Achim Wennmann

Geneva Peacebuilding Platform

May 19, 2020

Achim Wennmann is Senior Researcher at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, and Executive Coordinator of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. He works on issues at the intersection of violent conflict, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and economic solutions. He holds a Doctorate and Master’s degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. In his role as Executive Coordinator of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, he helps to fundraise and develop programs to bring together peacebuilding experts and actors to share knowledge, engage through seminars, consultations, and conferences, and provide policy advice. He is also the co-founder of Geneva Peace Week, which brings together more than 1,000 participants each year, and the Peace Talks Initiative, which showcases inspirational stories of people that have made important and exceptional contributions to peace.

One part of Achim’s work centers on the intersection between economic issues and peace negotiations, building on his earlier research addressing and interrogating war economies, conflict financing, and the impact of natural resources on governance. He has worked on post-conflict reconstruction in Syria, improving understanding of the roles of different Syrian governmental institutions in controlling economic flows of aid and business investment. He explains, “It raises a lot of questions about how international business investors are taking on board the human rights principles that have been around for over a decade … There is a connection between economic issues and peace negotiations. Very frequently natural resources are considered a reason for conflict, as different parties fight over resources and control.”  He then pivots to finding workable solutions: “We need to find new ways of thinking about natural resources, specifically oil, water, and pollution, and the environment to bring divided parties together.”

Over his 20 years of experience, Achim has tied together diverse topics such as peacebuilding, statebuilding, governance, the role of the private sector, urban diplomacy, and citizen security. This makes him specially poised to reflect on future directions for environmental peacebuilding, arguing that we need to look at unusual opportunities where natural resources can resolve conflict and bring communities together. He proposes that one of the most interesting directions that environmental peacebuilding can take is to focus on urban environments, public space, and urban environmental diplomacy, explaining, “The environment is not just happening in far-away places, it is also happening in the most heavily urbanized areas in the world. Here is an opportunity to think about the environment in public space in cities, expanding public parks, strengthening environmental diplomacy, and taking the environment back into cities.” He cites an example from San Salvador, where a community organization rehabilitated a public park as a peacebuilding project to address income gaps and political differences. The project created a process that engaged community members and brought them to the table by using the shared environment.

Environmental peacebuilding is at the core of Achim’s work and mission. In his view, “The core of environmental peacebuilding is to use the environment as a connector and not as a divider. Because of needs for water, air, and access to land, the sharing of the environment can provide entry points that not many issues do. To build upon the environment as an entry point, peacebuilding provides the architecture and mechanisms for constructing that common ground.” As an active member of the Association, Achim sees the importance of bringing professionals together to show that division is not a way forward, but cooperation and connection between professionals can lead to wider cooperation over policy and governance.