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Environmental Conflict and Cooperation in the African Great Lakes region: a case study of the Virungas

In the quest for peace and security in the Great Lakes region, environmental resources play a pivotal role. Cooperative efforts for sustainable environmental management at the local, national, sub-regional, and regional levels provide opportunities for conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

Mutual environmental interests can provide an opportunity for dialogue and allow for collaboration between groups, whether inter- or intra-national. As part of UNEP's Initiative on Environment and Conflict Prevention (E&CPI), this assessment, which includes a case study of the Virunga Volcanoes, is aimed at increasing understanding of the ways in which the environment can act as an important outlet for cooperation, trust-building, and conflict prevention.

The concepts of environmental peacemaking and Transboundary Protected Areas (TBPA) are used to illustrate how conservation actions in the Virunga Volcanoes and Greater Virunga Landscape (GVL) have brought together diverse stakeholders and created an opportunity to build peace in an area that has seen many conflicts over the years.

Publication website ( PDF - www.unep.org )