Environmental Dimensions of Sustainable Recovery: Learning from Post-Conflict and Disaster Response Experience

Jun 25, 2014 | Woodrow Wilson Center
6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center

Crises, including complex emergencies, war, and natural disasters, create high-stakes environmental and natural resource management choices for communities, governments, and non-governmental organizations. If managed properly, natural resources and ecosystems can be critical elements of disaster risk reduction and important foundations for the recovery of sustainable lives and livelihoods; if managed poorly, they can increase vulnerability to both conflict and disaster. Prospects for sustainable recovery depend on choices made in the earliest days of post-conflict or post-disaster initiatives and evolve as the stages of recovery, reconstruction, and redevelopment proceed. However, there are a number of challenges to managing environmental resources effectively in this context related to knowledge, training, task complexity, accountability, and prevailing institutional practices.

The panel will present and discuss selected findings from a joint project by the American University’s School of International Service and World Wildlife Fund to bring together a fragmented knowledge base and identify better practices among the environment, post-conflict/disaster response, and peacebuilding communities.

Please note: This project is conducted with support from the United States Institute of Peace. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this event are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace.

Event speakers:

• Anita Van Breda, Director, Disaster Reduction and Response, World Wildlife Fund
• Ken Conca, Director, Global Environmental Politics Program, American University
• Wendy Cue, Chief of Environmental Emergencies, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
• Roger-Mark De Souza, Director of Population, Environmental Security, and Resilience, Wilson Center
• Alice Thomas, Climate Displacement Program Manager, Refugees International
• Annica Walleij, Senior Analyst and Project Manager, Swedish Defence Research Agency