PROJECT A: An Atlas Beyond Borders: Zones of Peace and Ecological Cooperation

THE GROUP IS COMPLETE

Project leaders:

Dr. Anna Grichting, Architect‐Urbanist, Bordermeetings, Switzerland; Doctor of Urban Design and Planning, Harvard University; Associated Researcher, Cambridge Centre for Landscape and People, Cambridge University.

Dr. Saleem Ali, Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Vermont, USA; Doctor in Environmental Planning, MIT; Author of Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution (MIT Press, September, 2007).

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Building peace through shared conservation issues has thus far been an underutilized tool and deserves further consideration at a time when the world faces many seemingly intractable conflicts and explicit threats to the environment, and when traditional diplomacy may not be working. The Atlas of Ecological Cooperation is intended as an instrument for peace building in areas of conflict. It is a map‐based resource on conflicts with proposed environmentally based solutions, in particular in border areas of conflict zones. A tool with worldwide application, the Atlas aims to present a comprehensive vision of existing and
ongoing efforts of peace building based on ecological cooperation and the preservation of biodiversity, and to provide peace‐builders critical information to engage these principles in the cause of building trust and peace between parties in conflict. The Atlas of Peace builds on the concept of biocultural diversity as a means to remediate disrupted ecosystems and
divided cultural communities in the recreation of zones of diverse ecologies and the reclaiming of the multiplicity of cultures. The Atlas will associate best practices with future visions to show an alternative global map of possible peace zones and transboundary protected areas that will include the Ecuador‐Peru Cordilla del Condor, Korea DMZ, Red Sea Marine Peace Park, Iron Curtain Green Belt, the Siachen Glacier (India‐Pakistan), amongst others.

Applying an ecologist’s view to peace making requires a multi‐disciplinary approach. Landscape architects, ecologists, cartographers, policy makers, and security professionals need to be involved to inform this new approach to diplomacy. Ecological cooperation is not always achieved through a top‐down approach, but is often initiated through a bottom‐up
process revealing the resilience of nature in areas of conflict as well as the resistance to conflict of inhabitants on either side of the divide. This will be a pragmatic product and all stakeholders will be considered in drafting these maps. In the form of a web‐based digital tool, the Atlas will be updated over time as conditions change and research and practice evolves.