Diverse understandings and values of nature at the peace–environment nexus: a critical analysis and policy implications towards decolonial peace

Summary, in English

Scholarship in peace and conflict studies is paying increasing attention to the role of the environment for conflict transformation and peacebuilding. However, a closer analysis on how different understandings of “nature” implicate policy proposals and approaches to peacebuilding is lacking. In this study, we provide a critical reflection on the diverse understandings and valuations of nature at the nexus of peace and environment. We do this from a decolonial approach and with a particular focus on the concept of sustainable peace. We first discuss our theoretical approach based on a critical and pluralistic understanding of “environment” as “nature” and a decolonial stand on peace. We then construct an analytical framework based on the values framework developed by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that highlights different worldviews, approaches, notions, and conceptualizations of nature’s contribution to human well-being and implications incorporating Indigenous and local systems of knowledge. Drawing on academic publications that provide empirical and conceptual discussions on the role of nature and environment in peace transformation from diverse regions of the world, we interpret the diverse understandings and valuations of nature in relation to peace. We find that a limited understanding and valuation of nature (and peace) limits the transitions towards a more profound re-mending of the social-ecological relationships that are needed for sustainable peace. We argue that future research should focus on overcoming the ontological bias that persists in the literature at the nexus of peace and the environment.

• Author: Maria Andrea Nardi; Torsten Krause; Fariborz Zelli
• Department/s: Department of Human Geography; MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World; LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions; BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate; LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies); Department of Political Science
• Publishing year: 2024
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Ecology & Society
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 4
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-15198-290441
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Resilience Alliance
• Topic: Other Social Sciences
• Keywords: decolonial peace; environmental peacebuilding; IPBES; nature valuation; post-conflict peacebuilding
• Status: Published
• Project: Environmental Human Rights Defenders – Change Agents at the Crossroads of Climate change, Biodiversity and Cultural Conservation
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1708-3087