An Environment for PeaceLessons learned from the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts in Colombia.

An Environment for PeaceLessons learned from the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts in Colombia.

An Environment for PeaceLessons learned from the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts in Colombia.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Carrera 13 No. 97-51 Of. 302 A.A. 89836Bogota D.C., Colombia

Phone: ++ 57-1-6361114Fax: ++ 57-1-6351552E-mail: giz-kolumbien@giz.de

CERCAPAZ ProgrammePeace-Building by Promoting Cooperation between Government and Civil Society

commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Component “Capacities for the constructive and sustainable management of natural resources and the environment”

carried out by

AuthorsCarlos Mario AguirreAlejandra Chávez Tangmar MarmonAlexandra OspinaHenry Quijano

Peter LuhmannCountry Director GIZ Colombia

Peter HauschnikCoordinator of CERCAPAZ Programme

Tangmar MarmonNéstor ZapataCoordination of the publication

Editorial DesignARKOCommunication aiming at sustainabilityinfo@arkocomunicaciones.com

Bogota, February 2012

Table of contents

1. Presentation GIZ – IP/AMBERO .............................................................................................................. 7

2. The context of socio-environmental conflicts in Colombia .................................................... 9

2.1 General considerations .......................................................................................................................... 9

2.2 Socio-environmentalconflictsinColombia..................................................................................... 10

3. The CERCAPAZ Approach: development of process-oriented capacities

to transform socio-environmental conflicts ............................................................................... 13

3.1 The Multi-level approach: a sustainability-oriented strategy ................................................ 15

Capacity Building for Conflict Transformation:

required at all levels ......................................................................................................................... 18

4. Pathways to sustainable transformation of socio-environmental conflicts ............. 23

4.1 Comprehensive Approach to socio-environmental conflicts .................................................... 24

4.2 Dialogue as a key process .......................................................................................................................... 25

The Norte de Santander Water Agenda and the Immediate Action Plan (PAI) of the Guarinó River:

two experiences of conflict transformation platforms ................................................. 27

4.3 Confidence Building .......................................................................................................................................... 30

4.3.1 Transparency fosters Confidence .................................................................................... 31

4.3.2 Confidence is strengthened by results ................................................................... 33

4.3.3 Acknowledging differences ............................................................................................ 35

4.3.4 From confidence in people to confidence in institutions ............................ 36

4.4 Public-Private Cooperation ........................................................................................................................... 37

4.4.1 Capacity Building in the private sector

for the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts ........................................... 38

4.4.2 The Chinchiná case, an experience of dialogue ............................................... 38

5. Conclusion and Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 40

List of acronyms ............................................................................................................................................... 43

References ........................................................................................................................................................ 44

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Gender AdviceThe terms used in this text refer equally to women and men. However, in order to facilitate reading we will usually use the masculine form, without implying any preference or prejudice in favour of one sex or another.

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1. Presentation

Systematisation and dissemination of experiences and knowledge generated by its projects is a central concern for the German Development Cooperation. The initiatives it supports have their own aims, aspire to lasting impacts on the development of beneficiary communities and, above all, aspire to be more than simply isolated activities. An integral part of those activities is management of knowledge, which is part of the systematisation of experiences. This is useful for:• Continuousimprovementof theprojectdesignprocess;• Disseminationtootheragenciesworkinginthesamesubjectorsectorand• Consolidationof theprogressweachieve.

The component “Capacities for the constructive and sustainable management of natural resources and the environment” of the CERCAPAZ Programme, which is carried out by GIZ and the consortium IP-Ambero, commissioned by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ from its German initials), left results in the field, but also developed expertise which we wish to share with those working in the area of natural resource management or in the development of peace in Colombia and in the rest of the world. In this paper we highlight the lessons learned and propose recommendations for the continuity of the processes which are already underway, as well as for other similar processes which are to begin in the future. The interests around the use and benefits of natural resources and/or the environment as a whole can cause conflicts. This is why it has been a gratifying and enriching experience to work those conflicts in the framework of a peacebulding programme. We were able to ascertain that this topic is essential and can help to bring about more and better cohabitation and thus contribute to a culture of peace. We trust this publication is a contribution to the ongoing development of more and better answers to complex issues surrounding the construction of peace. We firmly believe that this contribution is particularly relevant to natural resource management, because it will face more and more conflicts in the near future.

We would like to thank the authors and everybody who contributed to the development of this project.

PeterHauschnik BerndSchmidt CERCAPAZ IP – AMBERO Consortium

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2. Thecontextofsocio-environmentalconflicts

The social conflicts related to use and exploitation of natural resources have increased dramatically in recent decades. A healthy environment is necessary for optimal development of human potential, without which it will not be possible to speak of the full exercise of other human rights.

