Policy brief
Exploring opportunities and enablers of landscape restoration as a pathway to peace
Pauliina Upla, Consultant, Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT
Janelle Sylvester, Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT
Summary points:
- Through a conflict analysis and by empowering local communities, understand the conflict root causes and how they link with land/environmental degradation and the use of natural resources. Conflict-sensitive design and implementation helps materialise the peacebuilding co-benefits.
- Ensure a holistic, bottom-up and inclusive approach involving also women and youth, take a landscape-level approach to bring the interlinked resource sectors together, and combine the use of modern technologies with traditional management practices through inclusive capacity building.
- Share the evidence and impact with policy makers and funders to help integrate environmental peacebuilding principles into national and global restoration agendas, contributing to LDN and the broader objectives of the Rio Conventions and SDGs.
Forest and landscape restoration and sustainable land management hold untapped potential to mitigate conflicts linked to environmental degradation. Amidst the interconnected global challenges of land degradation and desertification, global warming and declining biodiversity, competition over the diminishing natural capital is increasing between land users, intersecting with social vulnerabilities and governance challenges. Restoring and sustainably managing degrading soils, forests, pasturelands, watersheds and other ecosystems can help foster peace, social cohesion, and resilience in regions affected by conflict and environmental crises.
During the UNCCD COP16, the Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT and CGIAR’s Impact Platform on Environmental Health and Biodiversity hosted a side event on 4 December 2024 titled “Landscape restoration as a pathway to peace”. Experts contributing to the discussion included Beatrice Mosello from adelphi, Cecilia Aipira from UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Ken Otieno from Resource Conflict Institute (RECONCILE), Baba Ba from International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Mohsin Hafeez from International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Ruby Haji Naif from UNCCD Youth Caucus and Cargele Masso from CGIAR.
Through real-world case studies and actionable solutions, the event explored the peacebuilding potential of land restoration activities and how they align with the objectives of the Rio Conventions and the Sustainable Development Goals. Peacebuilding increasingly intersects the “Rio Trio”, as reflected through the CBD COP16 theme Peace with Nature, and the UNFCCC COP29 Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace, Relief, and Recovery. At the UNCCD COP16, countries negotiated a decision to address desertification, land degradation and drought as one of the drivers causing forced migration and conflict. This momentum provides countries and the international community an unmissable opportunity to catalyse action to align restoration and conservation of natural resources with peacebuilding goals.
Newly launched, relevant publications include the UNCCD report “Ground for Peace: Land Restoration for International Peace and Security”, commissioned realised together with adelphi. The report takes stock of existing evidence on land and conflict links with complementary expert insights on restoration action and sustaining peace especially in cross-border settings. The “UNEP Perspectives – Nature in Action for Peace” report explores the peacebuilding potential of nature-based solutions.
Speakers noted that the interlinked challenges related to land, climate and biological diversity cannot be addressed in isolation and no country is immune to the shock waves of accelerating environmental degradation. Healthy natural environment is essential for peace, calling for further investments in land. The process and power dynamics matter – peacebuilding co-benefits can materialise through appropriate design and implementation, while a conflict-sensitive lens must be embedded in the activities to recognise the social aspects related to land and ecosystem restoration. Furthermore, financial resources need to be diversified, accessible and directed to the local level.
To illustrate practical, scalable approaches that integrate restoration, sustainable livelihoods, and conflict resolution, participatory rangelands management (PRM) is one such approach being applied in Kenya to restore community landscapes. It responds to the need of having a framework in place for systematic landscape use, the absence of which is driving resource-related conflicts. PRM can help pastoralists and other rangeland users to better understand their resources, facilitate learning through implementation at the community level, and to better organise their resource management processes. This is facilitated by collectively identifying a rangeland management unit, mapping and assessing the resources, developing a resource management plan and agreement, including grazing zones, and establishing the activities.
In the Balochistan Province, Pakistan, participatory water harvesting and sustainable range management is practiced through community-based PRM. It provides a system-level approach, owned by the local community, that aligns with native traditional practices. Practices such as controlled grazing, rangeland reseeding with native species and establishment of water retention structures serve as critical tools for PRM.Supports sustainable water harvesting and ground water recharge.
In Mali, the development of land conventions offers another example of legitimate agreements to govern and regulate natural resources in regions characterised by farmer-herder conflict, fragile political and security context, and deteriorating community relations, compounded by climate change impacts. Importantly, the land conventions facilitate the management and use of livestock corridors to enable transhumance and thereby mitigate tensions between farmers and herders. They also support the rehabilitation and increased income opportunities derived from the cultivation of the local forage plant of “bourgou” as well as fishery resources.
Key lessons to guide scaling and adapting restoration and sustainable land management initiatives to support peace and resilience in diverse contexts
As key lessons, the experts noted that to effectively address resource-related grievances, practitioners need to take a systems perspective, and a holistic and inclusive bottom-up approach, while paying attention to conflict sensitivity and awareness of potential risks and power dynamics. Land and climate change projects can serve as suitable entry points especially in contentious transboundary settings. Scientific and technical collaboration can effectively pave the way for higher-level cooperation to secure the political weight, but in the long-term, investments need to reach beyond sustainable land management.
“Community” is a central element in the Kenyan participatory rangelands management. It involves understanding the internal dynamics and looking at community as an institution, its constitution and framework of existence. Practitioners should pay attention to the ways communities engage with themselves, what are the different intra-community segments and their specific roles, and finally linking these aspects to the relevant policies and laws.
As a starting point for conflict mitigation, the locally available resources need to be mapped, assessed and quantified, especially the ones contributing most to the conflicts. Analysis is also needed on how the resources connect to the local systems, what are the governance mechanisms and whether the resources are being used in an optimal way.
To mobilise communities at grassroot level, it may be helpful to identify community champions for increased motivation. It’s important to avoid the common mistake of not engaging all relevant stakeholder groups in landscape negotiations, importantly women and youth who are typically the first ones to experience the conflict impacts. Capacity development is an effective way to build confidence and engage especially the young people.
To complement the traditional management systems and knowledge being practiced, local communities and land users can benefit from and adopt innovations and new technologies. It’s critical to use the language and narrative that local people are familiar and comfortable with, instead of being too technical or scientific.
Actionable recommendations for integrating restoration and peacebuilding into National Action Programs and achieving Land Degradation Neutrality targets
Where possible, it is often more meaningful to build environmental peacebuilding activities upon ongoing initiatives and replicate good practices, rather than developing novel approaches. Typically, communities cannot effectively implement these projects alone, so smart coalitions are needed between government actors plus development and humanitarian partners, as well as researchers, among others.
Crucially, the willingness of communities to cooperate needs to be ensured by the project partners. Demonstration sites for sustainable practices can be set up to attract the interest of local land users. Investing in capacity building should be seen as a reciprocal activity where communities learn from project partners and also vice versa.
Policymakers and funders respond to evidence, so making the case, demonstrating the success stories, and capturing and sharing the impact is crucial to secure their commitment. Importantly, securing funding beyond project cycles is essential, and here governments can support communities in acquiring long-term funding.
Conflict analysis is a central element to understand the conflict root causes and to differentiate the nature of conflict, whether it’s political or resource driven. While climate change is generally considered a conflict multiplier, it should not be used to conceal the anthropogenic land management practices driving environmental degradation. Land, soil and water issues need to be brought together and not treated in isolation.