Key Message
Environmental degradation and the mismanagement of natural resources can fuel conflict between and within states, contribute to poverty and state failure, and leave communities more vulnerable to disasters.
At the same time, environmental issues can provide an opportunity to foster dialogue and cooperation over shared interests, reducing tensions between conflicting parties.
Environment and Security (E&S)
What's New in Environment and Security?
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Gorillas in the Midst: Assessing the peace and conflict impacts of International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) activities (PDF - 2.7 mb)
Conservation work in conflict zones and across international borders has impacts on more than just wildlife populations and their habitats; it can also have a profound effect on the peace and conflict dynamics in a region. For example, while the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) implements activities with the primary objective of conserving mountain gorilla populations and habitat, anecdotal evidence suggests that these activities have also improved communication and dialogue among different authorities in the region, thereby fostering relationships and cooperation that are fundamental to peacebuilding. Conversely, decades of experience have shown that conservation interventions can cause tensions and contribute to conflict. This is especially portentous in conflict zones, where any external intervention can unintentionally fuel tensions and conflict by sending the ‘wrong’ message or entrenching perceived inequities.
As a result, IGCP sought a more detailed and systematic understanding of how their conservation and development activities affect peace and conflict dynamics in the Great Lakes region. In order to ensure that they do not inadvertently exacerbate the conflict dynamic but instead actively contribute to peacebuilding, IGCP contracted the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to conduct a Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) of some of their field operations.
IISD believes that the mismanagement of our natural resources lies at the heart of many conflicts and disaster vulnerability.
Sustainable development is impossible without security. Yet since the end of the Cold War, violent conflict has killed or displaced millions of people. Meanwhile, the frequency and toll of natural disasters is on the rise, driven in part by an unpredictable and changing global climate.
It is clear that a better understanding of the links between environmental change and human security is vital for effective peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction. Conflict-sensitive conservation could both protect biodiversity and contribute to peace-building. Better environmental management may help reduce community vulnerability to floods and droughts. IISD's work seeks to understand these links and provide practical advice on how careful management of our environment and our resources can contribute to conflict avoidance and disaster resilience.
Where to Read More
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The Environment and our Security: How our understanding of the links has changed (PDF - 179 kb)
On May 9, 2005, IISD's Oli Brown gave a presentation at a conference on "Environment, Peace and the Dialogue between Civilizations" in Tehran, Iran. His paper charts our evolving understanding of the complex relationship between environmental change and security since the Stockholm conference in 1972, and makes some suggestions for practical policies that can ensure that environmental management is supportive of peace and sustainable development.
Contents
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Climate Change and Security
Understanding how climate change could affect political and economic stability, and developing effective ways to address those problems. -
Conservation and Conflict
IISD has been working with conservation and development partners around the world in an effort to better understand the links between conservation and conflict, and to offer practical recommendations to conservationists faced with conflict. -
Disaster Resilience
IISD's work in this area focuses on the ways in which communities can become more resilient to natural hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. -
Natural Resources, Livelihoods and Security
IISD has been examining how access to and management of natural resources affect livelihoods and how this, in turn, contributes to conflict and/or peace. -
Environment and Security Policy
IISD has been providing practical recommendations to decision-makers on how better environmental management could reduce the risk of conflict. -
Emerging Environment and Security Issues
IISD does work in a number of emerging areas that, by themselves, do not constitute programs of research. These include zoonotic diseases, climate change in Sudan and emerging environment and security issues in China.
Key Publication
Trade, Aid and Security: An agenda for peace and development
» Oli Brown, Mark Halle, Sonia Peña Moreno, Sebastian Winkler, Earthscan, 2006.Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur. All resonate loudly on the international stage, exposing and illustrating the intractable links among global security, war and conflict, the control over natural resources—be they oil, water, timber or "conflict diamonds"—and the deployment of aid money and the manipulation of international trade policies. This volume, written by leading authorities from across the globe, introduces the linkages among trade, aid and security, and exposes how inappropriate or misused trade and aid policies can and do undermine security and contribute to violence and the disintegration of nation states. On a practical level, they demonstrate how six key areas of trade and aid policy can be used to help forge stability and security, reduce the likelihood of armed conflict and assist economic and political recovery in our war-torn world. Foreword by Lloyd Axworthy. More...
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