Those on environmental conflicts are most often discussed in the literature for the international rather than ethnic terms. But the notion of "national interest" and "public interest", as already noted, the meaning of their applications very often coincide. Most international environmental conflicts are essentially international. Indeed, the claim of the Scandinavian States Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland to GERMANY and Britain, whose plants in Ruhr, Birmingham and other locations are a source of acid rain, can be viewed through the prism of interethnic relations, as well as the endless disputes between the United States and Canada concerning the transboundary movement of smoke clouds. Not only international but also international character had the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, because the resulting radioactive fallout have been found in Northern Europe (Norway and Sweden), in the far West (in the UK) and the South-West (in France).
The role of environmental factors in the escalation of inter-ethnic fighting is seen on the example of multi-ethnic societies of tropical Africa, where conflicts are non-international and intra-State ethnic character. Here the lifestyles and living arrangements in the ethnic groups sometimes completely revolve around any element of the natural environment. For example, in Ethiopia the Galla is an example of a ranching community, Anuak people (living on the river banks) is an ethnic group of anglers, medzandzir is an ethnic group of farmers, etc. on the one hand, such ethnic diversity narodovsosedej facilitates the exchange of goods between them, on the other hand, gives rise to conflicts, particularly because of the fresh water, pasture, fuelwood sources.
You can also establish a link between environmental concerns and the emergence of inter-ethnic conflicts in the territory of the former USSR. Illustrative examples is the inter-ethnic clashes in Ferghana, Osh, the complex situation in prirodnoekologiceskaa basins of Amudarya and Syrdarya.
Ecology and ethnic strife