This project aims to map and examine how local communities in general, and women’s movements in particular, adapt and remain resilient in settings where climate change is exacerbating protracted conflict. By examining two local communities in the Africa Great Lakes Region, the project will produce new theoretical and empirical knowledge on how indigenous communities experience climate-related security risks, and how they develop resilient practices to prevent conflict, displacement and worsening of livelihood conditions. The study will put a particular emphasis on understanding how gendered norms and power structures increase or mitigate the likelihood of climate-related insecurities. I will rely on innovative methodological approaches that include multi-level and multi-temporal oral narratives developed through Participatory Action Research, body-mapping and arts-based knowledge production. This approach is designed to overcome limitations of current scholarship on Environmental Peacebuilding in incorporating indigenous knowledges and perspectives. Furthermore, the project studies together regional and local dynamics of climate-related conflict exacerbation to examine the potential of international efforts to climate-related conflict prevention and to challenge policymakers to include indigenous knowledges when designing programs geared towards conflict-affected communities.
- Funded by: Folke Bernadotte Academy
- Time period: 2023-2025
- People Involved: Maria Martin de Almagro (Principal Investigator)