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	Helping opposing parties better understand each other by Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Burundi   Feb 2009   Shortly following the genocide in Rwanda and in the midst of increasing ethnic tensions and violence in Burundi, Search for Common Ground (SFCG) launched a series of media and community projects in Burundi. Over the past 12 years, throughout the crisis and through the transition period, elections and the first two years of democracy, SFCG has sought to strengthen the capacities of all segments of Burundian society to manage their conflicts collaboratively, promote dialogue within diversity, and facilitate coexistence and reconciliation.   SFCG has a vision for Burundi: In 2015, Burundi is a fair and equal society grounded in citizens’ inclusive, effective and responsible participation in national and local management and decision-making processes. SFCG’s goal toward this vision is to promote inclusive, effective and responsible participation in a process of social transformation toward a fair and equal society through three main program areas: reintegration, governance and transitional justice.   SFCG’s strategy through these program areas is aimed toward five key objectives: Foster effective participation among women and men, both youth and adults, within the democratic governance framework. Facilitate the reintegration and inclusion of marginalised social groups, namely demobilised combatants, returnees, displaced persons, victims, ex-prisoners, and members of the Batwa ethnicity. Encourage effective and responsible freedom of expression in all aspects of Burundian society. Reduce the instances of violence in response to land conflicts linked to the crises in 1972 and 1993; and promote ownership of the transitional justice process among all Burundians.   Our approach links grassroots activities with national dialogue, while promoting peace and reconciliation through sensitization, dialogue and capacity building. Using complementary and mutually reinforcing tools of community outreach and media with targeted stakeholder groups, SFCG aims to multipliy the individual effects of its projects, ensuring that a broad cross-section of Burundian society is engaged in and affected by the program’s activities.   Furthermore, the Burundi program is a vital component of SFCG’s overall regional strategy in the Great Lakes & Angola, launched in 2007.   Active Projects: Studio Ijambo   Media has been one of SFCG’s main conflict transformation tools since the Burundi program opened more than a decade ago. SFCG’s Studio Ijambo is a radio-production studio that employs an ethnically balanced team of journalists to produce high-quality radio programs that promote reconciliation, dialogue, and collaboration. The Studio is known for its credible, unbiased programming, which includes news, special features, round-tables, telephone call-ins, music, and a highly popular soap-opera series. In total, it supplies six different original programs, as well as spots and sketches to four of Burundi’s principal radio stations, including the state radio, every week.   These programs examine different sides of various conflicts and highlight the concerns that unite, rather than divide. The Studio Ijambo slogan, “Dialogue is the future,” captures the essence of SFCG’s radio work in Burundi.   Community Outreach Team   In 2006, Search for Common Ground"s Women"s Peace Centre and Youth Project merged to become the Community Outreach Team (COT). The COT carries out community interventions and supports efforts of local people to promote reconciliation, dialogue and collaboration. The COT aims to capitalise on the possibilities Burundi"s new constitution offers for all people, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, economic standing, religion, or age..   * Search For Common Ground seeks to help opposing parties better understand each other and act co-operatively on their common ground. The organization operates programmes in 17 countries around the world. Visit the related web page
	Natural resource management critical to peacebuilding by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)   20 Feb 2009   Over 40% of Intrastate Conflicts linked to Natural Resources, says UNEP Report.   Intrastate conflicts are likely to drag on and escalate without a greater focus on environment and natural resources in the peacebuilding process, according to a new report launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).   In addition, conflicts with a link to natural resources are twice as likely to relapse within the first five years, as shown by data collected by Uppsala University and the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo.   Even so, fewer that 25 per cent of peace agreements for resource-linked conflicts have addressed those linkages, leaving many post-conflict countries vulnerable to conflict relapse.   A stronger role for environment in post-conflict planning, along with greater capacity for early warning, are required to address environmental risks and capitalize on opportunities, the report says. This includes a more robust and comprehensive inclusion of environmental issues in UN peacebuilding activities, and a more careful harnessing of natural resources for economic recovery, essential services and sustainable livelihoods.   