Natural resources rarely feature during peacebuilding efforts, but there is growing evidence that’s a mistake. Unresolved natural resource management issues can make peace more fragile, while addressing them can act as a bridge toward cooperation.

The UN Environment Program and Department of Political Affairs recently created a guide to natural resources for conflict mediators. The guide explores how natural resources can exacerbate or drive conflict and discusses best practices for mediation. It also examines instances of natural resource management as cornerstones of peacebuilding, from oil in South Sudan to shared water basins in Iran and Afghanistan.

Michael Brown, an author of the guide and senior mediation expert in natural resources and land conflicts for the UN, spoke to New Security Beat about why this is needed, and what the future of conflict and natural resource management looks like in the face of population growth and climate change.

Why has the UN decided to launch a mediation guide about natural resources and conflict at this particular point in time?

It is clear that natural resources and land play very important roles in conflicts around the world – whether as root cause, driver, or exacerbating factor – yet the issues are in need of dramatically more attention from the international system. On top of this, it is very clear to many informed observers that mediation is a tool ideally suited to address resource conflicts, yet is woefully underutilized. The Department of Political Affairs and Environment Program decided to combine forces in order to consolidate decades of hands-on experience and lessons learned in the field.

You say the international community has not given enough attention to trying to resolve natural resource conflicts. Why is that?

The dual nature of these disputes is one part of the answer. On one hand, resource disputes tend to be technically complex as compared to other kinds of conflict. The issues at play typically involve some mix of complex technical, scientific, economic, and legal information. On the other hand, resource disputes tend to be very politically sensitive. Resources tend to be high value and resource disputes frequently involve historically and culturally important territories. Powerful actors often have stakes to claim.

The technical actors within the international system look at resource disputes and frequently cannot engage because the conflicts are too politically sensitive for a technical organization, while political actors tend to veer away because the technical issues are too complex for their in-house capacity and way of approaching problems.

As a result of this dynamic – along with many other factors – resource disputes often fall through the cracks in the international system or are ignored altogether.

Can you elaborate on why mediation is particularly well suited to natural resource disputes?

A mediation process in the international domain is non-adversarial, voluntary, and consensus-based in nature. The parties not only agree with the outcome but they typically have a heavy hand in creating the solution to their problem. These characteristics are perfectly suited to politically sensitive disputes where long-term relationships are important.

Mediation is also an extremely flexible approach to dispute resolution that puts a wide range of tools, techniques, and processes in the hands of the mediator. This flexibility provides plenty of room to bring in technical information and experts that can be seen as impartial and fair to all sides, or to use collaborative approaches to data collection, analysis, or monitoring. For technical issues requiring long-term attention, a mediator doesn’t even have to resolve every issue right away. An agreement can provide a framework to set up longer-term institutions or processes that can addressed over time in due course.

Another important issue is the historical frustration associated with most complicated natural resource conflicts. A typical resource dispute may be rooted in years, decades, or generations of tension. A third party, impartial mediator who can bring legitimacy and perceived fairness to a problem with a history of failed resolution can be a game-changer.

Prevention is an important aspect of both conflict and environmental degradation. How does this guide help mediators work on these issues before they become crises?

Don’t let the title fool you. In truth, the guide is as much about prevention as it is about resolving resource and environmental disputes once they have flared. The approaches, tools, and techniques that are described throughout represent best practices in conflict prevention as well as mediation. Section after section is about the design and effective implementation of good process, proper stakeholder engagement and citizen participation, strategic and fair information management, and decision-making that is legitimate and fair.

If managers, decision-makers, development professionals, or mediators – people with the ability to influence the way things are done – apply the ideas and approaches in this guide then many, many natural resource disputes will be prevented. That’s the way things really work best. It is infinitely easier, less hurtful in terms of lives and suffering, and less costly in terms of money to do things preventatively from the beginning and to avoid the accumulations of mistakes that lead to conflict escalation and violence.

What is a compelling example of natural resource management that can be a tool for peacebuilding or conflict management?

The concept of “peace parks” is becoming more common as an approach to strengthen relations through joint management of a conservation or multi-use area in a shared border zone with a history of conflict. The guide details the case study of a transboundary condor conservation corridor between Ecuador and Peru that was part of an integrated resolution to a 150-year-long violent border dispute.

Another example relates to the tools and approaches of watershed management. Integrated Water Resources Management, a coordinated and integrated approach to manage water, land, and related resources in an equitable and sustainable manner within the framework of a water basin, is very much in sync with peacebuilding and conflict prevention. In Sudan, UN and government partners recognize the importance and relevance of these principles to the water crisis and are trying to link them in parallel with the political process in the hope of delivering a more lasting peace. Integrated Water Resources Management has also been used by the Nile Basin Initiative, with its 10 basin states.

What important lessons can mediators learn from natural resource managers and vice versa?

Both have a lot to offer each other. There are not a lot of us mediators who have specialized expertise in natural resources, especially in the international domain. With this in mind, mediators need to learn that natural resources don’t have to be overly intimidating. Experts are available to provide the technical support required to apply a mediation framework to resource disputes. The collection, management, and application of accurate and fair information is very important and can go a long way to helping get a mediation process moving forward.

I would guess that resource managers, on the other hand, could benefit from the kind of thoughtful and strategic “good process work” associated with a mediation-styled approach. Thinking more about how one can bring the right people, to the right kind of process, with the right kind of information could contribute significantly to better conflict prevention.

What role do you foresee for natural resource management and peacebuilding going forward, especially in the context of climate change and growing demand?

We know that natural resource and land-related conflicts will become increasingly prevalent and challenging as a result of the combined effects of climate change and growing demand for resources. This will bring with it many very profound and difficult challenges for our institutions of domestic and global governance.

From a resource mediation perspective, this guide highlights the fundamental importance of more widespread use of collaborative approaches to manage resources through processes that are well informed by accurate and fair scientific data and managed in ways that are inclusive, effective, and transparent.

Times are not easy in the peacebuilding and resources world, and they will not get easier in the coming years. But we know there are certain approaches and tools that have proven to be effective in preventing and resolving resource conflicts, and my deep hope is that the international community will use these more actively when and where appropriate.