The Security Implications of Climate Change in South Asia - Expert Roundtable - Summary of Key Points

Dhaka, Bangladesh: 29th – 30th March 2010

The aim of the workshop, which brought together experts from civil society, academia and government and the donor community across South Asia, was to generate a critical discussion on the inter-linkages between climate change and conflict in South Asia. In particular,

• To explore the implications of current and future climate impacts on security in South Asia.
• To build knowledge around who can do what and how to promote peaceful responses to climate change
• To build a regional coalition to identify and address the gaps in policy and institutional understanding of climate change and conflict risks in South Asia.

How is climate change affecting fragile communities in South Asia? 


To ground the discussions in the reality of climate security risks in the region, experts from Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka each offered a case study of specific ways in which climate change is impacting community security in their countries.

The case study on Bangladesh gave an overview of how predicted climate impacts on in Bangladesh - including an increase in frequency and intensity of cyclones and flooding - would lead to knock-on social economic problems such as fall in crop yields of up to 30%, increased food insecurity and possible threats to governance stability as a result of food insecurity. It was noted that already, anger is growing at the community level where the poor are feeling the inequality of the issue – with increased resentment towards the national government for inadequate management of increasingly scarce resources, and towards the international community for their failure to support adaptation and reduce future emissions through the UNFCCC process.

The case study on India, explored the political economy of climate change and security through a case study from Mihing, Assam. Three sources of conflict related to climate change in this context were identified as i) competition over resources ii) the climate sensitivity of key economic activities iii) policy and institutional failures. Many local conflicts are over local limits to access to resources, particularly water, created by elite capture and corruption within governance structures. Whenever there is a fall in groundwater, there is a strong trend of village elites seizing the dwindling water resources. This has potential to be scaled up to become a national threat. For example, recently, the farmers protest in Delhi against diversion of drinking water to Delhi stopped public transport and created large scale social disruption. The key to avoiding conflict is  then to remove asymmetries in communication whereby the poor have access to information, transparency in local government, and increased participation.

In the Maldives, adaptation is a matter of survival. Security implications of climate change in Male are largely linked to internally displaced people who have been moved due to flooding on their own islands. There is an increasing trend of extremists taking advantage of the destitute during disasters, fuelling grievances and converting the vulnerable to extremist causes. Furthermore, the re-housing of communities from one island to another after tsunami flooding was met with hostility and low level violence between communities that required intervention by security forces. These tensions can be taken as a sign of future difficulties the Maldives is likely to face as climate change heightens the risk of inundation.

In Nepal, the Koshi river floods of 2008 caused tensions between Nepal and India – particularly with the state government of West Bengal who were concerned about movement of flood displaced communities to their state. The 2009 drought in Nepal caused huge food crisis in Mid -far-west Nepal which was highly politicised by various political actors and intensified tensions between Maoists and government – with the Maoists using the poor management of the flood response by government to fuel public protest which became violent and lead to some deaths. Increasingly, anti-elite causes are using climate change to build support against elites and different interest groups using climate change to build their support bases. Opponents of the government are using negative impacts to fuel sentiments that the government cannot protect its citizens, or even that the government deliberately gave them bad seeds so that their crops would fail. The Melamchi drinking water issue was highly politicised and had significant psychological impacts on the local community - creating uncertainty, not knowing who to believe and feeding into decisions to move.

The case study on Pakistan focussed on the significant problems around water in the Sindh province. There are historical tensions relating to damn construction diverting water between upstream industry and downstream agricultural users. Rivers flowing into Pakistan originate in India, so are dependent on India for flow, yet suffer from an asymmetric relationship between the two states on water management. The impacts of decreased water availability is most severely felt by the agricultural economy: there is a major loss of cultivable land, wheat and rice yields are down by 50%; sugar cane is being planted instead of mango or rice; and cotton instead of rice. The socio-economic impacts of climate change in Sindh include rural migration rates of approximately 10%, high interest rate credits of up to 10%, changing dietary habits, increased food and water insecurity faced by women and children, and an increase in children being taken out of school. The impacts of these consequences are a source of potential conflicts relating to lack of clarity and regulation around who owns the available water, who gets what water and whether it’s the duty of the government to provide free safe water to the poor.