2.1 General Considerations

Access to and control of natural resources has always been a source of creating wealth, but also of conflict. Environmental problems are not isolated events, given that environmental degradation has serious effects on human life such as political and social instability, economic vulnerability, food shortages, shortage of land for housing, and forced migration, all of which can create a scenario of high social vulnerability. Statistics show that there is a direct correlation between natural resource degradation, poverty and the likelihood of conflict emergence. Environmental degradation has a negative impact especially on the poorest families, the vast majority of whom live in rural areas and depend on the natural resources around them to survive.

For these reasons, environmental management is efficient only if it becomes a conflict-sensitive exercise. The search for a balanced and sustainable management of natural resources inevitably leads to tensions between different perspectives, between the needs and powers of the stakeholders involved in advocating their ownership, their use and transformation.

The challenge then is to address these tensions and conduct a natural resource management which is aware of its impact; thereby trying to minimise negative impact and ensure human welfare in a sustainable manner.

Environmental conflicts are more of a socio–environmental kind. They come with clashes and confrontations due to the difficulties akin to social interaction, lack of dialogue or low participation of local people in public decisions. It is about the confrontation between differing or conflicting interests about the best use of natural resources, i. e. the conflict is of a political and social kind, and not a technical problem. We could say then, that there is a socio-environmental conflict when two or more stakeholders disagree on the distribution, control, use and access to natural resources or when these resources have different meanings for different groups of people. A conflict is not necessarily a problem; it becomes a social and development–related problem when its management is inadequate.

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2.2 Socio-environmentalconflictsinColombia

Colombia is a country that has major conflicts arousnd access to and use of natural resources. The state of the environment directly affects the welfare of the population - both in the countryside and cities. Access to fertile land is highly unequal in Colombia and the chances of living from small-scale farming or ranching are decreasing. Land management, conditio sine qua non for a good environmental status and a regulated transformation of socio-environmental conflicts is deficient. The environment thus becomes an important cause to be addressed within the context of conflict transformation and the search for peace.

Some of the structural causes of socio-environmental conflict in Colombia are :

a. ReducedGovernmentpresenceandinsufficientlegitimacy.In Colombia there are large areas with very low coverage of basic services such as health, education, water, security and justice, which creates among the population a perception of the Government as being absent.

In particular, when we refer to the role of the State with regard to natural resource management, we find that most of the Regional Autonomous Corporations (CAR – from its original Spanish language initials - Corporaciones Autónomas Regionales) have been weakened due to politicisation, lack of technical capacity or lack of resources among other factors.

RegionalAutonomousCorporations(CAR)

Regional Autonomous Corporations in Colombia are the authority responsible for environmental management at the regional level. They are public entities, created by Act 99 of 1993 (which formed the National Environmental System SINA - from its original Spanish language initials - Sistema Nacional Ambiental). The CAR are integrated by the different entities of a territory (defined by ecosystem rather than politically, although the actual CAR mainly coincide with departments). The CAR are financially and administratively autonomous. Their mandate by law is the administration of natural resources in their jurisdiction in accordance with the policies of the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development (MAVDT) . The other environmental authorities under the National Environmental System (SINA) are (in ascending order) municipalities, regional governments, CAR and the Ministry of Environment.

1 Manuela Leonhart - Berghof Foundation. Development of Peace in Colombia: Support by German Technical Cooperation in the environmental sector. In: GTZ (Ed.): Trilogía Incompleta. Medio Ambiente, Desarrollo y Paz. Bogotá 2006. P. 305 – 318.

2 From now on we will refer to this entity as the Ministry of Environment. On September 27th 2011, this ministry was reorganised and is now called Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADS, from its original Spanish initials – Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible).

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These factors cause lack of confidence and alienation between the State and civil society, which in turn results in the development of conflicts that lack adequate management.

b. Poorparticipationof peopleinpublicpolicy.Environmental decisions have not yet adequately incorporated the needs of the population. This issue exacerbates the above-mentioned alienation between civil society and the State. Broad social participation as a basis for the development of policies and plans is not yet sufficiently developed. Gender injustice (understood as the lack of opportunity of one of the two sexes to exercise its rights in equality) is still evident in Colombian society. It is also visible in the reduced ability of women to participate properly and in accordance with their needs in the management of natural resources. Public or private entities often do not have enough knowledge of, nor do they make use of, legal instruments such as injunctive actions, popular actions, prior consultations or environmental public hearings. In the municipalities, which are also relevant entities for the management (and protection) of the environment, people are often not aware of the legal responsibilities of the municipality. Also, social organisations often lack the necessary capacity to participate in legal environmental processes.

