The Action Library is a unique opportunity to dive into four case studies of peace practice from around the world: Haiti, the Amazon Basin, Liptako Gourma, and beyond. The special hybrid event format will create space for attendees to have smaller group discussions with experts in the room in Geneva, as well as experts coming from the different regions online.
Learn about the nuanced relationships between local communities and security sector actors on the “front lines” of climate change in the Amazon basin. Hear from local experts in Haiti about the roles nature-based solutions and climate change adaptation can play in building peace. Explore practical approaches to mediation, or environmental peacemaking, in Liptako Gourma. And learn about how different kinds of stakeholders can better support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in fragile and conflict-affected areas around the world.
Whether you work on issues related to business and human rights, the impacts of climate change, or development, peace, and humanitarian work, you’ll find actionable insights in GPW’s 2023 library of peace practice!
Interpretation will be provided. See requirements here.
Many of the local conflicts across the tri-border Liptako Gourma region, which spans parts of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, are driven by rivalries over the use and management of agropastoral natural resources, such as grazing land, transhumance routes, and water points. These conflicts are exacerbated by climate change and embedded in a rapidly changing security and political context, which has seen the exploitation of tensions by jihadi groups operating in the region, the departure of MINUSMA from Mali, and the recent coup d’état in Niger.
The session will present the “Environmental Peacemaking: Addressing the root causes of conflict in Liptako Gourma” project implemented by the European Institute of Peace and TrustWorks Global with the support of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The project has contributed to capacity- and relationship-building between local, state, and regional actors actively practising environmental peacemaking. In particular, the session will highlight the implications of working in such an insecure, vast and complex area, as well as the need for synergies instead of standalone interventions. It will also show how land and resource management emerged as central components of the conflict. It will present some lessons for those seeking to implement environmentally informed mediation processes and peace positive natural resource management systems.
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The session will showcase the findings of the forthcoming ITC publication “SME Competitiveness Outlook 2023”, on the topic of supporting small business in fragile contexts. Two main presenters will introduce the topic, explaining how the world risks becoming more fragile, based on statistical evidence, and argue that private sector development can help break the cycle of fragility. Businesses can provide the jobs, goods and services needed to increase incomes and meet some societal needs. In places considered fragile, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are particularly relevant, as they tend to comprise an even larger share of businesses.
Based on novel firm level data collected in eight countries, this session will discuss how fragility, usually seen as a state level phenomenon, affects economic and business performance. The analysis presented by the speakers will disentangle the many dimensions of fragility proposing a novel fragility exposure index. This will show how different firms in different regions are differently exposed to the dimensions of fragility. The session will eventually discuss how to support private sector competitiveness and growth in places affected by fragility and conflict.
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Principles for Peace (P4P) and DCAF will jointly organize an action library event, featuring two dialogues of 45 minutes each around how to strengthen the nexus between the security sector, climate change, and human security in Brazil and Colombia. The two sessions will shed light on the concept of accountable security and its relevance in addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by the Amazon region in Brazil and Colombia.
Focusing on first-hand perspectives, this practitioner discussion will unpack how accountable security can be strengthened as part of a peacebuilding strategy in contexts vulnerable to conflict due to the impact of the climate crisis and severe environmental degradation. It will draw on DCAF’s two studies (Colombia 2021 and Brazil 2022) about the role of the security sector and the nexus to climate change and human security in the Amazon basin. In Latin America, the idea of peace has historically been associated with harmony with nature, shared responsibility and co operation between communities among indigenous groups. Yet climate change and competition for natural resources are increasingly disrupting local efforts to maintain a sustainable environment. Oftentimes, when state and non-state security actors have been deployed to tackle environmental issues, they have been perceived as threatening and predatory to the communities affected. Yet tackling the climate crisis and environmental degradation requires collaboration between all parties to ensure strategies that are adapted to the needs of those most affected.
For Brazil, guiding questions will focus on how climate change is currently impacting the role of the security sector in Brazil, the specific challenges faced by (climate) migrants in the region, and opportunities to strengthen cooperation between security institutions and communities.
For Colombia, the discussion will focus on the specific challenges and opportunities the Colombian police and communities encounter in dealing with climate-induced security risks, especially in regions affected by armed conflict.
The two sessions on Colombia and Brazil will bring together experts from the Ministry of Defense from Brazil, the National Police of Colombia, migration experts from the border from Brazil and Venezuela, indigenous women activists from Colombia from Araracuara, and researchers working in fragile contexts in the Amazon Basin in Colombia. DCAF representatives will provide concrete insights and recommendations from the two studies developed in Colombia and Brazil as a starting point for the discussion. P4P will expand on the concept of accountable security and how it can serve as a foundation for sustainable and effective peacebuilding.
The event will be in a hybrid webinar format in English with live translation from Spanish. The event will try to be as presential as possible, including the moderator. However, since the topic of the webinar will be related to the fight against climate change, and the co-organizers are interested in minimizing their carbon footprint, panelists from Latin America will make use of the technological tools available to connect via online. There will be an opportunity for audience members (in person and online) to ask the participants about their perspectives.
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Haiti is one of the most vulnerable countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to climate change. Rising temperatures and declining rainfall have intensified drought; climate-related storms are growing more intense, causing devastating flooding; and, as a coastal nation, Haiti is at a high risk of sea level rise, which threatens the lives and livelihoods of many people living close to the coast. These risks are all set to intensify over the next 30 years.
Meanwhile, Haiti is also in the midst of a deep security, political, economic and humanitarian crisis, with armed gangs controlling most of the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and almost half of Haitians in need of humanitarian assistance. Climate change, by adversely impacting livelihoods, food security, water scarcity and health conditions, is exacerbating the current multifaceted and complex crisis grappling the country. Without properly addressing climate and environmental challenges, the violence, exclusion, and poverty that confront so many Haitians are also doomed to spiral further.
If policy makers wish not only to alleviate the worst impacts of climate change but also to mitigate the increasing insecurity it is likely to produce well beyond today’s level of unprecedented crisis, it is critical to understand how these forces converge and interact. This is the goal of a new study exploring the linkages between climate change, peace and security in Haiti, initiated by Haiti’s Ministry of the Environment, UNEP and UNDP Haiti, and realised by adelphi in collaboration with Haiti’s Climate Security Working Group – a consortium of more than 90 UN agencies, international organisations, Haitian government institutions and civil society organizations.
This session will be dedicated to exploring the findings of this study, encouraging reflection and discussion over the ways in which climate change and security risks interact, but also – and importantly – how nature-based solutions and climate action can serve as entry points to bring about peace and sustainable development in fragile and conflict-affected contexts such as Haiti. To do this, the event will be structured in two discussion rounds of 45 minutes each:
The first discussion round will present the participatory and inclusive approach that underpinned the study from its design to its finalization and envisaged uptake of its recommendations, including through the creation of and collaboration with Haiti’s Climate Security Working Group and with a particular focus on inclusivity. It will also explore some of the main findings of the study, focusing on the key pathways through which the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation contribute to exacerbating insecurity and violence in Haiti.
The second discussion round will outline some of the suggested ways in which climate change adaptation and nature-based solutions can serve as entry points for peacebuilding, using the case of Haiti as a starting point to encourage a broader discussion and knowledge sharing among participants.
Each round will be moderated by one of the authors of the report from adelphi, and feature guest presenters from or based in Haiti that has been involved in the research. Following each presentation, a question and answer period will follow, allowing for a more in-depth and action-oriented conversation to take place.
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