Natural Resources and Peacebuilding Examined at Columbia Conference
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Members of the Jordanian battalion of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) rescue children after a hurricane destroyed their orphanage. September 7, 2008, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. UN Photo/Marco Dormino. www.un.org/av/photo/
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A one-day conference, “Identifying Lessons for Natural Resources Management in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding,” was hosted at Columbia University April 25 by CIESIN,
Advanced Consortium for Conflict, Cooperation and Complexity (AC4)
and the Earth Institute, in partnership with the
Environmental Law Institute
(ELI) and the
United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP). More than 130 participants explored lessons in strengthening post-conflict peacebuilding through the lens of natural resource management. Many were authors of case studies in a seven-volume book series launched the same week and featured prominently during the conference. Panel discussions and breakout sessions reflected on lessons emerging from from the cases and implications for practice and scholarship.
A two-day workshop followed the event, focusing on strategies to develop educational and training tools utilizing the new case studies and other relevant material. Among the innovative teaching methods and products highlighted was the
Ground|Work simulation tool
, wherein students devise a strategy for managing environment and resource challenges in the context of a fictional post-conflict country. The online teaching tool, developed by School of International Affairs adjunct professor and CIESIN deputy director Marc Levy and program manager Alex Fischer in partnership with The Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (
CCNMTL
), is currently used in Levy’s
course
on environment, conflict, and resolution strategies.
For more information about the conference and the book series, please go to
www.environmentalpeacebuilding.com.
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