Since 1991, the Colombian constitution has given great importance to the environment. Law 99 of 1993 created the legal and institutional framework for the integrated protection of the environment. This Act created the Ministry of Environment, and also laid out the structure of the National Environmental System (SINA).

SINA organises environmental management at all levels. It is well structured, stable and is characterised by a great deal of regional-level autonomy of CAR, which in theory makes them more flexible. Since the creation of SINA, management of conflicts over natural resources has been decentralised. In terms of structure, SINA is regarded in neighboring countries as a benchmark to be emulated.

It is worth acknowledging that the vast majority of CAR have developed an efficient environmental management from the regional level, implementing programmes and projects with and for the community; for example green markets, sustainable bio trade, Regulation and Management Plans for Watersheds (POMCA – from its original Spanish language initials - Planes de Ordenamiento y Manejo de Cuencas Hidrográficas), environmental education, among many others.

However, the system still fails to overcome institutional gaps such as dispersion and duplication of responsibilities, jurisdictional conflicts, institutional absence, the low managerial technical level and the estrangement between natural resource users and the responsible environmental agencies. Therefore, environmental management in Colombia continues to have dysfunctions, such as :

i. Coordinationandcontrolmechanismsamongenvironmentalauthoritiesatnationalandregionallevels.Deterioration in the relationship between CAR and the Ministry of Environment hinder multi-level coordination and cooperation in the National Environmental System. Such detriment in relations is due to the constant tension between the autonomy conferred upon CAR by the Constitution and the Ministry of Environment’s desire to control and centralise environmental management by virtue of the design and implementation of environmental policies.

3 Legislative Observatory of the Political Science Institute (Instituto de Ciencia Política - ICP) 2008. http://www.icpcolombia.org/observatorio.php

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ii. Institutionaldesignforenvironmentalmanagementattheregionallevel.Not all CAR do have the same capacity to manage the territory – some suffer a notorious shortage of funds which is why they often cannot satisfactorily accomplish their mandate.

Another example is the management of a river basin which runs through the jurisdiction of different CAR, by a mixed committee made up of those CAR. This is often slow and cumbersome, leading to protracted processes.

These failures by SINA are worsened by lack of interpersonal confidence. In 2009, interpersonal confidence in Colombia was 16.8%. Colombia has improved this percentage, but is still far below the average. Colombia is among the bottom four countries in this regard and is relatively distant from countries such as Mexico (21%) and Chile (23%) . On the other hand, Colombia is a country where the majority of its population distrusts their political institutions. The civil society often does not approach the State, and vice versa. The existing gap in the relationship between the State and civil society should be replaced by a bond that helps them to work together, to cooperate and build confidence between the parties.

Taking into account not only institutionalism and legality, but also cultural aspects, information and training levels, confidence and capacities, is essential in the effort to improve governance in the environmental area. Only then is it possible to create truly inclusive and socially balanced policies.

Good Governance is defined by the government’s ability to fulfill their mandates (effectiveness); the fairness, participation and attention to the demands of civil society (legitimacy); and the adaptive capacity and institutional flexibility in a changing context (stability); additionally, principles such as transparency, participation and accountability are important.

However, a good and complete legal framework is not sufficient to ensure good environmental governance, needed is as well transparency in the management of resources and decision-making, opportunities for participation by civil society, courts which punish the abuse of power and so on. These elements are essential for good environmental governance.

In short, Colombia has a legal basis which allows good management of natural resources, not only under an environmental perspective but also a social one. Problems often revolve around lack of participatory design and effective implementation of these legal bases, as well as awareness as regards conflict and social needs around the implementation of environmental policies.

4 Centre for Economics and Culture. “Interpersonal confidence refers to the ability and capacity of a relationship, compassionate habit, communication and understanding, as well as core values in the encounter between people such as confidentiality, integrity and truthfulness.” See: Cuellar, Maria Mercedes: Colombia, an unfinished project: values, institutions and social capital. In: http://www.economiainstitucional.com/pdf/No4/fgaitan4.pdf (12/09/2011).

5 Juan Pineda Medina. Governance and Social Participation Study. May 2009. In: http://www.flacsoandes.org/web/imagesFTP/10053.WP_019_JPineda_01.pdf

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3. The CERCAPAZ Approach: development of process-oriented capacities totransformsocio-environmentalconflicts

Peace is essential for the welfare and sustainable development of a society. Colombia has made great efforts to advance the development of peace in their territory and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ from its German initials) has supported the Colombian Government for many years in its efforts to achieve sustainable development and capacity building for peace.

