The Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPAx) and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies have joined forces to co-organise the 2nd International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding.

The conference is also held in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, the Geneva Water Hub, the Geneva Environment Network, and the PeaceNexus Foundation.

The 2nd Conference will take place fully online. Registrations are free and open to all participants.

Overall objectives & significance

• The conference brings together 700 participants with the aim to integrate research, policy, and practice for the adaptation of environmental peacebuilding to the needs of a rapidly changing world.
• It also focuses on the development of new operational approaches across environmental, climate, conflict, and peace (ECCP) practice – or the ECCP Nexus. The timing of these efforts is particularly important given the preparations for ‘Stockholm +50’ – or the United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment to be held in June 2022.
• The conference draws together over two years of partnership building for a new agenda for environmental peacebuilding, with 28 preparatory meetings under the Road to Geneva process, the Geneva Dialogue on ECCP, as well as the White Paper on the Future of Environmental Peacebuilding, featuring 50 accepted contributions.

Specific objectives

• Advance knowledge in environmental peacebuilding along five themes, including building the evidence base, public health, business and markets, rights and justice, and climate change.
• Foster practical innovation through cross-cutting exchange between policy, practice, and research ahead of Stockholm+50. The Second Conference fosters exchange on the latest state of research and analysis in environmental peacebuilding research between the policy, practitioner, and research communities.
• Build communities across silos to advance policy, practice, and research. The Second Conference aims to overcome the silo-thinking associated to academic disciplines and professional sectors. This particularly refers to the silos between environment, climate, conservation, peace, security, humanitarian, and conflict disciplines and sectors.

Programme

• Four plenary discussions, including the “Opening and Welcome Plenary – The Road from Irvine to Geneva”, kickstarting the 2nd Conference and marking the launch of the White Paper on the Future of Environmental Peacebuilding, and a high-level discussion on “Environmental Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development – The Way Forward”, connecting Environmental Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development to the Stockholm+50 and beyond.
• High-level speakers, such as Lise Grande, CEO and President of the United States Peace Institute (USIP), and Robert Jenkins, Assistant to the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), among partners from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Meteorological Organization, and other organizations and governments.
• 44 panels presenting more than 65 research papers on the five focus themes of the conference.
• Five training sessions across monitoring and evaluation, conflict management, and other topics.
• Poster sessions highlighting important contributions to environmental peacebuilding.
• An art exhibition connecting peace and the environment through art.