Environmental mediation

Environmental protection is a subject which arouses deep feelings and inherently involves the reconciliation or balancing of competing principles and priorities. The disputes which it engenders can be complex, bitter and protracted, and they are the types of issue which could significantly benefit from the application of mediation techniques. In the UK, little progress seems to have been made in applying such techniques to the full range of environmental problems, in contrast to other areas. Mediation is growing in popularity and use in the context of family disputes, problems between neighbours, and commercial problems. With some exceptions, however, it has not been widely applied to environmental disputes, which appears to be an area where the full potential of mediation remains to be realized.