The desired outcomes of bilateral cooperation with Colombia have been defined between the two governments in the sector strategy of the “Peace-building and crisis management” area, whose overall objective is “to contribute to the constructive management of the structural causes of violent conflict and its consequences.”

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German cooperation is directed especially at populations particularly affected by violence; hence the area strategy focuses on:1. Prevention and reduction of violence in urban areas.2. Fostering regional partnerships and a culture of peace, between the State and civil society.3. Strengthening the rule of law, State control bodies and transitional justice.4. Sustainable management of natural resources and non-violent solution of socio-

environmental conflicts.

The CERCAPAZ programme arises within this context. The CERCAPAZ programme’s main goal, in its second phase (2009 - 2012) is that of “strengthening cooperation between State and civil society in order to develop fair and sustainable peace, by ways of the development of agreements and synergies that result in joint peacebuilding “.

CERCAPAZ has four components: Governance and democratic legitimacy; Strengthening civil society capacity for peace building; Capacities for constructive and sustainable management of natural resources and the environment; and a Culture of peace.

The “Capacities for constructive and sustainable management of natural resources and the environment” component (we shall hereinafter use the short form ‘Socio-environmental Conflicts‘ Component) seeks to support the State, civil society and the private sector in developing shared agendas on how to transform socio-environmental conflicts. At the same time, the component supports the efforts of these stakeholders to change the structural causes that could lead to future socio-environmental conflicts.

The bases for working in establishing good governance of natural resources as a global process that inhibits the emergence and development of violent and destructive conflict do not exist in Colombia as yet. Therefore, efforts between CERCAPAZ and its partners focus on peaceful and constructive transformation of some specific conflicts. This is only a very first step towards good governance of natural resources, albeit a highly important one within the context. The “socio-environmental conflicts component” complements these efforts with additional efforts aimed at building lasting foundations for good governance of natural resources.

The working hypotheses which CERCAPAZ has and which are the basis for the work of the ‘socio-environmental conflicts’ component, are: • Conflicttransformationrequiresaconstructivedialoguebetweentheinterestedandaffectedparties.

• Withoutaminimumlevelof confidenceitisnotpossibletohaveadialogueandsustainablecooperation.

• Onlywhenthegovernmentandcivilsocietyworktogethercanpeacebereached.• Notonlydoesthebusinesssectorplayavitalroleineconomicdevelopment;thebusinesssectoralsohasgreatinterestinbuildingapeacefulsociety.

CERCAPAZ, as a German cooperation programme, is characterised by its focus on values, process orientation and a holistic approach. Orientation towards values leads us to work for a peace which ensures social equity; this also implies gender equity. This is the reason we

6 The name of the programme derives thence: Cooperation between State and Civil Society for Development of Peace - Cooperación entre Estado y Sociedad Civil para el desarrollo de la Paz (CERCAPAZ).

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encourage our partners to put special emphasis on traditionally excluded groups in Colombia. We help our partners to work not only for constructive management of the environment and lasting transformation of conflicts, but also for sustainable development so that current decisions do not jeopardise the quality of life of future generations. Process orientation means that we work with our partners in creating and sustaining social change processes, characterised by reflection and learning. The pathways to the fulfillment of a peacebuilding-related objective are as important as the goal itself. The holistic approach is reflected in the combination of institution building, technical advice and cooperation processes with civil society stakeholders, the State and the private sector.

We act as facilitators and advisors, empowering our partners from their roles and functions to negotiate their different interests and transform conflicts constructively, developing their capacity to apply these skills independently in the future.

For capacity building to have a broad impact beyond a few “isolated projects” it is necessary to take the lessons learned and the results achieved in pilot projects to a higher level and extend them across the territory. An essential part of this extension is ownership, use and further development of the lessons learnt by the partners of the German cooperation. This process is called multi-level strategy (the technical term used by the German cooperation is ‘Scaling Up’). A multi-level (or scaling up) strategy is an integral part of the work of the German cooperation, as it is essential to promote the lasting impact of their projects.

3.1 The Multi-level approach, a strategy towards sustainability.

Scaling Up, or the multi-level strategy, includes both horizontal extension across the territory of the results achieved and lessons learned in the context of a project, and its vertical extension,

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thus covering the different micro, meso and macro-levels of institutionalism and society. It is therefore an attempt to increase the impact of the work of the German cooperation through the appropriation of their methodologies in higher levels in order to be distributed and replicated throughout the country.

Using this strategy makes sense when one realises that it is not possible for a German cooperation programme to address all root causes of the socio-environmental conflicts in Colombia, nor all of its manifestations. Therefore, the ‘socio-environmental conflicts component’ generates experiences and lessons learned in the field to provide feedback on environmental policies and plans. It also aims for these experiences to be acknowledged by other partners with the expectation that they benefit from them in their own projects. Finally, the component seeks to ensure partners have the ability to address their environmental management conflicts in a constructive way now, as well as in the future and in changing contexts.

