Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding
Promoting the role of ecosystem management and natural resource governance is necessary to moving fragile societies onto pathways of resilience.
The connections between environmental issues and conflict are many and complex. Environmental factors themselves are rarely, if ever, the sole cause of violence. But natural resources and other environmental factors are linked to violent conflict in a variety of ways often obscured by more visible issues, such as ethnic tension and power politics. Our experts reveal the links among environmental change, natural resources and security. We also focus on what can be done about these links: namely, trying to better understand how peacebuilding practitioners, working in fragile states, can integrate climate risks and considerations into their work to ensure that it is sustainable and that it supports the transition from fragility to peace.
- Report
Green Conflict Minerals: The fuels of conflict in the transition to a low-carbon economy
This reports seeks to understand how the transition to a low-carbon economy—and the minerals and metals required to make that shift—could affect fragility, conflict and violence dynamics in mineral-rich states.
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Electric Vehicles vs. Fuel-Efficient Used Cars: Which really drives sustainability?
Debates surrounding the merits of electric vehicles versus fuel-efficient used cars have typically focused on carbon emissions and energy use only—but what of the conflict implications?
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Five Steps We Must Take to Protect Refugees in the Future
This year, a new reality, based on a new international paradigm regarding refugees futures, must emerge. Here are five steps that need to be set in motion to make this happen.
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Connecting the Dots: Natural resources, women and peace
To celebrate International Women’s Day, we spoke with Silja Halle of UN Environment to discuss the opportunities presented by environment and natural resources to strengthen women’s participation in peace processes.
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Conflict-Sensitive Conservation in the Maiko–Tayna–Kahuzi–Biega Landscape: Conflict analysis
This conflict analysis provides guidance for advancing conflict-sensitive conservation in the Maiko–Tayna–Kahuzi–Biega landscape.
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Digging up the Dirt on Conflict Minerals Worldwide
A series of recent reports has revealed a new complexity to the familiar topic of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s “conflict minerals.” Clare Church explores how the trade now not only proliferates outsides of the mobile phone industry, but also outside of the country itself.
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Digging Out of Conflict: Can Artisanal Mining Support Peacebuilding?
We sit down with Alec Crawford to talk about the relationship between conflict and the artisanal mining sector, and to see if there are opportunities for it to operate alongside peacebuilding efforts.
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Conserving Biological Hotspots in Conflict-Affected Democratic Republic of Congo
Maiko National Park, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is so remote that the park’s northern edge can only be reached by a seven-day walk through thick, inhospitable forest.
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Building Transboundary Water Security
This article highlights a new generation of transboundary agreements that aim to integrate wider freshwater benefits, notably ecosystem functions. It also points to the need for holistic approaches to freshwater management moving forward, as countries turn towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Read More - Toolkit
Migration and Conservation: A toolkit for conservation and development practitioners
This toolkit helps conservation practitioners assess the impacts of human migration on critical ecosystems.
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