United Nations organizations unanimously approves the work of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) on peace and conflict. This was the principal message from a meeting in New York on 11 and 12 February 2008, at which the UNEP Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding was introduced for the first time.

A number of potential areas for collaboration with individual UN organizations were discussed during the meeting. These include training UN employees, deploying experts for peacebuilding missions, early warning and conflict prevention as well as extending support during mediation and peace negotiations. The UNEP Advisory Group will play a key role in developing the required tools and training modules. It was also decided to test the first of these – among them an analysis tool for determining the role of the environment and natural resources in conflicts – on a series of case studies. Nepal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau and Côte d’Ivoire were discussed as potential test locations.

The Advisory Group took up its work in the end of 2007. The Group is expected to provide strategic advisory inputs and extend support to UNEP in setting up a programme on environment, conflict and peacebuilding. The Group currently comprises representatives from Adelphi Research, the Earth Institute of Columbia University, Environmental Law Institute, Global Witness, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Woodrow Wilson Center as well as the University of California and Duke University.

During this and a follow-up meeting on 17 February it was also resolved that various UN organizations would enhance collaboration with the European Commission in the field of environment, conflict and peacebuilding. (Achim Maas)

More information on UNEP’s activities in this field is available at: http://postconflict.unep.ch/  

The meeting was also attended by the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR):  http://www.undp.org/cpr/

 

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, April 2008