Conserving the Peace: Analyzing the links between conservation and conflict in the Albertine Rift

The report analyzes the bidirectional relationship between biodiversity conservation and conflict in the Albertine Rift. It distinguishes between local-level conflicts directly caused by conservation interventions—such as restricted resource access and unequal benefit sharing—and regional armed conflicts driven by deep-rooted socio-economic and political factors. The document reviews several conflict-analysis methodologies, including 'Do No Harm' and 'Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment', to propose a multi-step framework for making conservation projects more conflict-sensitive throughout their project cycle.

• Conservation interventions in the Albertine Rift can trigger local-level conflicts by restricting community access to natural resources, which can lead to physical displacement or loss of assets and income for rural populations.
• Living adjacent to conservation areas imposes economic and physical costs on communities, including crop damage by wildlife like mountain gorillas, opportunity costs for guarding property, and physical threats from animals such as elephants and buffaloes.
• Inequitable distribution of conservation-related revenues, such as park fees and tourism permits, can create conflict between marginalized community members and elite groups who capture these benefits.
• Regional armed conflicts in the Albertine Rift, characterized by civil war and genocide, impact conservation by threatening staff safety, allowing warring factions to use protected areas as bases, and increasing resource competition from refugees and internally displaced persons.
• Conservation activities can directly exacerbate regional tensions when the management of high-value transboundary resources, such as gorillas, becomes a political issue between governments.
• Conservation interventions can indirectly fuel conflict through operational procedures; for example, a crop-protection program in the DRC made compensated individuals targets for armed groups raiding for food and money.
• Local and regional conservation-conflict scenarios share structural root causes, including poverty, poor governance, lack of political participation, and competition for natural resources.
• Well-planned conservation interventions have the potential to support peacebuilding by establishing cooperation through the shared management of transboundary resources and financing post-conflict reconstruction.

APA

Hammill, A., & Brown, O. (2006). Conserving the Peace: Analyzing the links between conservation and conflict in the Albertine Rift. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/conserving_peace_albertine_rift.pdf

Chicago

Hammill, Anne, and Oli Brown. Conserving the Peace: Analyzing the links between conservation and conflict in the Albertine Rift. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2006. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/conserving_peace_albertine_rift.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hammill |first1=Anne |last2=Brown |first2=Oli |title=Conserving the Peace: Analyzing the links between conservation and conflict in the Albertine Rift |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=March 2006 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/conserving_peace_albertine_rift.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hammill2006conserving, author = {Hammill, Anne and Brown, Oli}, title = {{Conserving the Peace: Analyzing the links between conservation and conflict in the Albertine Rift}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2006}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/conserving_peace_albertine_rift.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }