01-05 July 2020

You can read the full report HERE.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

 

Why land and security solutions need to be forged together to respond to the threats posed by climate change and create a more peaceful world.

Conflicts over land have been a feature of human existence since time immemorial. Land confers livelihood, living space, territory, even national identity. Nearly all of humanity’s food needs depend on one hand-span of soil - yet an estimated 34 million tonnes of topsoil are lost to erosion every year. Land degradation, climate change, population pressure, conflict and poor governance can interact in reinforcing feedback loops, directly impacting the health and livelihoods of 1.5 billion people. On the other hand, there is growing evidence that integrating land restoration with community-based peacebuilding can create a virtuous cycle leading to both environmental and social recovery, and contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation. The constraint to implementing this approach often lies in weak intersectoral co-operation and the need to build trust for the governance of shared natural resources.
 

Course Focus

The Summer Academy will not only equip professionals with an understanding of the issues, and the methodologies to deal with them, it will also forge a network of ‘land, security and climate alumni’ who can draw on each other’s strengths.

  • Environment and peacebuilding nexus;
  • Cooperation beyond silos;
  • Analysis of land, security and climate nexus;
  • Case studies from Africa and Asia;
  • Access to the Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security (CDES);
  • Strengthening of networks by interaction with global stakeholders and communities, by sharing knowledge among practitioners and researchers to deliver practical, timely and innovative ideas to implement and build more robust and effective practices.
  • Facilitated group work using Zoom and Microsoft Teams will build state-of-the-art online dialogue and teamwork skills.

 

Note

Participants will be required to set aside 4-5 hours per day during work hours during the course period, plus a total of 4 hours' preparatory work in the week before the course.

Participants who successfully complete the course will be awarded certificates and become alumni of the GCSP

 

Who should attend

This course target audience are environment and security professionals from public and private sectors:

  • civil servants
  • researchers
  • diplomats
  • military
  • private sector representatives
  • community leaders
  • NGOs
  • International organisations

To create the global cooperation that will be required to respond to the land and security challenges of the 21st century.

 

 

Summer Academy 2019

 

What past participants said

Thank you so much for creating the safe space to think through the challenges of environmental security in our world today. - NGO programme director, UK/Somalia.

A great exchange. - FAO programme manager, Syria/Turkey.

A fantastic initiative; I am excited by where this is going and the potential to scale up and replicate solutions that have been tested at local level. -  Africa Climate Change Fund Coordinator, African Development Bank

I take these learnings very close to my heart in everything I do going forward. -  PhD student, Portugal.

 

The course is co-designed by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and Initiatives of Change.

 

Photos: Leela Channer



related stories

Dhanasree Jayaram CDES 2020

A closer look at links between environment and security

Food security is a key to understanding the complex connection between climate and security, Dhanasree Jayaram, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations Manipal...

Irina Fedorenko CDES 2020 screenshot

Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security 2020

The Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security aimed high in its first online edition, with more than 15 sessions and a cumulative total of 450 participants. Experts discussed the connection between se...

Summer Academy 2020 screenshot participants cropped credit: Alan Channer

Summer Academy 2020: expansive possibilities for the future

The effusive feedback from participants in the five-day 2020 Summer Academy on Land, Climate and Security vindicated the difficult decision to take the course online. Four months ago, this had seemed ...

Karina Cheah

Overcoming the challenges of online dialogue groups

I have never been to Caux. I had also never moderated a dialogue group before, in or outside of the Caux Forum. As I faced the prospect of co-facilitating an online dialogue group in the Caux Dialogue...

CDLS 2019 Chau Duncan

Retooling the wheel for regenerative investment

Chau Tang-Duncan, co-founder and chief operating officer of Earthbanc, has been coming to Caux regularly since 2010. It was there that she first embraced the role she could have in connecting people a...

Tony Rinaudo

Tony Rinaudo: For a better future in Niger

Why would an Australian farmer who moved to Africa in the 1980s be called ‘the forest-maker’? Tony Rinaudo, World Vision Australia's climate action advisor, told this year's Caux Dialogue on Environme...

