Key Message
Conservation activities can contribute to, be affected by, and help resolve conflict.
Understanding and addressing the links between conservation and conflict can strengthen efforts to preserve ecosystems, enhance livelihoods and build peace.
Conservation and Conflict
How are Conservation and Conflict Linked?
What's New in Conservation and Conflict?
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Conflict-Sensitive Conservation: Practitioners' Manual
English (PDF - 15 MB) - Français (PDF - 14 MB)
The Albertine Rift is one of the most biodiverse and ecologically unique regions of Africa. Sadly it has also been the site of some of the world's most violent conflicts in recent history. This turbulent context can pose a range of risks and opportunities to conservationists who are managing resources that can be both a seed of conflict and foundation for peace-building.
With the financial support of the MacArthur Foundation and the technical support of the Conservation Development Centre, IISD has been working with the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere) International in Uganda to better understand the context in which they operate and apply a conflict lens to their work. This work led to the development of the "Conflict-Sensitive Conservation Practitioners' Manual," which provides an analytical and decision-making framework to help conservationists understand and address natural resource-based conflict, and integrate this understanding into conservation programming and implementation. In so doing, conservationists can avoid exacerbating conflict and maximize opportunities for peace-building.
Many of the world's high priority biodiversity hotspots are located in socially and politically unstable settings. As practitioners on the frontlines of environmental management, conservationists working in these areas are faced with conflict issues in a number of ways. For example, conservation activities can:
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create tensions and conflict;
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be affected by armed conflict and its legacies;
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provide a basis for cooperation and peace-building in conflict-prone settings; and
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be included in sustainable post-conflict reconstruction strategies
The links between conservation and conflict are complex, oftentimes shaped by a range of intervening factors such as history, identity, governance, regional politics and socio-economic trends. IISD has been working with conservation and development partners around the world in an effort to better understand these links and offer practical recommendations to conservationists dealing with conflict issues.
Where to Read More
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MEAs, Conservation and Conflict: A case study of Virunga National Park, DRC (PDF - 2.4 mb) » Alec Crawford and Johannah Bernstein, 2008 The protection of unique ecosystems like Virunga National Park (PNVi) in DRC was one of the driving forces behind the creation of many of the UN's multilateral environmental agreements. However a survey of the conventions shows that few are equipped to deal with environmental protection in times of conflict, although some ad hoc tools and mechanisms do exist. Using PNVi and the Great Lakes conflicts as a case study, this paper analyzes where entry points exist for policy-makers and conservationists to use existing international environmental agreements to better protect biodiversity and ecosystems in times of conflict.
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Protected areas and the security community (PDF - 130 kb)» Anne Hammill, 2006 Protected Areas are often situated in remote areas prone to conflict, but they can also make important contributions to peace. This paper draws from IISD's contribution to the World Parks Congress (September 2003, Durban), highlighting the different ways in which Protected Areas are linked to conflict and what this means for different members of the "security community."
Contents
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Conflict-sensitive Conservation
Helping conservationists working in areas of recent or ongoing conflict to minimize risks and maximize peace-building opportunities. -
Conservation in Times of Conflict
Examining the impact of armed conflict on environmental management activities and conservation organizations, as well as the role of Protected Areas during times of conflict. -
Conservation in Post-conflict Settings
Promoting conservation strategies for livelihood generation and peace-building in post-conflict reconstruction.
Key Publication
From Conflict to Peacebuilding: the role of natural resources and the environment
» Richard Matthew, Oli Brown, David Jensen, UNEP, 2009This major report, co-authored by IISD and UNEP, discusses the key linkages between environment, conflict and peacebuilding, and provides recommendations on how these can be addressed more effectively by the international community. More...
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