Whatever the tragic results of large-scale disasters, manmade or natural, delegates agreed it was essential to know more about their causes . The need for a prior investigation into the real cause of a disaster, before launching a full inquiry into the sequence of cause and effect The importance of acting on the results of the case studies in order to find solutions, rather than simply filing them as literature for curious readers. The usefulness of encouraging inhabitants of the disaster area to participate in the case studies, and aid the experts in their work. An example of this cooperation between regional and international experts was evident in the session when two Indonesian participants, officials in their country's environmental and governmental sectors compared their knowledge and ideas with another speaker, Charles Victor Barber who had conducted a study of deforestation in Indonesia. Whereas one speaker said Indonesia needed more time to solve its forest problems, others pointed out that time is exactly what forests don't have.
Every year forests the size of Switzerland are being lost.
Mark Halle from the International Institute of Sustainable Development pointed out that environmental conflicts do not affect just undeveloped countries, but also highly developed countries like Canada and Spain, for example over fishing rights. That is why it is very important to have some legal institutions which can arbitrate in cases like this, he said. Another speaker suggested establishing a framework by which the IUCN could monitor and arbitrate on violations and conflicts. Richard Katofsky, an international lawyer, said some instances of environmental law existed in the world, but there was no overall international law. Dr. Sufian Al-Tal, a leading Jordanian environmentalist, said the human being was unquestionably the most important of all resources in the environment, pointing out that humans are the primary reason one strives to achieve environmental stability and sustainability.