In Sri Lanka, ecosystem decline is already affecting livelihoods. The impacts of climate change on the coastal zone of the island are most sharply felt in agricultural and fishery sectors. The need to address the impacts of environment change on the livelihoods of communities that depend directly on ecosystem related resources is very important, however in Sri Lanka, this relationship between rural poor and natural resource dependence is overstated or oversimplified by donors and projects based on this assumption are misplaced. In Sri Lanka, most rural communities with the exception of fishermen, are not as dependent on natural resources as they are in Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Communities are very dynamic so resource-user relationships will be evolving in the face of post-conflict development. For example, traditional fishing communities may not wish to carry on fishing in the lagoon, they may be more keen to move towards the tourism sector. To ensure adaptation responses adequately address livelihood impacts, they must involve the relevant target groups; communities need to be knowledgeable; local government authorities have to be motivated and pressurised (from the local level); central government sectoral policies and institutions should be flexible enough to respond to the types of changes projected to occur from climate change.

Across all case studies, the role of governance is addressing the problems posed by climate change, and indeed the role of governance in fuelling these problems emerged as common themes.

Policy Responses to Climate Change: Institutional responses 

A major gap in knowledge and understanding of institutions currently dealing with above issue relates to the vague and varied understanding of the concept of ‘adaptation’. It was suggested that the language should shift towards resilience. Communities resilient to one risk, such as environment shocks, are going to be communities resilient to other risks such poverty, conflict. A resilient community is one that can absorb information, digest it, understand it, and act upon it. For this, good governance structures are needed.

It is also important that knowledge translate into understanding. Furthermore, it will cause problems if this understanding is not communicated to the affected communities and the institutions promulgating the information are not trusted by the communities.

In the South Asian context, weak local government capacity is a major obstacle to building community resilience. Better governance of natural resources requires the devolution of necessary powers to local government at the district level, but knowledge and understanding of the issues is generally very low. The need to build capacity within local institutions is a priority, as is exploring public-private and civil society partnerships in technical infrastructure projects or those which require community buy-in.

Institutions need to be open and transparent, and humble about what they don’t know. They also need to be flexible, to cope with variable and complex risks. Risks are interrelated, so policy responses need to be interconnected.

Key questions:

‐  How to get more acceptance of building ‘broad resilience’ rather than narrow, technical adaptation? Copenhagen showed how policy made by environmental and legal policy experts fails. Slow shift can now be traced, over the past three years, where there is acceptance of the complex human security linkages between climate change, mitigation and adaptation.

‐  How can the concept of resilience be operationalised? Education and two-way information flows between governance provides and local communities is a priority. They can be promoted in school curricula, university programmes, popular TV and radio programmes, civil society dialogue processes etc. As well as general knowledge and awareness raising, there is also a need for ‘champions’ who can take it up and spread the word within their circles.

Policy challenges and knowledge gaps 

The state-citizen relationship in South Asia is weak. Citizens often see state as source of the problem rather than the solution. However, the paradox is that with increasing economic growth, there is greater dependence on the state to support the growth process.

Regionally, there is very little by way of multilateral approaches. Approaches to managing common resources are largely bilateral but often built on asymmetric power relations between the two states involved. Transboundary problems such as river basin management and glacier resource management however need a paradigm shift towards multilateralism.

A common problem across most states in the region is inertia in national policy frameworks, due to

‐  Antiquated laws (including land use planning)
‐  Colonial, paternalistic approach to governance
‐  Highly compartmentalised administration
‐  Conservative social and cultural institutions which are resistant to change.
‐  Lack of capacity and understanding in decision making and decision making
systems

Broad policy goals for conflict sensitive adaptation:
‐  Efficiency and equity
‐  Socially and culturally acceptable adaptation choices
‐  Stakeholder involvement
‐  Participatory institutional arrangements

These terms are often used and risk becoming jargon, but this does not distract from the fact that they are key to effective responses. The challenge is in translating them from ‘jargon’ to something which is operation able.

Conclusions: 
Water issues, large scale movements of climate refugees, including cross border migration, loss of people’s livelihood and food security, and an increase in urban-rural tensions over resource utilization were identified as the major conflict issues in South Asia. These need to be addressed by unified approaches, which means

1) stronger regional understanding of potential social and conflict impacts of climate change, and

2) regional cooperation to build up the resilience of state institutions and civil society.

