Unpack inter-disciplinary peacebuilding on which depends the future of humanity.

This session is organized by Initiatives of Change (IofC) Switzerland and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).

The Covid-19 health crisis has overshadowed an even larger crisis facing humanity. Recent reports from the International Panel on Climate Change indicate that we have only 12 years to prevent ‘runaway climate change’ - a situation that would present the greatest threat to security humanity has ever faced. Deforestation, land degradation, food insecurity, migration, violent conflict and climate change are interacting in reinforcing feedback loops, with devastating consequences.  Semi-arid Africa is particularly badly affected, with ungovernable spaces growing in size and sustaining non-state armed groups such as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, Boko Haram and Al Shabaab.

On the other hand, there is growing evidence that environmental peacebuilding can create virtuous cycles leading to both environmental and social recovery. Often the sticking point to implementing the approach is the need to build trust and collaboration over the shared governance of natural resources. The need for innovative approaches to peacebuilding in this context has never been more urgent.

The dynamics of environmental peacebuilding will be explored in three case-studies, with a view to replicating and scaling-up solutions. Each case-study was first presented during the ‘Summer Academy on Land, Security and Climate Change’, co-organised by the Geneva Centre for Security and Initiatives of Change, in July 2020.