Multi-level work and the attempts to extend the results of the projects enable our partners to address the causes of socio-environmental conflicts in other areas and topics. Similarly, supporting environmental policies and plans intends to enhance the lessons learned at a higher political level. The aim is to communicate realities (of life) and local conflicts at the national level to enhance the visions and understandings of national decision makers with local visions, and vice versa. Thus, these policies are intended to be more relevant, applicable and lasting in their impact.

The component showed that vertical integration of its measures promotes the operation of communication channels between politics development levels on the one hand, and implementation on the other, in a context wherein these communication channels are often torn by conflict between institutions. For example, we support our main counterpart, the Ministry of Environment, in its efforts to create greater understanding of the national environmental policy by stakeholders of regional and local levels, and thus promote closer ties with them.

As a result of these efforts, national environmental policy design takes into account more strongly local circumstances (and therefore also conflicts) and sets them visibly as a starting point. This allows, at regional and local levels, for stronger identification with the guidelines and frameworks which establish those policies. If this were to occur, it is also expected that there would be better feedback to help stakeholders design environmental policies in a more coherent fashion, and thus turn conflict transformation into a crosscutting issue that has impact both on the political framework and its implementation.

7 Los ejemplos de trabajo en este caso son la Política Nacional Forestal, la Política Hídrica Nacional y la Política Nacional de Biodiversidad.

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The multi-level approach allows for a more coherent and relevant design of national environmental policies which acknowledge local and regional realities.

From our experience we can share some examples of how coordination among processes of regional or local management with the design of public policy can have very positive impacts:

• The development of the Departmental Plan for Forestry Development (PDDF – from its original Spanish language acronym - Plan Departamental de Desarrollo Forestal) in the Norte de Santander region was developed simultaneously with the development of the National Forestry Policy (PNF - from its original Spanish language acronym - Política Nacional Forestal), a fact which, albeit incidentally, opened a window of opportunity to link both processes more closely. The advice of the German cooperation focused on ensuring a regular exchange of information and lessons learned between the two processes - in agreement with the two key partners in this process, the Ministry of Environment and the regional environmental agency Corporación Autónoma Regional de la Frontera Nororiental CORPONOR. CORPONOR, for example, focused on the conceptual framework of the PNF when preparing its regional plan, avoiding duplication and creating an already duly validated guiding framework for planning. The Ministry of Environment, in turn, focused on the difficulties and challenges faced by the formulation of the Departmental Plan for Forestry Development to develop lines of action of the National Forestry Policy which address these challenges in a proactive manner.

• Another significant example revolves around the Immediate Action Plan - PAI (from its original Spanish language initials – Plan de Acción Inmediato) for the Guarinó River, which emerged in response to conflicts over the management of the basin . In this case, one factor was the granting by the Ministry of Environment of the environmental license for the construction of a diversion from the Guarinó River to the La Miel River for energy purposes. In this the case a national authority interfered in regional management, but later on the Ministry was absent from the process that sought to mitigate the consequences of such decisions. Within the framework of PAI, the Ministry of Environment was invited to join the process, in order to make the data behind the above-mentioned license more transparent, but also to contribute to the search for solutions beyond the problem of diverting the river. This plan is useful for the Ministry in that it allows for more closeness to regional socio-environmental conflicts, which would otherwise be barely known to it.

8 The initial situation in the basin was characterised by environmental degradation and its consequences for human welfare. There were conflicts over water use between the power generation company ISAGEN, civil society and environmental institutions (Government, CORPOCALDAS and CORTOLIMA). There was no management plan for the use and management of watershed resources; communication among the stakeholders was poor, there was no regional level capacity to cooperatively deal with socio-environmental conflicts, nor was there any capacity to initiate concerted actions which lead to improvement of the environmental status of the basin.

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Another part of the CERCAPAZ multi-level approach is keeping dissemination agentsx duly informed about progress and results, even when not directly related to the projects in question. Thus, the German cooperation secures the basis for knowledge transfer and independent dissemination of lessons learned. In the case of the Guarinó PAI, for instance, members of the initiative gave a lot of importance to the fact that the environmental authority (CORPOCALDAS) transferred the knowledge and lessons learned to the overarching organisation of corporations, ASOCARS , as well as directly to other corporations. This was done, for example, at the annual meeting that CAR held in the year 2010 on good environmental management practices.