As such, the participants of the expert workshop initiated the South Asia Network on Security and Climate Change (SANSaC) - the first network to address this dual problem and its interlinked solutions in South Asia. The network identified the following key issues to be addressed:

Regional approach – emphasising regional approaches for addressing climate-related conflicts in South Asia through establishing platforms for exchange, sharing and concerted action. There is also a need for better multi-lateral cooperation in managing water resources (e.g. trans-boundary river systems)

Define/refine policy responses – All responses must reflect the expressed needs of the people, involve them in consultation, take account of power distribution and social order, and avoid pitting groups against each other. At the same time they must be integrated with overall development strategies.

Shift climate change investment priorities – more research to address knowledge gaps and better understand conflict related challenges of climate change impact in South Asia and peacebuilding related opportunities in adaptation strategies. Explore also private sector support.

Devise a responsive institutional framework – with appropriate human capacity and institutional collaboration, integrating and going beyond sectoral approaches.

State responses – more than adaptation, there is a need to strengthen capacities for resilience to cope with climate change induced crisis situation. Development needs have to be climate proof but similarly climate change needs have to be addressed in a conflict sensitive manner

Improve communication – ensure information flow to citizens and key sectoral stakeholders. An improvement in sharing and learning across sectors and between states will improve efficiency, but also conflict sensitivity, of climate change response policies and programs. Steps must be taken to strengthen social capacity to understand and manage climate and conflict risks. This means communicating the knowledge available on the issue in an open and honest manner to enable understanding and response.

The following were agreed to be roles which SANSaC could take forward:

‐  To identify knowledge gaps
‐  To advise on policy responses
‐  To establish new institutional norms and modus operendi to replace current
norms which are not relevant to the problems faced.
‐  To identify champions and create a constituency for the core messages
emerging from this dialogue.

SANSaC Participants, Dhaka Meeting, 29-30 March 2010

Annex 1:
Participants List
1. Dr. S. Mahmud Ali
Director Research, Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS)
2. Mr. Ivan Cambell
Senior Adviser, Conflict and Security, Saferworld
3. Dr. Moazzm Ali Khan
Director, Institute of Environmental Studies, University for Karachi
4. Dr. Ashild Kola
Program Leader Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Program, International Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
5. Dr. Arabinda Mishra
Director, Climate Change Division & Dean, Faculty of Policy & Planning, TERI
6. Mr. Ahmed Shafeeq Moosa
Special Envoy for Science and Technology, The President’s Office, Maldives
7. Dr. Nirmalie Pallewatta
Head, Department of Zoology, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
8. Jorge Nieto-Rey
European Union Delegation to Bangladesh
9. Dr. Atiq Rahman
Executive Director, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies
10. Dr. Bishnu Raj Upreti, Regional Coordinator, South Asia Coordination Office of Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) - North- South
11. Maj. Gen. Muniruzzaman
President, Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS)
12. Dr. Markus Mayer
South Asia Programme Manager, International Alert
13. Mr. Dan Smith
Secretary General, International Alert
14. Mr. Paul Moon
Senior Programme Design & Fundraising Officer, International Alert
15. Ms. Janani Vivekananda
Climate Change and Conflict Adviser, International Alert
16. Ms. Rebecca Crozier
Acting Nepal Country Programme Manager, International Alert
17. Mr. Mohammed Mahuruf
Director, Peacebuilding and Development Institute in Sri Lanka
18. Ms. Asha Frances Cecilia Bulathsinghala
Peacebuilding and Development Institute in Sri Lanka
19. Ambassador Geetha de Silva
Associate Director, Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS)
20. Ms. Dilkie Perera Koelmeyer
Finance and Admin. Officer, Regional Centre for Strategic Studies

Annex 2:
SANSaC (South Asia Network for Security and Climate Change) - Objectives:


Short-term:
1. Providing recommendations to SAARC
2. Write up presentations from Session 1 country experiences into case studies for publication (Alert
to copy edit, TERI Press to print)
3. Explore the six identified thematic areas
4. Create an informal network (regular e-communication in short run)
5. Remain as a small core group of committed individuals from SAARC states
6. North and South partners to seek funding opportunities

Long-term:
1. Long-term engagement and advocacy with SAARC
2. Gradual expansion of network with additional members from existing countries, plus new states
3. Strengthening understanding around six thematic areas through further research
4. Reach out to private sector for advocacy and funding
5. Producing high quality regional research around six key themes – providing knowledge base for
advocacy and training
6. Joint publications

