The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) was the first UN mission to include a dedicated Gender Affairs Unit. The often invoked, but less often practiced, concept of gender mainstreaming serves as an example here. Natural resource management can thus facilitate trans-societal linkages among actors, which can positively affect peace formation and resource management outcomes. Global environmental governance scholarship illustrates positive effects of transnational norm diffusion, and more complex co-construction and indigenization of global norms in local contexts. International peacebuilding actors-both governmental and non-governmental-promulgate norms as they engage local communities, thereby shaping local norms. Norms are essential to building and sustaining more peaceful and cooperative social and political institutions over time-and to engendering more sustainable resource governance. Although the project contributed to the local perception of a widened gap between Nepali state actors and the local community-a potential “dark side” -successful implementation of the micro-hydropower project through local labour and financial contributions strengthened communities’ sense of self-reliance and resilience. This showed substantial socio-economic successes regarding women’s empowerment, better access to education, increased economic opportunities, and increased community cohesion and stronger local governance structures. In Nepal, community-based, climate-sensitive, micro-hydropower projects designed to bring electricity to rural villages illustrate the potential of this mechanism.
Recent findings indicate that post-conflict natural resource management offers opportunities for cooperation among community members that can contribute to peacebuilding by increasing community cohesion and trust building. Contact hypothesis research in post-conflict peacebuilding contexts indicates that intergroup bias can be lessened through contact between belligerents – potentially leading to reconciliation. The contact hypothesis suggests that increased contact and cooperation between adversarial groups can surmount prejudice and distance. We posit and illustrate three explanations through which environmental cooperation may facilitate processes that sustain positive peace.
However, scholarship has been less successful in theorizing a causal understanding of the contribution of natural resource management to positive peace in post-conflict settings. Recent research on environmental peacebuilding has made important advances. Īlthough research has demonstrated that environmental projects can contribute to peacebuilding, less research exists about how and why such projects contribute to positive peace legacies.
Environmental damage and climate change expose post-war populations and peace operations to further risks, exacerbating the impacts of conflict after active combat ends. The socio-economic and political effects of violent conflict cause long-term challenges to stability and development. Beyond reducing violence and preventing a relapse of violent conflict, peacebuilding efforts seek to help post-conflict countries reset their internal relations toward sustainable peace. ContextĬhallenges associated with peacebuilding in conflict-affected states and societies are rarely straightforward, and the effects of war compound them further. VanDeveer (University of Massachusetts) Natural resource management, including climate adaptation, can have positive effects on peace by facilitating inter-group cooperation introducing environmental and other good governance norms and providing access to public services to address communities’ instrumental needs. Florian Krampe and Farah Hegazi (SIPRI) Stacy D.
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