Friends of the Earth Middle East recently published a new report on the basic theoretic principles of the concept of "Environmental Peacebuilding". In the second part of the study, the authors apply the results to the case of the Israeli community Zur Hadasa cooperating with the Palestenian community Wadi Fukin. The report is available at

http://www.foeme.org/index_images/dinamicas/publications/publ93_1.pdf

On 1st April the German Federal Foreign Office hosted the conference "Water Unites – New Prospects for Cooperation and Security" in Berlin. In the context of this conference, Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier presented the parameters for a Central Asia water initiative. Further information on the conference is available at http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/Infoservice/Presse/Meldungen/2008/080401-WasserinitiativeZentalasien.html

The Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) has launched a new website for research and information on the nexus between natural resources and violent conflict: the Resource Conflict Monitor (RCM). The RCM compares data on 90 resource dependent countries to test how a better understanding of the way in which natural resources are governed could contribute to conflict prevention and transformation measures. The Resource Conflict Monitor can be accessed at http://www.bicc.de/rcm/index.php.

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, April 2008