Since 1990 at least eighteen violent conflicts have been fuelled by the exploitation of natural resources. In fact, recent research suggests that over the last sixty years at least forty percent of all intrastate conflicts have a link to natural resources. Civil wars such as those in Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo have centred on high-value resources like timber, diamonds, gold, minerals and oil. Other conflicts, including those in Darfur and the Middle East, have involved control of scarce resources such as fertile land and water.

Peacebuilding in conflict-prone or post-conflict countries -- such as East Timor, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone -- aims to prevent the re-emergence or escalation of violent conflict and establish a durable peace. This volume explores and critiquesthe 'liberal' premise of contemporary peacebuilding: the promotion of democracy, market-based economic reforms and a range of other institutions associated with 'modern' states as a driving force for building peace.

ABSTRACTED FROM INTRODUCTION: 

This report provides an in depth analysis of the inheritance rights of children in Sri Lanka. Chapter 2 looks at inheritance rights of children from a human rights perspective. It examines the international human rights instruments which guarantee the right to adequate housing of children and which aim to protect their inheritance rights. It analyses the essential components of the right to adequate housing and looks at Sri Lanka’s obligations to protect and promote these rights.

Forest-based conflict is one of the major global challenges for the international forestry agenda together with poverty, climate change, conservation, and biofuels. In this paper, we will estimate the scope of the problem for people and forests, identify the role of forest rights and tenure as part of the cause of and solution to conflict, and project future challenges.

Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of interest in indigenous, traditional and customary approaches to peace-making in the context of civil wars. Supporters claim that indigenous approaches to peacemaking are participatory and relationship-focused, and that peaceful outcomes have a higher chance of community adherence than template-style international peace interventions effected through the `liberal peace'. Using historical and contemporary examples, this article assesses the feasibility of a complementary relationship between customary and Western forms of peace-making.

Illegal logging and its associated trade remains a serious threat to forests and people in Southeast Asia. However, despite having caught the attention of the international community more than a decade ago, the illegal timber trade still accounts for a significant portion of wood and wood products from this region.

With the proliferation of civil wars since the end of the Cold War, many developing countries now exist in a "postconflict" environment, posing enormous development challenges for the societies affected, as well as for international actors. Postconflict Development addresses these challenges in a range of vital sectors—security, justice, economic policy, education, the media, agriculture, health, and the environment in countries around the globe.

This paper explores the conflicts between badly-affected local communities and logging and mining companies and analyzes how such conflicts can be addressed effectively.

For historical reasons, Kenya inherited a highly skewed system of land ownership at independence in 1963. British colonialism in Kenya was not merely administrative. Rather, it was accompanied by massive and widespread land alienation for the benefit of settler agriculture. As a result the best agricultural land-the White Highlands and the adjacent rangelands were taken from the Africans, without compensation, and parceled out to white settlers. Colonial legislation was enacted to legalize this process.

O presente artigo procura examinar a equação “povo-ruralidade” no quadro da transição democrática portuguesa, tomando como corpo empírico as Campanhas de Dinamização Cultural e Acção Cívica do Movimento das Forças Armadas (1974-1975). Procurando contrariar a versão folclórica do país promovida pelo Estado Novo, os protagonistas desta iniciativa constroem um campo discursivo paradoxal, onde se entretecem conceitos como cultura, tradição, subdesenvolvimento, descentralização e cidadania