Last week, the UN Environmental Programme and the Environmental Peacebuilding Association released their latest technical report, “Digital Technologies for Environmental Peacebuilding: Horizon scanning of opportunities & risks” which aims to better understand and frame the risks and opportunities that come with applying digital technologies as tools in environmental peacebuilding efforts. It further seeks to understand the roles and impacts this technology can have in “building resilient societies and healthy environments in fragile and conflict-affected settings” (10).
Blum Center Director Dr. Richard Matthew co-authored a chapter of a this report with Albert Martinez (UNEP). Their chapter, “Post-conflict peacebuilding and sustainable development,” explores the potential that digital technology has for natural resource management and climate change adaptation efforts, particularly in ensuring “inclusion, engagement, and collaboration of conflict-affected people” (74) in those efforts.
From monitoring land use and yield, formalizing land rights, and evaluating resource regulation impact to identifying and tracking local conflicts over natural resources, the case studies described in this chapter showcase a variety of technologies employed in the post-conflict context. Matthew and Martinez also include four essential priorities for optimizing the implementation of digital technology in these areas.