Human Migration and Natural Resources – Global Assessment of an Adaptive Complex System (UNEP & International Resource Panel, 2023)
This report contributes to the global discussion by moving the discussion of natural resources and migration from being based primarily around environmental determinism to one which recognizes the co-evolutionary nature of society and the environment. Read More…
Climate Security and Peacebuilding – Thematic Review (United Nations University, 2023)
The 2023 Thematic Review on Climate Security and Peacebuilding, commissioned by PBSO in partnership with FAO, UNICEF, Climate Security Mechanism and the UK, and led by the UN University’s Centre for Policy Research, distills trends and lessons from climate-security and environmental peacebuilding programming supported by the Peacebuilding Fund, and suggests guidance for future investments in climate-security efforts in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Read More…
Smart, Sustainable and Resilient cities: the Power of Nature-based Solutions (UNDP, 2021)
This report investigates the potential of nature-based solutions (NbS) to help build smart, sustainable and resilient cities. It draws from more than a decade of research and experience from G20 countries and beyond. Read more…
The Impact of Covid-19 on Environmental Sustainability in Iraq (UNDP, 2021)
This paper investigates the direct and indirect environmental impacts in Iraq as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, set against the existing situation of environmental sustainability in the country. Read more…
Measuring Progress: Towards achieving the environmental dimensions of the SDGs (UN Environment, 2019)
The SDGs provide a framework which elaborates the global development agenda towards achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. This report provides an authoritative overview of the world’s progress towards achieving the environmental dimensions of the 244 indicators which have been agreed on as the monitoring framework for the SDGs. Read more…
The Politics of Space for Conservation: A political economy analysis of the allocation of territory for biodiversity in Kenya (UCL Dissertation, 2018)
Kenya is famous for its world-class wildlife viewing. Nineteen percent of Kenya’s land area is protected through a network of national parks, reserves and private and community conservancies. However, there are multiple, overlapping demands for the limited—and fixed—amount of land available in the country. This research (produced as part of a distance learning Masters) aims to understand the economic and social factors that are driving political decisions on the allocation, or removal, of protected areas in Kenya. This will help to identify points of leverage to influence political decisions in support of conservation. Read more…
Frontiers – Emerging issues of environmental concern (UNEP, 2017)
In 2016, about 31.1 million people were newly displaced within their own countries because of conflicts, violence and natural disasters—the latter responsible for 24.2 million of them. The increased awareness of risks from a changing environment and climate reinforces the need for good planning for in-place adaptation and policy design to prevent or manage human displacements. Read more…
Addressing Natural Resource Conflicts: Working towards more effective resolution of national and sub-national resource disputes (Chatham House, 2015)
At a broad level four types of resource dispute can present a general challenge to national stability: secessionist conflicts in which resource-rich regions seek to split away from the rest of a country; disputes over resources as part of a new national compact (i.e. in the context of a peace agreement or new constitution); grievances over standalone projects such as mines and hydroelectric dams; and the cumulative impact of multiple small-scale clashes, typically over land, livestock or fresh water. Read more…
Equity in Extractives: Stewarding Africa’s natural resources for all (Africa Progress Panel, 2013)
This report sets out an agenda for converting increased resource wealth into improved wellbeing. The starting point is a strengthened focus on equity and human development. Too many governments continue to view extractive industries solely as a source of growth and a magnet for foreign investment. I provided a background paper on the environmental, social and health impacts of mining in Africa as an input for this report from the Africa Progress Panel. Read more…
Natural Resource Management and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan (UN, 2013)
This report investigates the ways in which the management of land, water, minerals, forests and drugs are linked to instability and insecurity in Afghanistan. Its aims are two-fold: first, to suggest ways that the government and the international community can maximise the peacebuilding opportunities that come from better natural resource management and, second, to encourage the international community to introduce safeguards in their existing projects to ensure they do not inadvertently exacerbate conflict. Read more…
Conservation and Peacebuilding in Sierra Leone (IISD, 2012)
The aim of this paper is to assess the status of conservation in Sierra Leone, to outline some of the key threats to protected area management in the country and try to understand how conservation can be done in a way that is “conflict-sensitive”—or, to put it another way, how to manage protected areas in a way that does not create or exacerbate tensions and conflicts. Read more…
Environmental assessment as a tool for peacebuilding and development (UNEP & ELI, 2012)
Investing in environmental assessment is a focused and cost-effective intervention in post-conflict states because EIAs are a catalytic intervention for environmental governance that has long-lived implications for the sustainability of extractive industries. This chapter outlines some of the challenges to that process in Sierra Leone and describes the ways in which these challenges have been addressed. Read more…
Remediation of polluted sites in Balkans, Iraq and Sierra Leone (UNEP & ELI, 2012)
Countries emerging from conflict face myriad complex challenges, including restoring peace and security, rebuilding infrastructure and the economy, and providing for the basic needs of their people. The natural environment is often harshly affected during conflicts, and restoring and rehabilitating ecosystems to ensure long-term sustainability is an additional challenge that post-conflict societies must address. Read more…
Greening the blue helmets: Environment, natural resources and UN peacekeeping operations (UNEP, DPKO & DFS, 2012)
This report shows that peacekeeping operations not only have important natural resource implications, as well as significant impacts on the environment, but also that natural resources are often a fundamental aspect of conflict resolution, livelihoods and confidence-building at the local level. Read more…
Conserving the peace in the Albertine Rift (IISD, 2006)
The Albertine Rift is host to some of Africa’s richest biodiversity, as well as the site of some of its most intense social and political upheavals. Conservationists working in the region are faced with mounting socio-economic pressures that not only threaten biodiversity but make their jobs more challenging and potentially dangerous. This calls for adaptive and innovative approaches to planning, implementing and evaluating conservation interventions so that they minimize risks and address some of the root causes of threats to conservation. Read more…
Cutting our Losses? Reducing the Illegal Trade in Natural Resources (IISD 2004)
The illegal trade of natural resources, such as wildlife and tropical timber, is a global problem of huge scale; driving conflict, promoting corruption and rewarding criminals. It also destroys biodiversity and undermines livelihoods. It is an issue that intersects environment and development. However, all is not lost. Solutions are possible but need political will and concerted effort. Read More…