New SPARC research on ‘Peace with Nature’ supports the UN Convention on Biological Diversity

In the heart of Senegal, the Ferlo Silvopastoral Reserve is more than just a protected area – it is a lifeline for the region’s farmers and herders. But as climate change, population growth, and changing land use pressures mount, this vital, mainly dryland region faces growing challenges. Silvopastoralism is a form of agroforestry that integrates trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way.

Through SPARC partner CGIAR Research Initiative Fragility, Conflict and Migration, research on ‘conventions locales’ has been carried out in Mali, and initial results will be presented at the Symposium on Agropastoralism in Africa in Dakar,  Senegal in November, as a contribution to a regional dialogue on land use conflicts supported by SPARC and its partners. In East Africa, SPARC member organisations the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Mercy Corps are working with the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) to better understand and test how PRM can better (more explicitly) contribute to peace.

An early example of the role that PRM can play in peacebuilding in Ethiopia can be found in a new brief on Environmental Peacebuilding as a Pathway to Peace with Nature, launched at a UN CBD COP16 side event on Peace with Nature through Environmental Peacebuilding: Unlocking Biodiversity’s Potential for Conflict Resolution organised by the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT.

Read the full story at sparc-knowledge.org.