Expert Group - The Security Implications of Climate Change in South Asia

Dhaka Roundtable Meeting, 29-30 March 2010

Dr.  S. Mahmud Ali is Former Senior Editorial Coordinator BBC World Service. He has devoted the past three decades to studying aspects of national, regional and international security, broadly defined. His formal academic labours have been at the Royal United Services Institute of Defence Studies, London (1981), and King's College, London (1985-90) where his focus ranged from strategic nuclear doctrine, strategy and tactics, through insecurity drivers shaping policy among great- and not-so-great powers, to inter-state and intra-state conflictual dynamics defining the South Asian subsystemic milieu. He has published six volumes, three of them in a trilogy charting the evolution of Sino-US security dynamics over 1942-2008. His monograph, Understanding Bangladesh (New York, Columbia University Press, forthcoming), examines the likely impact of environmental and demographic stresses on the future health of the Bangladeshi state and society. Dr. S. Mahmud Ali has spent the past quarter century working as a journalist, broadcaster, regional analyst, and editor, in both print and electronic media, in Bangladesh and the UK. Prior to that, he spent a number of years in military service in Pakistan and then, in Bangladesh.  He is currently engaged in a project titled 'A New World Emerging: Asia-Pacific Dynamics in the Obama Era.'

Mr. Ivan Campbell who has over 15 years experience of conflict prevention and peace-building is currently Senior Advisor on Conflict & Security for Saferworld.  Saferworld is an international non-governmental organisation that works to prevent and reduce violent conflict and promote cooperative approaches to security.  It works with governments, international organisations and civil society to encourage and support effective policies and practices through advocacy, research and policy development and through supporting the actions of others.  The majority of Ivan’s experience has been in Africa, where he managed International Alert’s Programme in the Great Lakes region (2000-5), and subsequently as Head of Saferworld’s Programme in Africa, including Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Uganda (2005-9). In his current advisory role Ivan is supporting Saferworld’s work in Georgia, Sri Lanka and Nepal, with a focus upon promoting dialogue processes and conflict-sensitive development. Ivan is also leading the development of Saferworld’s work on the linkages between climate change, security and conflict.  Ivan holds an MA in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia, and a BA from Oxford University.

Ms. Rebecca Crozier is Country Manager for International Alert Nepal, based in Kathmandu. International Alert’s work in Nepal focuses on ensuring that national level policy debates around issues critical to the peace process are informed by, and respond to, local level needs and experiences. Over four years in Nepal Rebecca has designed and led a number of projects and research initiatives in Nepal with a focus in particular on building the capacity of civil society, youth and women from across Nepal to engage in and influence policy debates relating to security sector reform (SSR) and public security. An important next step for International Alert Nepal in 2010 will be to explore further the links between climate change and insecurity in the Terai region in particular. Ms. Rebecca Crozier Rebecca has a degree in Political Science and International Studies from Birmingham University.

Ambassador Geetha de Silva is Associate Director at the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) in Colombo since December 1, 2007.  Before assuming this office she held the position of Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. Ambassador de Silva was a member of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service (SLFS). During her career of over 25 years as an SLFS officer, she served as Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Canada and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington D.C. in addition to other diplomatic postings.  While at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs she has functioned as Additional Foreign Secretary, Political Affairs, Director General, South Asia and SAARC, as well as in other capacities and has been the Leader of Sri Lanka’s Delegation to a number of international and regional conferences. Since joining RCSS she has participated in conferences and presented papers focusing on Climate Change, Regional Integration, Maritime Security, Small Arms ,and, Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.  Ambassador de Silva has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Ceylon and a Diploma in International Relations from the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies.

Dr. Moazzam Ali Khan is currently Director, Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Karachi. He is also Associate Professor and is teaching courses of Environmental Science to post graduate students. He has done his Ph.D on waste stabilization ponds technology and has considerable experience in low cost wastewater treatment technology in hot climates. Presently he is working on Higher Education Commission Pakistan project entitled Climate change vulnerability and hazards to coastal areas of Sindh, Pakistan.  He has organized many national and international seminars, workshops and lectures, many of these have been sponsored by the World Health Organization. He was also local tutor of CLIMA; A project of the European Commission on global climate change. He has authored several research papers which have been published in national and international journals. Currently he is also engaged as Principal Investigator in many research projects funded by national and international agencies. He has traveled extensively and has presented his research findings in many international forums.

