The ‘Barn Owls Know No Boundaries’ project brings people from Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority to work together on solving environmental challenges. Nature conservation efforts, such as this one, are beneficial for all communities. More often than not, these benefits go beyond just biodiversity protection. Indeed, they may facilitate constructive dialogue across divides in conflict zones and perhaps even integrate nature conservation into peacebuilding interventions.

Innovation in Peacebuilding: Leveraging Polarities

There are at least two critical tensions in peace-operations: achieving peace and justice and advancing executive and advisory functions in protecting civilians.

Let’s do a mental exercise. Close your eyes, and think of your immediate geographic area – whether you live in a bustling, coastal megalopolis; an idyllic, isolated farm; or the mountaintops or savannas between them.

by Tarcisio Gazzini

Key Points:

The United Nations (UN) Advisory Group of Experts considers the progress made by the Peacebuilding Commission established by the UN in 2005 to be unsatisfactory.

The UN requires a fresh look at the economic dimension of the peacebuilding process in order to reconsider the conceptual framework of the Peacebuilding Commission.

On 10 November 2016, as a side event to the 8th Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapon Convention (BWTC), the GCSP co-organised a panel discussion jointly with VERTIC and the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Consortium with the support of the UK Government and the International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI).

The topic was "Adressing the Biosecurity Governance: Challenges Posed by the Ebola Epidemic". The event was chaired by Dr Lorna Miller (UK Delegation).