PeaceCon 2019: Natural Resource Management and the Environment

Oct 2, 2019 - Oct 4, 2019 | Alliance for Peacebuilding and US Institute for Peace
Washington, DC
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Hosted in partnership with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), PeaceCon provides a dynamic platform for AfP members to network with the private foundations, policymakers and donors, global development and humanitarian non-governmental organizations and the private sector. The first day of PeaceCon is hosted at USIP’s magnificent building on the National Mall in Washington, DC. USIP was founded in 1984 by the US Congress as an independent, national institute dedicated to the proposition that peace is possible, practical, and essential for U.S. and global security. The second and third days are held at FHI 360 near Dupont Circle.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to constructively engage in an array of activities and workshops structured around cutting-edge developments in the field of peacebuilding, from nonviolent action and narratives to technology and business. Participants in PeaceCon 2018 came from over 250 organizations and 40 countries around the world.

PeaceCon 2019 will feature the world’s most inspiring and experienced national and local peacebuilders. Together, we will work together to address the most pressing issues in the peacebuilding field and elevate our policy influence and innovative practices. Currently, 1.5 billion people live under the threat of violence in more than 50 global conflict zones. At a time when violent conflict has forcibly displaced a record 68.5 million people and cost the world an estimated $14.76 trillion annually, it is clear that the conference this year should be “Seizing the Moment for Peace in a Disrupted World.” PeaceCon 2019 will emphasize advancing better frameworks for solutions, open dialogue, and practical approaches to addressing conflict dynamics. Each session will go beyond exploring the problem to outline better practices and deliver learning outcomes. Finally, if we believe our programs are important and that they are effective at reducing violence and building peace, then we need to prove impact.

Alliance for Peacebuilding (AFP) Annual Conference
October 2-4, 2019
Washington, DC

Natural Resource Management and the Environment: “Broadening the field: Environmental approaches to integrating conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding”

 

Friday, October 4, 2019, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM, Balcony D

Organized by Conservation International featuring speakers from the Center for Conservation Peacebuilding, Environmental Law Institute, and the United States Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.

Abstract:

Conservation, natural resource management, and peacebuilding are typically seen as distinct fields requiring specializations in the practice of each respective discipline. Although linkages between ecosystem health and human wellbeing are widely acknowledged, with human wellbeing and livelihoods being particularly dependent on the health of the environment, efforts to tackle intractable challenges in either area are rarely addressed simultaneously. How can actors across these highly interconnected sectors—natural resource management, conservation, and peace—break down siloes through integrated approaches that demonstrate impact?

Given the often-conflictual nature of natural resource management and conservation, which transcend across issues of livelihoods, benefits distribution, and structural inequalities, there is an increasing body of work in this sector that leverages conflict sensitivity and conflict transformation tools as a means of strengthening environmental outcomes. This panel discussion will present the approaches of environmental actors who are leading in the integration of these related disciplines. Panelists will discuss how their work addressing conservation and environmental issues—while relying on a spectrum of peacebuilding approaches—can strengthen conservation and natural resource management work, and vice versa.

The session will begin with opening remarks from the moderator from Conservation International, who will introduce the panelists and the session’s theme. Each panelist will be allowed the opportunity to discuss their work (7 minutes each~ 30 mins) and reflect on how they view the link between environment and peace. This will include input from:

  • Carl Bruch, Director of International Programs at the Environmental Law Institute and President of Environmental Peacebuilding Association. He will share findings of research on efforts by the Global Environment Facility to consider the conflict context in the design and implementation of its projects, and implications of failing to incorporate conflict sensitivity into its projects.
  • Francine Madden, Executive Director of the Center for Conservation Peacebuilding (CPeace). In her work with CPeace, she supports organized facing intractable conflicts around wildlife conservation through the application of conservation conflict transformation (CCT) theory, skills, processes, and strategies. She will address the application of peacebuilding tools to transform conservation-related conflicts.
  • Lydia Cardona, Manager, Conflict Resolution and Peace, Center for Communities and Conservation at Conservation International. Conservation International is leading in its efforts to mainstream conflict sensitivity across the organization and supports internal capacity building on conflict resolution and environmental peacebuilding skills to support its conservation work. She will discuss the importance of conflict sensitivity in conservation.
  • Dana Kathryn Goodson, U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.
  • Alternative: Bocar Chiam – Haiti NRM, Tetra Tech Sierra Leone USAID project, life after diamonds: building natural resource-based livelihoods for preventing and transforming environmental conflict
  • Janet Edmond (moderator).

The moderator will then ask the panelists to address the various benefits and challenges of applying the integrated approach and how this ultimately serves to reinforce their environmentally-focused objectives (40 mins). The moderator will then open the floor to the audience to address their questions directly to the panelists (20 mins).

Ultimately, this discussion seeks to broaden the field of understanding of how environmental actors are engaging across the conflict cycle—from conflict sensitivity and conflict resolution to peacebuilding—and the importance of expanding efforts that link these interrelated disciplines more holistically through collaboration, awareness, and funding that encourages these links.

Peacebuilding through Trans-boundary Water Cooperation: Findings from the Blue Peace Index

Friday, October 4, 2019, 4-5:30 PM, Vista Room

Organized by the Economist Intelligence Unit featuring speakers from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, University of Oregon, World Youth Parliament for Water, and theU.S. Department of State.