A timely input from UNEP as a fragile peace prevails in the Middle East and conflict rages on in Darfur and the Northern provinces of DR Congo, the paper analyses the links between environment, conflict and peacebuilding through fourteen case studies, including Afghanistan, Darfur, Sierra Leone and Liberia.   The often devastating direct impacts of conflict on the environment have been established by UNEP through some 15 post-conflict environmental assessments, which have documented environmental damage from armed conflict around the world since 1999. But the indirect consequences of post-conflict coping mechanisms and the damage inflicted to the capacity of government institutions are also key problems.   Even after an initial cessation of violence, natural resources can contribute to conflict relapse in the post-conflict period, and help finance a continued insurgency. No less that 18 violent conflicts have been fuelled by the exploitation of natural resources since 1990.   As the global population continues to rise, and demand for resources continues to grow, there is significant potential for conflicts over natural resources to intensify in the coming decades. In addition, new conflicts could be generated by the possible consequences of climate change for water availability and food security, for example.   UNEP''s new report, however, suggests that there are also considerable opportunities for environment to contribute to peace consolidation rather than conflict.   Naming sustainable livelihoods, dialogue and confidence-building as potential keys to peacebuilding, the report also emphasizes the important role that carefully managed resources can play to jump-start economic activity in post-conflict countries. By providing a platform for cooperation, common environmental needs and resource-related goals can be a significant impetus for peace.   The report, which inaugurates a new policy series by UNEP, was co-authored by the Expert Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding established by UNEP in 2008, which is composed of senior experts from academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and think tanks that have demonstrated leadership in environment and conflict issues.   With continued support from the Government of Finland, a collection of 60 case studies on best practices of natural resource management for peacebuilding will be published by UNEP as a follow up to this report in 2010. In addition, UNEP is joining forces with the European Commission, the UN Development Programme, the UN Department of Political Affairs, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Peacebuilding Support Office and UN-Habitat to develop guidance and training to address resource-based conflicts at the field level.   This report, which inaugurates a new policy series by UNEP on the environmental dimensions of disasters and conflicts, aims to summarize the latest knowledge and field experience on the linkages between environment, conflict and peacebuilding, and to demonstrate the need for those linkages to be addressed in a more coherent and systematic way by the UN, Member States and other stakeholders.   Quotes on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding:   "Throughout human history, people and countries have fought over natural resources. From livestock, watering holes and fertile land, to trade routes, fish stocks and spices, sugar, oil, gold and other precious commodities, war has too often been the means to secure possession of scarce resources. Even today, the uninterrupted supply of fuel and minerals is a key element of geopolitical considerations. Things are easier at times of plenty, when all can share in the abundance, even if to different degrees. But when resources are scarce - whether energy, water or arable land - our fragile ecosystems become strained, as do the coping mechanisms of groups and individuals. This can lead to a breakdown of established codes of conduct, and even outright conflict." - Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, 2007   "War-torn countries rich in natural resources face particular challenges in the stabilization and reconstruction of their societies, despite the apparent promise that natural resource wealth holds for peacebuilding and development. Where resource exploitation has driven war, or served to impede peace, improving governance capacity to control natural resources is a critical element of peacebuilding." - Carolyn McAskie, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, 2007   "We find ourselves in the early steep climb of exponential change: per capita consumption of materials and energy; the demand for shrinking natural resources, most critical of which is fresh water; climate change with an impact on virtually every aspect of human welfare; the cost of war; and the destruction of ecosystems and species, which have hitherto sustained us scot free. These trends are interlocked and mutually reinforcing. We must study and address them as a unity. Success would ensure a future for humanitarian civilization. Failure is unthinkable." - Pulitzer Prize-winning Ecologist E.O. Wilson, Harvard University, 2008 Visit the related web page
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