Towards a political ecology of conflict in the Okapi Reserve

Description

Environmental Peacebuilding Amidst Protracted Violence in Africa’s Great Lakes Region

Online: Register for Session
3 February 2022, 09:00:00 - 10:30:00 (Europe/Zurich)

Parts of the environmental peacebuilding literature assume that overt violent conflict is a clearly identifiable stage in a ‘peace and security continuum’ through which a conflict linearly progresses. However, in many situations of intractable violent conflict, these different stages blur and movement through them is circular rather than linear. In addition, in situations of protracted violence, complex feedback loops may emerge between environmental change and armed mobilization, in particular in protected areas. Armed actors often exploit natural resources in such areas, while also capitalizing on park-people conflicts and struggles around natural resources that may enmesh with communal conflict. Environmental changes can exacerbate these conflicts and intensify armed mobilization, which in turn can lead to further environmental degradation. Protracted violent conflict may also exacerbate state fragility, which has important implications for peacebuilding strategies. This panel examines the distinct features of environmental peacebuilding in protected areas in situations of state fragility and protracted violent conflict, focusing on Africa’s Great Lakes Region. The theatre of convoluted and protracted crisis situations, this area arguably tests the limits of environmental peacebuilding. Yet as the papers comprising this panel demonstrate, this complexity also offers rich opportunities for theoretical and policy innovation.

Ivan Ashaba, Chair, University of Antwerp (Uganda)

Landscapes of Memory: Political Ecologies of Memory and Environmental Peacebuilding in Africa’s Great Lakes Region
Esther Marijnen, Presenter, University of Wageningen (Belgium)
David Mwambari, Presenter, King's College London (Kenya)

When Armed Groups Do Not Undermine Conservation: The Curious Case of the Itombwe Nature Reserve, Eastern DRC
Fergus Simpson, Presenter, University of Antwerp (Belgium)

Living in and through War and Forests: Bambuti in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in Eastern DRC
Peer Schouten, Presenter, Danish Institute for International Studies (Denmark)

Dealing with Armed Actors in Environmental Peacebuilding
Judith Verweijen, Presenter, University of Sheffield (United Kingdom)

Period	3 Feb 2022
Event title	2nd International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding
Event type	Conference
Location	SwitzerlandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International