Tag Archives: Post Conflict Development

Environmental Peacebuilding: An Introduction

03 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by in Environment

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Throughout history, natural resources have been the cause of many conflicts. While scarcity of resources such as water has been the cause of conflict among communities for the remaining water supply, the abundance of expensive resources such as diamonds has also been a cause of conflict in countries such as Sierra Leone, Congo, Liberia, and Angola which have experienced decades of civil war over diamonds. [1] Other countries where natural resources are the cause of conflict are Guatemala, Nepal, and Yemen. [2]

While control over natural resources become a source of conflict, the conflicts that take place have been the cause of severe damage to countries’ environment as well. Research data indicates that 90 percent of the major armed conflicts from 1950 to 2000 occurred in countries which contain biodiversity hot-spots, heightening their impact on the environment. [3] While some damages to eco-systems and natural resources due to conflicts are intentional, others are indirect impacts. Irrespective of the manner in which the damages occur, their impacts remain over many years and increase the vulnerabilities of those affected by conflict. One of the many examples of conflicts creating grave impacts to the environment and natural resources could be the Persian Gulf War, in which over 500 oil wells were torched and destroyed.

Focusing on the important role that natural resources play in creation of conflicts and the impacts the environment endures due to them, many efforts at peace building in post war contexts turn to concepts that interlink resilience building in the post war/conflict areas with environmental protection. With impacts of phenomena such as climate change that affects the available resources, scientists project many conflicts to erupt in countries where natural resources are more vulnerable to such impacts, many of them in Asia and the Pacific. [4] And it is highly important that environmental management ensures that resource depletion does not lead to communal impacts which in turn lead to conflicts.

Initiatives which combine environmental protection with peace building include negotiations for resource sharing, as well as collective communal actions for resource utilization and protection. Good governance is key to avoiding conflicts due to unbalanced access to resources. And an increased awareness on ecosystems contributes to better protection of existing resources and a decrease in the scarcity of resources.

Many stakeholders in countries that have experienced civil wars and conflicts have engaged in practicing environmental peace building. This includes the United Nations as well as national governments and civil society organisations which have engaged in creating awareness, as well as taking active initiatives focusing on both environmental protection and peace building as a combined effort. Examples of such actions could be the development of the Forest Law and Policy in Liberia (2006) which aimed to prevent corruption and illegal logging.

Such efforts embrace the concept of environmental peacebuilding which focuses on integrating natural resource management in conflict prevention, mitigation, resolution, and recovery to build resilience in communities affected by conflict. [5] These efforts focus on how natural resources such as land use or control over water and ecosystems could be better structured in order to avoid conflicts, as well as how the supply of resources could be better governed in post conflict areas.

This article is an introduction on how environment and conflicts interlink, and aims for a better understanding of ways to address conflicts through environmental and ecosystem-based systems as well as through good governance. It is published as a first step to articles on different issues of focus for a better understanding of how natural resources can be the cause of conflicts, as well as how impacts and vulnerabilities increased through climate change and resource depletion can be addressed through strategic and well managed ways to ensure that conflicts based on resource distribution are avoided.

Footnotes:

[1] Conflict and Natural Resources, The Environment and Literacy Council, Retrieved from: https://enviroliteracy.org/land-use/conflict-natural-resources/

[2] Curwin, Daniel, “How Resource Wealth Fuels War,” The National Interest, Retrieved from: http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-role-natural-resource-wealth-armed-conflicts-12195

[3] Ibid

[4] Blondel, Alice, “Climate Change Fuelling Research Based Conflict in Asia and the Pacific,” UNDP (2012) Restrived from: https://www.uncclearn.org/sites/default/files/inventory/undp304.pdf

[5] Environmental Peacebuilding, Retrieved from: https://environmentalpeacebuilding.org/

2015: Year of Action on Sustainable Development

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Climate Change, Sustainable Development

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(C) Creative Commons

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The Security Council of the UN held its 7631st meeting, and its first session for the year 2015 on 19th January 2015. Addressing the session, Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon highlighted the need for inclusive development and stressed on the importance of 2015, which is a key year for key global issues that relate to development and environment. He further added that the UN was built on the three pillars of peace and security, development, and human rights and the ignoring one would lead to the peril of the others.

“Our Organization is built around three pillars: peace and security, development and human rights. In dealing with the enormous and complex challenges of each, we sometimes pay little attention to their interdependence. But the founders of the United Nations well understood that if we ignore one pillar, we imperil the other two…That is why I very much welcome the Security Council’s focus today on inclusive development,” he said.
He explained the importance of year 2015 and said, “2015, is a year of action on sustainable development. We are striving to complete the work of the Millennium Development Goals, to launch a new post-2015 sustainable development agenda and reach agreement on climate change.”

Ban Ki Moon said that he was encouraged to note the Member States have paid considerable attention to peace and security and to human rights while, in the General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, Member States have stressed the importance of inclusive growth and decent work, in building a better future.

Among the key concerns of the Member States on development are: reducing inequality and ensuring universal access to basic services including health care and education, peace with social inclusion, access to justice for all, as well as inclusive, representative decision-making.

The Secretary General stated that he sees the negotiations of the UN commencing on 19th of January an opportunity to broaden the development agenda and highlight the fundamental importance of inclusive societies in building a more peaceful world.

“All countries and all societies can benefit from sustainable and inclusive development, whether they are rich or poor, developed or developing, in conflict or at peace. There is a growing consensus that the high levels of inequality we have seen in recent decades are socially, politically and environmentally damaging,” he said.

He further stressed the need for inclusivity in the development agenda when he said, “Development that excludes part of the population can be socially corrosive… And it can lead to the unregulated exploitation of natural resources, further degrading the environment.”

Speaking of development of post conflict societies, Ban Ki-moon highlighted the need to prioritise social, economic and political inclusion.

“Post-conflict societies in particular must prioritize social, economic and political inclusion if they are to have any hope of rebuilding trust between communities. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are a key condition if women are to contribute to reconciliation and reconstruction,” he said.

He added that inclusive development is not one that comes by accident, even in those countries where there is peace, and that it is a multi-stakeholder process which needs to be driven with all party involvement.
“Governments, the private sector and civil society must demonstrate their commitment to education, health, job creation and other key steps. The institutions of governance and political representation are some of the most crucial determinants of inclusive development.”

The Secretary General highlighted the readiness of the United Nations system to increase its support for countries in promoting inclusive development, through steps such as coordinating international support targeted at countries emerging from conflict and urged the Security Council members to play their part in making sure that the opportunity presented in 2015 for addressing the development agenda be heard.

“The post-2015 sustainable development agenda is an important opportunity to reinforce the interdependence of development, peace and security, and human rights. I urge all members of the Security Council to play their part in making sure this message is heard in the continuing negotiations, and in the final agreement,” he concluded.