The Role of UNESCO Designated Sites in Fostering International Cooperation and Environmental Security in SEE

摘要

In the rapidly changing scenarios of the South-Eastern Europe, control on territories has always been playing a relevant geo-political role. In particular, the recent and relatively rapid modification of the regional geography – within which the break apart of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the most significant event – resulted in the creation of a high number of 'new' borders, with the direct consequence of multiplying the trans-boundary initiatives. In many cases, unsolved border issues are still pending, keeping a high conflict potential. Under these conditions, the role of the international initiatives – and in particular, the activities carried out within various multilateral agreements – prove to be powerful tools to reconcile part of these tensions. A specific example is represented by the UNESCO designated sites, namely, the World Heritage Sites and the Biosphere Reserves. In both cases, their international visibility and respective governance mechanisms guarantee to foster the multilateral cooperation. The various existing sites in SEE and, most of all, the ones to be designated next, represent very impor-tant opportunities to 'ground' the trans-boundary cooperation and to potentially catalyze the broad range of current 'green diplomacy' activities in the region, fostering the overall environment security.