Managing Social Conflict Risks in Landscape Restoration: Insights from a Project in Mali

Elise Doumergue, The World Bank Group (France)

In Mali, a World Bank-funded landscape restoration project has adopted a dedicated strategy to manage social conflict risks that could arise from project activities, including those related to beneficiary selection, communal land use, and the long-term governance of community investments. This strategy sets out clear principles to help the project uphold its commitment to do no harm while promoting sustainable outcomes that contribute to greater peace, security and resilience. This presentation examines how the strategy has been operationalized, highlighting measures: - to monitor fragility and conflict dynamics, their evolution, and how project activities interact with them, - to identify and mitigate potential adverse social impacts of project activities, particularly regarding sensitive issues such as land tenure and restrictions on resource access, and - to proactively strengthen social capital, supporting locally negotiated governance agreements with clear dispute-resolution mechanisms.