CDES teaser theme square

Land and Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: assessing the risks and seeking a response

As part of the Caux Forum Online 2020, Initiatives of Change Switzerland and the Human Security Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs organized a video-conference in French on ‘L...

Visier Sanyu discussion Caux

The Healing Garden of Nagaland

Dr Visier Sanyü often sleeps in his tree house. It’s a feature of the 12-acre Healing Garden which he created in Medziphema, Northeast India. Sanyü, a retired professor of history and archaeology, lik...

Caux Palace view night

Climate and the economy in the post-COVID world

As pandemic-related lockdowns and travel restrictions slowly begin to ease and a return to normal life seems nearer at hand, we are at a critical juncture as to how we choose to act towards our enviro...

Alan Channer Bremen prize

Dr Alan Channer shortlisted for the 2019 Bremen International Peace Prize

Dr Alan Channer, who has been one of the organizers of the Caux Dialogues on Land and Security since their inception, was a runner-up for this year's Bremen International Peace Prize....

Bo Sprotte Kafod

Saving a sacred grove

Bo Sprotte Kafod volunteered to help organize the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security (CDLS) in 2019, after meeting former CDLS participants at the UN climate change conference (UNFCCC COP24) in Katowi...

Oliver Gardiner

Filming regeneration

One-man film crew, Oliver Gardiner, travels to remote regions around the world to tell stories of how people have addressed complex issues through food, farming and land use....

Nhat Vhuong

Plucking water from the air

Webmarketing consultant and social entrepreneur Nhat Vhuong is passionate about tackling water scarcity. A Vietnamese refugee, who grew up in Switzerland, he worked in Japan for eight years before ret...

CDLS 2019 Tom Duncan

Empowering communities to restore mangroves

Tom Duncan is CEO of Earthbanc and passionate about problem solving and strategic systems thinking, primarily in regenerative economics, green finance and financial technology, as a means of restoring...

Meghalaya CDLS 2019 Conrad Sangma

Meghalaya’s lighthouses of sustainable development

‘Our goal in Meghalaya is to build a low-carbon economy through complete involvement and ownership of communities,’ Conrad Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, told the opening session of the Caux...


partners

back

Summer Academy on Land, Security and Climate - Programme

programme ->

programme

Wednesday, 01 July

14:00 - 15:00 (CEST)

Plenary 1: Anticipating the security risks of land degradation and climate

 

Chair: Anna Brach

  • Strategic Foresight Team, GCSP
  • Olli Brown, Associate Fellow on Climate and Security, Chatham House, UK
  • Dr BIshnu Upreti, Executive Director, Institute of International Studies, Nepal

Thursday, 02 July

10:00 - 11:00 (CEST)

Plenary 2: Community Action: entry-point to holistic solutions

 

Chair: Louise Brown

  • Oumar Sylla, Regional Director for Africa, UN Habitat, Senegal
  • Tony Rinaudo, World Vision, Australia
  • Maxi Louis, Director, Namibia Conservancies
  • Himanchu Kulkarni, Executive Director, ACWADAM, India

Friday, 03 July

14:00 - 15:00 (CESET)

Plenary 3: Climate Finance: catalyst of holistic solutions

 

Chair: Dr Irina Fedorenko

  • Gareth Phlillps, Senior Manager, Green Growth, African Development Bank, UK
  • Chau Duncan, COO, Earthbanc, Australia
  • Rishabh Khanna, ILLP
  • Dr Dhanasree Jayaram, Manipur University, food and climate, India

Saturday, 04 July

00:00 - 00:00

Workshops

Details to be confirmed.

Sunday, 05 July

00:00 - 00:00

Workshop

Details to be confirmed.

 

Please note that this programme is subject to change. For technical reasons the Caux Forum Online will be held mainly in English with some sessions in French. No interpretation will be offered. Thank you for your understanding.