Timeline

Natural Resources, Conflict and Cooperation

QUNO envisions a world where natural resource management occurs through dialogue, cooperation and the constructive handling of conflicts – facilitated by business operations that are responsible and conflict-sensitive.
February 2022

'What's missing (and needed) post-COP26?' - QUNO's event at the Second International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding

On February 2nd 2022, over 130 people joined the virtual roundtable event co-hosted by QUNO Geneva and the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) at the International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding. The event addressed three elements at the intersection of challenges and opportunities in the post-COP26 context, namely: addressing the root causes of climate change, the role of human rights and avoiding securitisation. 

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March 2018

The Principle 10 Negotiations  resulted in the adoption of a legally binding agreement

Representatives of 24 Latin American and Caribbean countries who were gathered in San Jose, Costa Rica adopted the first binding regional agreement to protect the rights of access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters (Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development), an unprecedented legal instrument for the region.

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November 2016

Geneva Peacebuilding Platform (GPP) and QUNO highlight natural resources and conflict sensitive business approaches

This event on “Enhancing the Potential of Business for Sustainable Development and Sustaining Peace” provided an opportunity to publicly share research commissioned by the American Friends Service committee (AFSC) for their Business and Peace Programme and present the development of a new tool by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank for enhancing access to information on environmental matters for local communities.

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March 2016

Important rights around the environment being negotiated in Latin America and the Caribbean

QUNO organised a side event at the UN Human Rights Council on 4 March on “Procedural Rights and the Environment: The Principle 10 Negotiations in Latin America and the Caribbean”. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, John Knox, the Ambassadors of Chile and Costa Rica and Marcos Orellana of the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL), provided an update on what all agreed is the most significant development around the right to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters at the moment.

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January 2016

VIDEO: Diane Hendrick talks about our Peace & Disarmament programme

In this video, excerpted from a longer film shown at the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) World Plenary Meeting held in Peru in January 2016, Diane Hendrick explains the work of our Peace & Disarmament programme. 

The Peace and Disarmament programme grows out of a long Quaker history of working for peace, understanding that this means more than the absence of overt violence and has fundamentally to do with social and economic justice and political participation. Where these are denied, the roots of violence can be found. 

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January 2016

QUNO contributes chapter to new Elsevier publication on Land Degradation

Working as a consultant for QUNO Geneva, Lynn Finnegan, with assistance from Diane Hendrick, has authored a chapter entitled “All Voices Heard: A Conflict Prevention Approach to Land and Natural Resources” in the newly-published book Land Restoration: Reclaiming Landscapes for a Sustainable Future, edited by Ilan Chabay, Martin Frick and Jennifer Helgeson.

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November 2015

QUNO highlights conflict sensitivity in business during Geneva Peace Week

QUNO and AFSC, with the support of the Peace Nexus Foundation, organised an event at the Palais des Nations on “Conflict Sensitivity in Business: Experiences from China and Southeast Asia” as part of Geneva Peace Week 2015. The event provided a platform for a senior Chinese business representative, as well as Cambodian and international NGO representatives, to speak about their efforts to work together to mitigate conflict around investments in Southeast Asia. The event was moderated by Jason Tower, East Asian International Affairs Representative for AFSC in Beijing. 

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November 2015

Bringing constructive examples to the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights

QUNO, together with the Centre for Peacebuilding (swisspeace) and the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), held a side event at the 4th UN Forum on Business and Human rights, on 16 November 2015. This event focused on the “Human Rights Implications of Large-Scale Land Investments and Constructive Responses”. Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter, spoke on preliminary findings and initial reflections of a draft report produced for ICAR, Global Witness and Oxfam on Land, corruption and human rights.

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May 2015

Negotiations on Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration

QUNO Geneva have produced a new publication that focuses on the potential of environmental rights agreements to prevent destructive conflict around natural resources. “Building Peace through Principle 10, Access rights and the prevention of environmental conflict”, is a contribution to the ongoing negotiations to conclude a regional agreement for Latin America and the Caribbean on the right to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice, in environmental matters.

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February 2015

QUNO particpates in Fifth Meeting of the Aarhus Task Force on Public Participation in Decision Making on Environmental Matters

Fifth Meeting of the Aarhus Task Force on Public Participation credit:Noah Berger Photography

QUNO participated in the fifth meeting of the Aarhus Convention Task Force on Public Participation in Decision-Making on Environmental Matters from 23 to 24 February 2015. Entering into force in December 2001, the Aarhus Convention provides the publics of signatory states with a number of procedural rights with respect to the environment, including the right to access information, the right of participation, and the right to justice.

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December 2014

QUNO launches FCNL Report on Natural Resources in the Central African Republic

In early December, QUNO hosted the Friends Committee on National Legislation launch of a policy brief titled: "Central African Republic Crisis: Managing Natural Resources for Peace." Engaging with a range of stakeholders, a series of Quaker House meetings in New York emphasized the importance of fostering transparent and accountable systems of management for the wealth of natural resources across the Central African Republic.

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July 2014

QUNO hosts side event at the Aarhus Convention's Meeting of the Parties on "Building peace through environmental access rights"

QUNO  organized a side event on "Building peace through environmental access rights: preventing conflict around water, land and food" (download the briefing paper below) on Tuesday, July 1, at the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention.

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March 2014

QUNO organizes a side event at Human Rights Council on “Procedural Rights and the Environment: Preventing conflict around water, land and food"

In March, QUNO organized a side event at the Human Rights Council on “Procedural Rights and the Environment: Preventing conflict around water, land and food". Procedural rights include the right to information, public participation in decision-making and right to remedy and complement substantive rights such as the right to life or the right to food. Jonathan Woolley of QUNO chaired the event and the Permanent Representatives of Ethiopia and Chile to the UN in Geneva spoke on existing and planned legal frameworks relating to the environment in Africa and Latin America, respectively.

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February 2014

QUNO makes a Statement at the 17th working Group of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention

QUNO attended the 17th Working Group of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention as part of our work on Natural Resources, Conflict and Cooperation. This is a UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention linking environmental rights and human rights, focusing on the interactions between the public and public authorities.

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January 2014

QUNO's Diane Hendrick co-moderated e-discussion on Mainstreaming Food Security into Peacebuilding Processes

Photo Credit: UN Photo by Paulo Filgueiras

Diane Hendrick of QUNO Geneva and Alexandra Trzeciak-Duval, former Head of the Policy Division in OECD’s Directorate for Development Co-operation, co-moderated an e-discussion on Mainstreaming Food Security into Peacebuilding Processes. You can read contributions to the e-discussion at http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/protracted-crises.

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December 2013

QUNO holds side event on “Business, Human Rights and Conflict” at 2013 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights

Photo Credit: Claire Rodgerson

QUNO - together with the UN Global Compact, the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, and the Constructive Engagement Group - held a side event on Business, Human Rights and Conflict at the 2013 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. Diane Hendrick of QUNO moderated the discussion. During this event, Lynn Finnegan from QUNO spoke about the impact that business activities can have on local communities’ access to natural resources such as water, land and food. QUNO also outlined good practices for effective company-community engagement.​

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October 2013

QUNO holds public lecture on “Building peace around land, food and water” at Earlham College, Indiana

 Diane Hendrick spoke to QUNO Geneva's work on natural resources, conflict and cooperation. She was also at Earlham College consulting on the issues of environment, natural resources and climate change in the review of the Oxford University Press International Encyclopedia of Peace.

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