Making peace with nature environmental peacebuilding for sustainable development

Join us for a half-day event on environmental peacebuilding:

In 2022, the global community will mark 50 years since the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm, gathering together at the “Stockholm+50” International Meeting led by the governments of Sweden and Kenya. The Conference poses an opportunity to make new bold steps by reiterating the interconnectedness of the environment and peace and take urgent action to accelerate the implementation of environmental peacebuilding for sustainable development.

While peace is a precondition of “prosperity for all,” environmental peacebuilding is a path to just and sustainable development. Considering that climate change and environmental degradation at the intersection of other crises pose unprecedented challenges to human security, peace, and life on Earth, as multipliers of existing inequalities, conflicts, and uneven development, what does environmental peacebuilding offer for peaceful sustainable development?

This session is framed to deepen a conversation between environmental practitioners and policymakers and the peace and security community about the interdependence of peacebuilding and conflict transformation with the environment and sustainable development. The goal of the session is to profile concrete and practical approaches at the intersection of environmental peacebuilding, security, and development, that can be taken up in future policymaking fora.

The dialogue incorporates three aspects: (1) Looking back at Stockholm, sustainable development, and environmental peacebuilding for foresight into the future, (2) Approaches, tools, and lessons we can learn from or need to develop for peace, human security, and sustainable development in the future, (3) How might we “bring peace” into consideration for policy commitments on environment and climate? And vice versa, how can we bring the environment, climate change, and sustainable development into peacebuilding agendas?

Through a series of presentations from respected experts, Indigenous Peoples, and young professionals, this session will showcase initiatives in environmental peacebuilding and discuss their relevance to building a healthy, prosperous planet and fostering just and sustainable peace. Participants will learn about groundbreaking visioning documents – including a White Paper on the Future of Environmental Peacebuilding and flagship report Planet on the Move: The Role of Conservation at the Intersection of Migration, Environmental Change and Conflict – and practical initiatives, including lessons from environmental peacebuilding education, initiatives protecting the rights of future generations, a monitoring and evaluation toolkit, a platform for identifying climate and environmental security risks, and an environmental peacebuilding arts repository.

Tuesday 31 May 2022
8:30 – 12:00
Westman Palace, Stockholm

Featured speakers will include (in order of appearance):

• Nicholas Robinson, Chair Emeritus, Normandy Chair for Peace and Professor of Law, Pace University
• Narinder Kakar, Professor Emeritus, University of Peace
• Daniel McGraw, Visiting Professor, University of Miami School of Law
• Kristen Walker Painemilla , Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Center for Communities and Conservation, Conservation International
• Annika Erickson-Pearson, Community Management Lead, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform
• Elaine (Lan Yin) Hsaio, Kansas State University and IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy
• Claire McAllister, Team Leader of Environment of Peace, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
• Tony Oposa, Normandy Chair for Peace and President of the Law of Nature Foundation
• Carl Bruch, President of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association and Director of International Programs, Environmental Law Institute
• Heloise Heyer, Conflict Sensitivity Lead, PeaceNexus Foundation
• John Tarawalie, Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food
• Shehla Chowdhury, Research Associate, Environmental Law Institute
• Elsa Barron, Program Assistant, Climate for Climate and Security
• Emilie Gaillard, General Coordinator, Normandy Chair for Peace

A full agenda and speaker lineup will be announced soon.

This event is a collaboration between the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, Normandy Chair for Peace, Environmental Peacebuilding Association, University for Peace, International Union for Conservation of Nature Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy, the International Council of Environmental Law, Swedwatch, and the Working Group for Peace and Development (FriEnt).

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