Environmental peacebuilding

Environmental peacebuilding examines and advocates environmental protection and cooperation as a factor in peaceful relations. Peacebuilding is both the theory and practice of identifying the conditions that can lead to a sustainable peace between those who have previously been adversaries, and assisting adversaries to move towards a sustainable peace. In the Middle East, common environmental challenges have been identified as a basis for regional cooperation and peacebuilding. A small Middle Eastern civil society network reaches across adversarial boundaries to promote and practice environmental cooperation.

The study of peacebuilding (a term coined by Galtung, 1975) develops from interest in identifying the conditions that lead beyond a temporary cessation of violence to sustainable processes of conflict management and mutual cooperation between those who have previously been adversaries. Lederach is most commonly cited, and his work has influenced national aid and development agencies, international agencies, and the network of NGOs that have placed peacebuilding on their agendas.

Beginning with Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali promoting An Agenda for Peace in 1992, the United Nations adopted the language of peacebuilding and developed programs based on it. Initiatives promoting human security and human rights share a similar concern with developing an international system that promotes the underlying conditions for the movement towards a peaceful world.

Within the field of peacebuilding studies and practice, there is a sub-literature on environmental peacebuilding that examines the role of environmental factors in moving towards a sustainable peace. At the most basic level, warfare devastates ecosystems and the livelihoods of those who depend on natural resources, and the anarchy of conflict situations leads to the uncontrolled, destructive exploitation of natural resources. Preventing these impacts allows for an easier movement to a sustainable peace. From a more positive perspective, environmental cooperation can be one of the places where hostile parties can sustain a dialogue, and sustainable development is a prerequisite for a sustainable peace.

Conca and Wallace note the relationship between environmental peacebuilding projects and studies of environment and conflict. They observe that environmental challenges may be opportunities for peacebuilding, but they may also harden differences and reinforce conflict. Environmental challenges are also usually complexly interconnected to economic and governance challenges. Environmental issues are now routinely acknowledged as aspects of conflicts, and are necessarily part of the movement towards conflict management and the transformation of conflictual relations into peaceful ones.

The United Nations Environment Programme has placed environmental conflict and cooperation on its agenda, conducted environmental assessments of conflict zones and has recommended a stronger integration of environmental issues into the work of the UN Peacebuilding Commission. "Land and Environment" is one of the ten themes of the United Nations Peacebuilding Portal. The University for Peace, sponsored by the United Nations, includes “Environmental Security and Peace” as one of its eight graduate programs.

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