PODCAST: Natural Resources and Conflict: Advice for Funders

Natural resources, conflict, and human security were front and center at a premier forum for philanthropists focused on global issues last month. Five hundred experts and funders gathered in Redwood City, CA, at the annual Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF) to tackle a range of connected challenges under the rubric of "Human Security, Conflict, and the Responsibility to Protect." ECSP Director Geoff Dabelko caught up with social entrepreneur Juan Dumas, executive director of Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano (FFLA), an NGO based in Ecuador. Dumas and his colleagues work closely with a broad range of stakeholders in facilitating peaceful resolutions to natural resource conflicts. Resting on the premise that natural resource management is conflict management, their work prioritizes resolving these disputes in a peaceful manner. In this podcast interview, Juan highlights FFLA's activities and lists some specific actions funders must take if they wish to make a real difference in supporting efforts to break the links between natural resources and conflict.

Juan was just one of the voices on natural resources, conflict, and human security at the GPF conference. Patrick Alley of Global Witness weighed in on the "resource curse," Maria Theresa Vargas of Fundación NATURA Bolivia outlined her group's innovative use of payment for ecosystem services to solve upstream-downstream resource use conflicts, and Dabelko commented on the need for donors to fund cross-sectoral efforts to capture the peacebuilding benefits of environmental management.

While they didn't address natural resource management issues, you can watch plenary session stars Archbishop Desmond Tutu on forgiveness as a reconciliation strategy, Annie Lennox on HIV/AIDS, and Peter Gabriel on the power of the cell phone for social progress.

Listen to podcast.