Dr. Åshild Kolås is a Social Anthropologist and Senior Researcher at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), where she leads the Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Programme. Her main research focus is the construction and politics of identity. She is the author of two books and numerous articles, mainly on Tibetan culture and identity, and has conducted long-term fieldwork in Tibetan communities in India and the People’s Republic of China. Since 2005, Dr. Kolås has coordinated an institutional cooperation between PRIO and the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Delhi. Key research topics in this cooperation are energy and water security.

Mr. Mohammed Mahuruf is the Regional Network Consultant of Cordaid (Dutch based Catholic Organization for Relief and Development). He initially joined Cordaid as a freelance consultant in 2000 and later performed as its coordinator. He is the initiator of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute in Sri Lanka and represents Sri Lanka on the People’s SAARC regional steering committee since 2007. People’s SAARC is the largest people’s movement covering SAARC countries working towards a People’s Union of South Asia. Mr. Mahuruf entered the NGO sector in 1980 through Terre des Hommes (Swiss organisation for Children in distress). He served as social worker in a child based family rehabilitation project of socially and economically excluded Indian origin Tamil stateless people in Nuwara Eliya and left in 1989. He then joined the training team of the Save the Children Fund (UK) and worked with the One-Year Training Course in Care of Children and Young Persons, launched in collaboration with Sri Lanka School of Social Work. He was the co-founder of PEACE (Protecting Environment And Children Everywhere) a local arm of ECPAT International (International campaign to end child prostitution child pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes). In 1992 he joined Helvetas and initiated rehabilitation and development projects in the war torn areas of the east, the Integrated Rehabilitation and Development Project in Vaharai is one of them. He worked as the Principle Consultant for Novib, 1998 – 2003 and functioned as its focal person in Sri Lanka. He also worked as a freelance consultant for GTZ to provide strategic assistance to the FRG- supported technical assistance projects in the North-East of Sri Lanka between 2003 and 2004.

Dr. Markus Mayer is Programme Manager for South Asia at International Alert and the former Country Director of International Alert in Sri Lanka. He has worked in Sri Lanka for over 10 years on poverty interventions, youth unemployment, conflict sensitive development programming, and the role of local business in Peacebuilding and has published in these areas. He was attached as a lecturer and researcher to the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg (Germany) as well as to the University of Colombo (Sri Lanka), where he coordinated a capacity development program to improve employability of social science graduates and to create stronger linkages between academics, practitioners and policy makers working on development relevant issues in Sri Lanka. He has a Ph.D in Development Geography from the University of Heidelberg and is co-editor of Sri Lanka at Crossroads: Dilemmas and Prospects After 50 Years of Independence (Macmillan 2000), Building Local Capacities for Peace: Rethinking Conflict and Development in Sri Lanka (Macmillan 2003) and The Challenge of Youth Unemployment in Sri Lanka (Worldbank-ILO 2010, forthcoming).

Dr Arabinda Mishra is the Director of the Climate Change Division in TERI, New Delhi.  Concurrently, he holds the position of the Dean, Faculty of Policy & Planning at the TERI University. He joined the Department of Policy Studies, TERI University as an Associate Professor in May 2005. Earlier he was a Fellow for four years in the Centre for Multi-disciplinary Development Research (CMDR) in Karnataka, an institution affiliated to the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).  Trained in environmental economics, Dr Mishra’s research skills include integrated impact assessment, economic analytics, and econometrics. He is particularly well conversant with project and programme evaluation techniques and has led a number of impact assessment studies at the country-wide level, of which a major one is a socio-economic and environmental assessment of power sector reforms in India. His research experience covers varied themes such as climate change risks and community-level vulnerability assessment, management of ecosystems and their services for poverty alleviation, amongst others.  On the teaching front, Dr Mishra’s interest in the area of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has led to the design of an international Masters programme in Sustainable Development Practice as part of a global initiative. His doctoral work is based on an econometric approach to factor productivity and technological progress in Indian manufacturing sector. Doctoral students under his supervision are examining the application of concepts of panarchy and inter-institutional interplay to understand cross-scale interactions in complex adaptive systems and the implications for integrated vulnerability assessment.   He has to his credit a number of publications and has participated in as well as organized a number of international seminars/ conferences/ workshops.

