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the local council to try to find a solution. Finally a professional mediator was brought in by the DNR, to break the deadlock. Four mediation sessions, including all involved parties, were held during the ensuing year, with the result that an agreement was reached and the water facility was constructed.
Workshop co-organisers Partners Hungary have some experience of environmental mediation on home ground. In March 1997, Partners Hungary was invited to mediate in a dispute between a private company, which was operating an incinerator in Dorog, and the town's local environ-mental association. A number of issues were involved, including whether the facility was operating in compliance with applicable environmental regulations and whether local officials were receiving any financial gain from the incinerator. To satisfy the civil society organisation's (CSO) interests, Partners' mediators helped the different sides develop a plan for it to monitor the incinerator. Partners continued to meet with representatives of the parties on a regular basis to check that they were satisfied with implement-ation of the agreement. As a result of Partners' earlier work in Hungary, conflict resolution is already a part of the curriculum at a number of institutions, including the Faculties of Economics and Sociology. The organisation also assists parties in collaborative planning processes. It is currently working with mayors in the region around Sumeg, West Hungary and the Environmental Institute, to develop a strategic plan for the industrial, agricultural, touristic and environmental development of the region.
Wherever there are relationships between parties with differing interests, the potential for conflict exists. Approached correctly, the conflict can not only be settled, but the overall situation can be improved, professionals at the Budapest workshop stressed. In Hungary, Partners wants to introduce mediation broadly, cooling the flames of environmental, business, community and ethnic disputes. That is likely to produce some heated debate.
was established in 1994 by Partners for Democratic Change International, an American non-profit organisation. Partners for Democratic Change has established national centers in several countries of the Eastern and Central European region (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia) which cooperate with the main USA-based center, as well as with each other, to support the region's transitional societies and new democracies. The mission of the Partners network is to develop collaborative planning, problem solving and dispute resolution skills essential to the success of a democratic society.