South and South East Asia

International Alert’s fifth dialogue on climate change, conflict and fragility, held on 27th January 2012 in London, explored the connections between climate change and community level security, drawing on new research from West Africa and South Asia. During the discussion, participants explored the practicalities of linking top-down policies with on the ground realities in communities already facing complex risks to their human security.

By Clémence Bessière

This report focuses on how theories of change can improve the effectiveness of peacebuilding interventions. A review of 19 peacebuilding projects in three conflict-affected countries found that the process of articulating and reviewing theories of change adds rigour and transparency, clarifies project logic, highlights assumptions that need to be tested, and helps identify appropriate participants and partners. However, the approach has limitations, including the difficulty of gathering theory-validating evidence.

Full report

This series of three country “Insights” identifies peacebuilding priorities in Burundi, Liberia and Nepal, and discusses the response of the international institutions operating there. The focus institutions are primarily the World Bank and the UN. The insights provide a brief snapshot and analysis of each country’s particular peacebuilding needs, as well as the dynamics that either facilitate or hinder institutional ability to address these needs.

Full report

A group of emerging political leaders from Sri Lanka’s Parliament and civil society have been spending the week here in the UK as part of a programme aimed at fostering reconciliation in that country’s progress toward peaceful development following the end of the three decade civil war there in 2009.

The South Asia Network of Climate Change and Security, having met in Male’ on the 1st of December 2011 to discuss opportunities and challenges related to climate change and security in South Asia, offer the following views to the Parties and Governments of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

library: 

SANSaC Male' Statement to CoP17.pdf

The South Asia Network of Climate Change and Security, having met in Male’ on the 1st of December 2011 to discuss opportunities and challenges related to climate change and security in South Asia, offer the following views to the Parties and Governments of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

library: 

SANSaC Male' Statement to CoP17.pdf

This note explains the importance of using a conflict-sensitive approach to responding to climate change in South Asia. It offers guidelines and emerging principles on how climate change and development policy makers and practitioners can promote peace-positive adaptation actions which can yield the double dividend of building resilience to climate change and conflict. Issues of water, land, energy and food security are highly affected by climate change. At the same time, inappropriate governance of these issues lies at the root of conflicts across the region.

Practice Note

On 1st November 2011, five years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Nepal, political parties finally made a breakthrough by signing a historic 7-point agreement in Kathmandu.

The agreement decides on the contentious issues of army integration, constitution drafting and power sharing.

Why is it important?

A study visit of analysts and journalists from across the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict divide to South East Asia took place in July and August 2011.

The group visited South East Asia to look at the peacebuilding experiences of the Philippines, where they focused on both separatist and ideological conflicts, and Indonesia, where they looked at the conflicts in East Timor and Aceh.

Local business Local Peace: the Peacebuilding Potential of the Domestic Private Sector

Case study: Philippines

library: 

lblp_Philippines.pdf

Equitable economic recovery and improved public security are both key requirements for consolidating peace in Nepal. The private sector is deeply affected by insecurity: increasing criminality, forced donations, strikes, shutdowns and labour unrest stifle production and undermine investor confidence. At the same time, irresponsible and sometimes illicit business practice further fuels this cycle of public insecurity, resulting in yet more economic hardship. Breaking this cycle therefore has to be in the interest of responsible business leaders across Nepal.

Full report

This paper is a collection of reflections from a field visit to three districts in the middle hills and Terai belt of eastern Nepal (Sunsari, Dhankuta and Morang) which set out to explore the various dimensions of the resilience of climate-affected communities. By sharing the perceptions and insights of community members from these districts, this paper aims to shed light on the complexities of these particular local contexts and flag some of the specific challenges of responding to climate change in fragile and conflict-affected contexts such as Nepal.

Full report