Mr. Paul Moon works as a Senior Programme Design and Fundraising Officer in International Alert supporting programmes in West Africa. He is also part of the Climate Change advisory group in International Alert and supports the development of new ideas linked to climate change adaptation. Prior to working with International Alert, he worked for CARE International as West Africa Programme Coordinator with a particular focus on Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction, Governance and Health. Mr. Moon has also held posts supporting work in Sri Lanka, Thailand, China and Latin America and spent one year living and working in Ecuador.

Mr. Ahmed Shafeeq Ibrahim Moosa is Maldives' Envoy for Science & Technology and is currently looking into implementing the new initiative announced by the Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed to make the Maldives carbon neutral within the next 10 years. Maldives has gone through remarkable transformation over the last few years becoming a full fledge democracy. Mr. Moosa played a key role in the democracy movement which brought an end to the 30 year old dictatorship in the Maldives. He is a founding member of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which won the first ever multiparty presidential election and took office in November 2008. The new government of the Maldives is campaigning hard to bring the plight of their nation to the world agenda and reach a common consensus to tackle climate change impacts. Maldives, an archipelago of 1200 islands in the middle of Indian Ocean and having a population of over 350,000 is an island nation, extremely vulnerable to climate change.  Mr. Ahmed Shafeeq Ibrahim Moosa graduated from Glasgow University in Mechanical Engineering in 1995 and from Birmingham University with M Phil in Metallurgy and Materials in 1997.

Major General ANM Muniruzzaman, ndc, psc, (Retd.) is the President of Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), a leading independent think tank which focuses on peace studies and a broad spectrum of security studies covering traditional, non traditional security, trans-national security and human security. He is an active speaker of the lecture circuit and a prolific writer. His subjects of expertise include Counter-terrorism, Environmental Security, Information Warfare, Civil Military Relations, Peace Support Operations, Humanitarian Interventions in Conflict and Interventions in fragile states. He is regularly consulted by government agencies, the diplomatic community and international organisations in Dhaka on issues of security, stability and counter terrorism. Major General Muniruzzaman (retd.) is a member of the International Military Advisory Council (MAC) on “Climate Change and The Military: Copenhagen and Beyond”, an initiative of Institute of Environmental Security (IES) based in The Hague. This expert body consolidated and analysed the research findings on the impact of climate change on global security and made a statement/ recommendation to the climate negotiators in the Copenhagen Summit in December 2009. Major General Muniruzzaman also served as the Director General and CEO of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), the premier government think tank under the umbrella of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. General Munir also served as Military Secretary to the President of Bangladesh (MSP) for a long tenure. He is the Editor of the quarterly academic journal ‘Peace and Security Review’.

 Dr. Nirmali Pallewatte is a zoologist by training with a Ph.D, 1986 from the University of London, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.  She is a tenured senior lecturer at the Department of Zoology, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Currently she is  the head of the Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo. She  had her first degree from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka,  majoring in Zoology with Chemistry as a subsidiary subject. She has been a university teacher all throughout her career with the exception of two years from 1998-2000. She has however, branched off into various fields of environmental science since obtaining her first degree. Among the activities of her illustrious career are, the examination of coastal resource management issues through involvement in the evaluation of pilot scale Special Area Management projects in Sri Lanka, financed by the USAID in 1990s, functioning as the team leader for the environmental impact assessment (supported by UNEP) following the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004,  co-ordinator of the M.Sc. programme in Environment Science at the University of Colombo from 2005 to 2008, and functioning as a programme officer of the IUCN Asia Regional Biodiversity Programme from 1998-2000. She has participated in and contributed to the activities of several think tanks, including the Henry L. Stimson Centre in Washington D.C. on subjects related to climate change.

