Environmental Stewardship

A future where resources contribute to equitable peace and development includes responsible and sustainable environmental practices.

Yet, the extraction and production of natural resources often results in pollution and harmful environmental impacts. Further, climate change is heightening competition over natural resources and contributing to a risk of violence. It is our responsibility to ensure that any transformation of natural resource management includes practices that minimize negative impacts on the environment and highlights our role as custodians of the earth.

What do we mean by environmental stewardship?

Environmental stewardship is a broad term that explains how we interact with the environment to ensure protection, conservation, and sustainability.

We Reveal

We research how the mismanagement of natural resources impacts the environment, exacerbates conflict, and increases the prevalence of human rights violations. Through technical environmental assessments, we analyze the effects of resource extraction on the environment, how these effects impact conflict and insecurity, and ways to minimize them. We also monitor and investigate how climate change—and the resulting heightened competition over resources—impacts security and human rights.

We Innovate

We develop innovative approaches to integrate environmental stewardship into natural resource management strategies in areas where security and human rights are at risk. We undertake outreach to improve understanding of environmentally responsible practices in the natural resource sector, such as ecosystem management, responsible extraction, and mercury reduction. We provide technical assistance and capacity building to groups to implement new approaches that integrate environmental stewardship, including working with miners to reduce mercury use.

We Engage

We advance multi-stakeholder dialogue to promote environmental stewardship in the natural resource sector by sharing the findings of our research and approaches, as well as recommendations. We engage with policymakers to adopt environmentally conscious reforms into policies. We also engage with community groups, to understand the risks of natural resource extraction and to provide guidance on how to minimize the environmental impact of their work, as well as the potential for conflict.