While the work in the Guarinó River basin aims to transform a specific socio-environmental conflict, support to the formulation of the PDDF and the PNF aims to create more favorable conditions for environmental management. Both initiatives serve to demonstrate to partners a way to address the structural causes of socio-environmental conflicts in Colombia, which is only fully effective if it works at all levels. Good governance of natural resources in policy development acknowledges conflicts and the needs and demands of target groups, while requiring local and regional stakeholders to prepare to face conflicts constructively within the framework of such policies.

CapacityBuildingforConflictTransformation:requiredatalllevels

Within the context of poor environmental governance and the resulting conflicts, the German cooperation strategy aims to support stakeholders in order to have the capacities to respond promptly to the conflicts that arise in the territory in a peaceful, constructive fashion, and also contribute to change the structural causes of these conflicts in the long term.

In order to facilitate constructive discussion, both capacities and cultural change must be brought about – this debate should be regarded as part of the solution to problems. Various approaches to capacity development by the German cooperation point to this:

a. Capacitybuildingof peopleA condition for the creation of broad and deep impact on the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts is to identify people who are not only willing to change and desire to cooperate, but who are also in a good position in the network of stakeholders in order to act as promoters and to generate appropriate synergies.

For instance, the component - as part of the advisory work for conflict-sensitive development of land management plans, conducted a series of workshops with local stakeholders in Norte de Santander region, with the support of CORPONOR. Within

9 Stakeholders must be suited to expand and deepen the experiences gained and the methodology used, for example NGOs, universities, public institutions, inter alia.

10 ANational Association of Regional Autonomous Corporations (ASOCARS – from its original Spanish language initials - Asociación Nacional de Corporaciones Autónomas Regionales) is the national representative of all CAR and which provides technical and political representation.

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the framework of these workshops, participants received training in methodologies and tools to transform socio-environmental conflicts through practical activities in the field. Community Action Council Presidents were trained, as well as councilors, representatives of universities and representatives of municipalities, among others. CORPONOR staff also participated in the training processes.

The training sessions were also aimed at participants becoming more knowledgeable with regard to the environmental authority and achieving greater cooperation capacities.

Institutional mechanisms for the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts must be complemented by well-trained and informed local leaders.

The fact that CORPONOR was the co-organiser of the cycle showed to attendees the interest of the environmental authority in a better relationship with civil society. This had the effect of awakening interest in people, motivating them, and was thus the first step towards a constructive transformation of socio-environmental conflicts.

b. NetworkFormationAnother tool for capacity building in the ‘socio-environmental conflicts component’ was the support given to the consolidation of existing networks that engage in socio-environmental conflict transformation and improvement of the conditions to prevent destructive conflicts. Not only does the work of the component aim at promoting long-term continuity of these networks, but also their spreading, either by expanding their thematic bases, their extension to new members (and groups) or replication in other contexts or for other issues.

Positive experiences in the promotion of networks could be achieved thanks to the willingness of individual stakeholders and civil society groups to engage in networking, in order to solve specific problems or to promote the development of potentially contentious issues.

Cooperation of networks among stakeholders involves horizontal, nonhierarchical cooperation. Unlike much more vertical and formal traditional mechanisms, this type of tool is even more attractive in contexts where lack of confidence in State institutions is very large and there is no belief in the usefulness and viability of the State’s instruments.

A successful example is the creation and development of the “Norte de Santander Water Agenda”, a network of regional stakeholders engaged in water resource management within a framework of informal cooperation. The initial situation was marked by the various problems associated with wastewater disposal and potable water supply. Public and private institutions of the Norte de Santander department responsible for water management were acting on their own, without much communication with each other and did not allow the community to have access to information. This led to duplication of work, low coherence of efforts and failure to assess progress in regional management; in short, absence of comprehensive water management.

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Additionally, civil society had very little information and low participation in water management in most of the forty municipalities of the region. The purpose of the Water Agenda was to begin a collective dialogue on the use of this resource, as well as on problems related to it and possible solutions. Its creation was based on the recognition that the traditional sectoral treatment of the problem cannot yield satisfactory long-term results, since no social strata or interest groups were taken into account. Participants in this network are CORPONOR representatives, mayors, universities and other educational institutions, NGOs, chambers of commerce, unions, the church and others.

Although the Water Agenda is a complement to CORPONOR management, it arose mainly as a sign of dissatisfaction with this entity by the interested user groups; it is for this reason that its success has not always been well received by the Corporation.

In fact, since the Agenda collected and published more and more data on the environment and evidenced criticism against CORPONOR management, the willingness of the Corporation to participate in the network declined in a notorious manner. However, as the agenda became more consolidated, that is to say tasks were becoming ever clearer and stronger and more were joining in, the agenda had become too important to ignore. CORPONOR had to participate and support it officially.