Dr Atiq Rahman is the Executive Director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS).  He was trained as a chemist and earned his B.Sc Hons. and M.Sc from Dhaka University. He was awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship 1974 and completed his Ph.D on solid state chemistry and low energy processes  from Brunel University, London, UK.. During his scientific career in Europe he was awarded  the “Thermal Methods Group Award” in 1984 by the Royal Society of Chemistry and “Sir Eric Rideal Award” in 1985 by the Society of Chemical Industries, London. Royal Society, London gave him an award for lecturing on Advanced Ceramics in Universities in Japan during 1986.  Dr Rahman was awarded the highest UN award on Environment the “Champion of the Earth 2008” by the UNEP for the Asia Pacific Region for his “extraordinary leadership and contribution to environmental issues, sustainable development and climate change.” He is a well recognized global leader in sustainable development and was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 as a lead author of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. He is also the recipient of the ‘Paribesh Padak 2008’ the highest Environment Award of Bangladesh for “his contribution to research work and scientific innovation.” Dr Rahman is a visiting Professor of International Diplomacy and Sustainable Development at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston. He also coordinates the Global Forum on Environment and Poverty (GFEP) and is the Chairman of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) and  the Coalition of Environmental NGOs in Bangladesh. He is the Bangladesh Focal Point for South Asian Poverty Commission follow up action. He has designed, developed and taught a multi-disciplinary postgraduate course on “Sustainable Development Challenges and North South Dialogue” at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Cambridge, USA. He is a Reviewer of the World Energy Assessment (1999), UNDP and UNEP and a lead author of the South Asian intergovernmental policy paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  Dr Rahman was a member of International Advisory Committee of the Secretary General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) on Sustainable Development and was elected Vice Chairman of working group on Environment, Trade and Investment (GETI) of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic & Social Policy (CEESP).

Mr. Dan Smith is the Secretary General of International Alert and he has been holding this position since 2003.  Having graduated in 1973 from Cambridge University where he read English Literature, Mr. Smith’s work on peace issues started when he began research on UK defence policies in 1976.  Prior to joining Alert he held a number of senior positions, most notably as Director of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo from 1993 to 2001. He also held fellowships at the Norwegian Nobel Institute and Hellenic Foundation for Foreign and European Policy and was for over a decade the Chair of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.  Dan is a prolific author and since arriving at Alert he has continued to publish widely.  He has authored, co-authored and edited sixteen books including successive editions of The Atlas of War and Peace. Responsible for over 100 journal articles and chapters in anthologies he is also regularly invited to advise governments and international organisations on policies and structures for peacebuilding, including through his membership of the Advisory Group for the UN Peacebuilding Fund. At Alert he produced the path breaking A Climate of Conflict (2007) report on the links between climate change, peace and war and continues to lead the organisation’s advocacy on a range of issues critical to the reduction of conflict and building of peace.

Dr. Bishnu Raj Upreti  is currently the South Asia Regional Coordinator of NCCR North-South. He also teaches at Kathmandu University.  He is engaged in conflict transformation in the capacity of an academic, researcher and practitioner. His interest in conflict management led him to peruse a Masters (in resource use negotiation) and PhD (conflict management) from the Netherlands. Since 1996, Dr Upreti has been actively engaged in conflict and peace studies and has been extensively published on the issues of security sector transformation, conflict management and peace building, conflict and development, non-conventional security issues, small arms and light weapons, based on his research and practice. In the process of research, Dr Upreti has conducted field observation/case studies in Nepal, Northern Ireland, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa, Ivory Cost, Tajikistan, Pakistan and India. He spent a decade studying and as a research assistant teaching in the Netherlands, UK, USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. He has been frequently quoted in national and international media about Nepal’s armed conflict and peace process. His latest publications include 1, B. R. and Mueller-Boeker, U. (2010), Livelihood Insecurity and Social Conflict in Nepal. Kathamndu: RCO, 2, Upreti, B. R. (2009), Nepal from war to peace: legacies of the past and hopes for the futures. New Delhi: Adroit Publishers and 3, Upreti, B. R., Topperwin, N. and Heiniger, M. (2009), Peace Process and Federalism in Nepal: Experiences, reflection and learning. Kathamandu: RCO.

Ms. Janani Vivekananda is Senior Climate Change and Security Programme Officer in International Alert’s Security and Peacebuilding Programme. With Secretary General Dan Smith, she co-authored A Climate of Conflict: The links between climate change, peace and war, published by International Alert in 2007. Prior to this role at Alert, she worked as disaster risk reduction policy adviser at Plan International and before this her policy research focus was on security and peacebuilding. She holds an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies and is a graduate in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from New College, University of Oxford.