In January, the Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars launched two new expert meeting series entitled "New Horizons at the Nexus of Conflict, Natural Resources, and Health" and "PHE: Building the Foundation for the Next 10 Years". "New Horizons" will present a multi-faceted picture of the links between conflict, natural resources, and human health by drawing from the experiences of a broad range of participants, including field practitioners, policymakers, donors, academics, the private sector, and local community stakeholders. Discussions will focus on practical approaches that can be used to design and implement programmes. This series is funded jointly by several USAID offices, with technical support from USAID's Asia and Near East and Africa bureaus. The first meeting, "Innovative Partnerships for Peace: The Role of Extractive Industries in Resource-Based Conflict Prevention and Mitigation" took place on January 9, 2008. Subsequent meetings will cover the role of local natural resource governance during conflicts; the links between demographic change, conflict, and the environment; post-conflict property and land policy; fertility, conflict, and natural resource management; and the environmental impacts of relief missions.



The second series, "Building the Foundation" will energize and expand the population-health-environment (PHE) community by engaging key actors in the field and related development sectors. The sessions will include public events as well as smaller working group meetings and will address perspectives from the PHE communities; the role population growth plays in climate change; PHE initiatives and assessments in East Africa; new data and analysis on integrated PHE programmes; and expanding services offered by integrated development programmes. "Building the Foundation" is funded by USAID's Office of Population and Reproductive Health. (Environmental Change and Security Program)



More information is available at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1413&fuseaction=topics.item&news_id=358582



USAID's Office of Population and Reproductive Health can be found at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/



For more information, or to receive invitations, please contact ecsp@wilsoncenter.org.

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, February 2008