From the Ground Up: Grassroots Approaches to Environmental Peacebuilding

Martina Cocchi, University of Milan (Italy)

When it comes to environmental peacebuilding (EP), local communities are often excluded from the design and implementation of peacebuilding initiatives. That is, despite strong evidence that EP efforts achieve better outcomes when grassroots actors are involved. Still, there is a lack of understanding about the mechanisms put in place. This research addresses this gap through an ethnographic fieldwork in Colombia to investigate grassroots EP initiatives. Drawing on Lederach’s multi-track actor’s framework and Johnson et al.’s conceptualization of capabilities as peace, this study examines the mechanisms through which local participation influences the effectiveness of EP, with a specific focus on distributive justice. The research analyzes the interactions between the grassroots and institutional levels and how they influence each other during the process. The findings will contribute theoretically by advancing the understanding of the grassroots dimension of EP, and practically by identifying factors that promote the sustainability of locally led initiatives.