Sudan: Environmental Governance for Peacebuilding in Darfur

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published in June 2014 a report titled "Relationships and Resources: Environmental Governance for Peacebuilding and Resilient Livelihoods in Sudan." 

The report argues that achieving peace in Darfur requires an approach that includes both technical work to restore degraded natural resources and one that rebuilds new forms of environmental governance and political work capable of establishing a shared vision, resolving conflicts, and advancing new forms of governance.  The report describes practical experiences undertaken by UNEP and numerous  partners in government and civil society between 2007 and 2014 to support Darfur's own efforts to develop new inclusive and participatory approaches to environmental governance.  It focuses on the process by which governance and peacebuilding may be promoted using natural resources as the basis for rebuilding key relationships and trust. 

The Limits of Darfur's Peace Process

The International Crisis Group published on 27 January 2014 an analysis titled "Sudan's Spreading Conflict (III): The Limits of Darfur's Peace Process." 

It concluded that "even though the government is distracted by its economic crisis, and the international community is focused on the civil war in South Sudan, there is present need to resolve the contradiction between the piecemeal and comprehensive approaches to peace in Darfur, to look at what is local and what is national and should be transferred to a more comprehensive process."

Sudan's Approach to Darfur

Amin Hassan Omer, Sudan's Minister of State for Darfur, and Al Tijani Seisi, chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority and leader of the Liberation and Justice Movement, made a presentation at Chatham House in London on 8 May 2013.  A summary of their remarks appeared under the title "Sudan's Approach to Darfur: Resolving a Decade of Conflict." 

They spoke about the government of Sudan's approach to Darfur after ten years of conflict and the displacement of more than two million Darfuris.  The speakers described Sudan's plans for an effective and inclusive political process, and the role of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur as a basis for achieving a peaceful resolution to the conflict.