Networks are a good way to organise civil society in transformation processes of socio-environmental conflicts.

c. Institutionssensitivetosocio-environmentalconflicts

Traditionally, both cooperation with organisations and institutions and their capacity building are demand-oriented. This means that the German cooperation provides support in the areas required by the counterpart entities.

In the area of conflict transformation and resolution in Colombia, this is especially difficult as many institutions see this issue as an “unnecessary addition” which stands outside their institutional mandate, despite all the conflicts which pervade the political context. Therefore, an essential task and the first step in the assistance of the component for our partners of environmental institutions was awareness-raising about socio-environmental conflicts (the factors that generate or promote them as well as their different forms of development) and the impact they have on natural resource management. After a period of familiarisation with the subject and methodologies, the counterparts clearly saw the advantages of enriching the process of formulating and implementing environmental policies and plans with this element, since it gave them more confidence about social acceptance of policies and plans.

The component promoted, as part of its assistance to institutional counterparts, the understanding that socio-environmental conflicts are not a peripheral factor in the governance of natural resources, but that said conflicts are of high importance.

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Given a lot of social exclusion and a traditional understanding that policy is formulated among the experienced technical staff, the component worked in order to root the understanding in counterpart institutions that consultation and broad participation of stakeholder groups is part of the success of a policy (more so in an environment of conflict). This also included issues like gender equality in natural resource management, or different needs of population groups, as more often than not issues of this kind lie at the bottom of a socio-environmental conflict. This cultural change in the institution is a process which takes time. We could see progress, as for instance in the way the Ministry of Environment approaches indigenous peoples, or the fact that the Ministry identified the necessity to address the issue of gender equity in natural resource management. However, given that this process deals with cultural changes which entail changes in ways of thinking among people, all progress is fragile and can easily be reversed.

A part of the capacity building process consists of embedding knowledge and management of the necessary methodologies in institutions so that, in addition to politically planning and communicating conflict transformation, they are also able to practically implement it.

The conviction that conflict sensitivity in policy-making and planning is done not only by strengthening capacity of the responsible institutions, but also through participation of stakeholders in the development of these instruments, is also placed in the foreground of assistance processes with institutions. Accepting this (especially if it has not been traditionally deemed necessary) required organisational culture review processes and understanding of mandates, among others.

The component’s assistance process aimed at making institutions feel more committed to the implementation of policies. In the event they do not meet the expectations generated during the process, they are likely to receive greater pressure from civil society, which now has access to institutionalism and information regarding the process. However, the objective is also for civil society to become jointly responsible for the process and contribute to its success, whilst exerting pressure on institutions to apply the capacities acquired.

We understand the process of organisational development, as well as change management in institutions, as closely connected to processes of conflict transformation.

In spite of the fact that the cooperation work with the institutions has been positively assessed both by some of the institutions and the interest groups involved, and also in spite of the fact that positive effects are highlighted in terms of sensitivity to conflict and greater institutional openness, regrettably it has to be recognised that these effects have only reached the intermediate technical level. Policy makers have not usually been involved in this process of capacity building, despite the efforts of the German cooperation. It is therefore important to work even harder with counterpart institutions, so that the generation of change and institutional development transcends all levels of the organisation, not just the technical intermediate levels.

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The technocratic and sectoral approach to environmental management is an example of an organisational culture which is little sensitive to conflict transformation, and which is not linked to local realities.

d. Developmentof thesystemwithinapoliticalframeworkThe aim of the German cooperation is to always achieve a comprehensive and lasting impact. Pilot projects are useful to the extent that they test approaches in a limited space with limited impact objectives. These can then be generalised to the territory as they are disseminated and articulated vertically to achieve sustainable impact.

Beyond the implementation of pilot experiences in the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts, creating institutional frameworks in the political system to serve as a favorable context for good governance of natural resources is also a shared objective between the German cooperation and our partners. In the long term, these experiences would enable environmental interventions, be they by civil society, State or the private sector, to not have a negative impact on society and the environment, as well as not creating or worsening conflicts.

Institutional frameworks should ideally be secured politically, socio-economically and legally. To achieve this, the “socio-environmental conflicts” component organises capacity building measures with environmental institutions at national and regional levels. Similarly, the assistance provided to these institutions seeks for environmental policies to be placed as the basis for constructive conflict transformation; taking into account meta groups in a participatory manner; analysing the relevant conflict lines in the sector and adequately addressing them; also understanding environmental policies as having social effects and as policies for the formation of coexistence.

