UPEACE is a United Nation-mandated university established in Costa Rica. It is the only university authorized by the UN in its family to grant degrees at Masters and Doctorates levels. The courses of studies include international peace, conflict management and law. One of its guiding principles is that peace should be achieved at the end of conflict not as a diplomatic compromise but ensured through education.

The two organizations tied up an ambitious five year, two phase program to get information about socio-environment conflict resolution in Latin America. The program was called Conflict and Collaboration in Managing Natural Resources in Latin America and the Caribbean (or C&C). Researchers were dispatched to different parts of the area to study on conflicts that arose due to environmental projects such as mining, deforestation, fishing etc.

Some challenges they met was that the parties involved sometimes did not want to compromise and insisted on continuing the way they were before without interference from C&C. Another challenge identified is how the social inequalities can be corrected and the weaker players can be empowered. Governments also might prefer addressing the short-term issue rather than use conflict resolution to confront the root causes. These are some challenges that C&C has to face.
This approach is effective and sustainable but it might not be efficient. However, by dispatching individual groups of researchers into each conflict area, the inefficiency was decreased. Also, different questions were asked and an abundance of information was retrieved regarding conflict causes and solutions.

An example of a problem the C&C solved was establishing the Indigenous Peoples and Civil Society Coordination Unit which legally recognizes the resource rights of the indigenous Mayans in Guatemala. Initially, these people wanted to manage the forests they occupy but the officials did not allow that. C&C hosted talks between the leaders of the Mayan community and the Guatemalan environmental officials which enlightened the public about Indigenous attitudes towards the environment. This is an example of what the C&C has done. They involved the affected parties to meet and tackle out the differences which would lead them to finding compromises that are beneficial to both parties.

Cheryl Cheong

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