The result of this work is that sectoral policies, such as water or biodiversity policies, are developed in a participatory manner and have a social objective, which did not happen this way before. Thus, transformation of socio-environmental conflicts is permanently rooted in environmental policies and plans and is therefore institutionalised.

Changes ought to be rooted in the political system in order to become formal and longlasting.

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4. Pathways to sustainable transformation ofsocio-environmentalconflicts.

The exercise of reaching consensus of interests regarding the use of natural resources contributes to peaceful coexistence. This implies the involvement of the State (regional admi-nistrations and environmen-tal authorities) and civil society, involving different interest groups such as the productive sector, companies in local public services, the academia and environmental organisations.

The “socio-environmental conflicts”. component em-powers and strengthens spaces for dialogue at the national and regional level in order to assess the processes that lead to constructive conflict transformation. These are caused mainly by divergent interests regarding the use and exploitation of natural resources, as well as lack of confidence between civil society and the State.

This work focuses on forest and water resources and consists primarily of providing adequate space for dialogue and confidence building. This is supported by processes of strengthening and capacity building of all stakeholders (both at the

institutional and social levels) in order to enable them to lead these processes and efficiently and effectively develop them. Additionally, this work includes the private sector as far as possible.

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4.1 Comprehensive Approach tosocio-environmentalconflicts

Socio-environmental conflicts must be addressed with a holistic approach. This means paying attention to all aspects of the conflict:

• Thecentraltheme: What resource or activity generates the dispute? Around which resource or activity are

there conflicting interests?• Thestakeholdersorinterestedparties: Who are the individuals, organisations or institutions that openly express interest in the

theme and undertake efforts to meet their interest? ¿What are the relationships among the stakeholders (quality of communication, confidence levels)?

• Thehistoricalcontext: What is the background information regarding this conflict? Many conflicts originate

in former problems or previously made decisions. It is essential to get to know this background history, as well as the history of the conflicting parties.

• Thelegalframework: What are the rules, laws, ordinances and regulations governing activities in the conflict and

which may occasionally cause conflicts of interest, or help resolve conflicts of interest?• Institutionalism: What are the public and private institutions, as well as the relationship procedures between

them, whose competency includes conflicting activities, resources or relationships of human activities between themselves?

• Theeconomic,socialandenvironmentalrealms: What are the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the territory affected?

Conflict transformation is a process of change, in which different ways of thinking have their place and take place together. In turn, conflict transformation should promote a more inclusive institutional action and greater coordination among existing initiatives.

From our analysis of the specific conflict, we design an approach strategy along with the partners.

“Before the arrival of CERCAPAZ in Norte de Santander, the socio-environmental conflict issue was not recognised in the region apart from some specific initiatives; much less was the socio-environmental issue applied in order to explain problematic situations with regard to natural resources. The conflict transformation approach has helped to plan water resources equitably, promoting cooperation and dialogue meetings among institutions, the political class and civil society. The approach applied by CORPONOR used to be that of an environmental problem, wherein the solution to the impairment or loss of a natural resource was its replacement or compensation. The root of the problem was not addressed, the conflict was not described, and this is largely due to the existing regulations. With the adoption and internalisation of the socio-environmental approach to conflict transformation, officials and communities now understand that the key point lies in the conflicting key social stakeholders, and the way the energy released from the conflict is channeled determines the dynamics the conflict takes. This is now widely recognised and applied, and officials apply it to meetings, events, workshops and even internal discussions, to a lesser extent. This explains the great success that the sessions of the Practice and Learning Communities for Conflict Transformation [COPAS – from its original Spanish language name - Comunidades de Práctica y Aprendizaje para la Transformación de Conflictos] in the territory, wherein it was made clear that different ways to view and solve conflicts are necessary, and that communities are weary of violence and the traditional ways of addressing them”.

Memberof theCORPONORBoard

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4.2 Dialogue as a key process

In Norte de Santander, an area with many social and socio-environmental conflicts, we decided to begin our work in coordination with the environmental authority, by means of training on innovative approaches to peaceful conflict resolution. This is how we developed the workshop “Ideas and Tools for Building Shared Futures”, where participants deepened their knowledge and discussed their experiences in socio-environmental conflicts around water resources and forests. Furthermore, the participants acquired technical competencies (capacities and toolsx), social competencies (capacity to cooperate) and behavioral competencies (willingness and motivation).

The Practice and Learning Communities for Conflict Transformation [COPAS – from its original Spanish language initials - Comunidades de Práctica y Aprendizaje para la Transformación de Conflictos] originated in these meetings in the Zulia River basin. These Practice Communities are a form of learning based on dialogue, sharing knowledge and experiences, and methodology which allows the generation of new knowledge. Thus, members of the community become reproducers of methodologies for peaceful and constructive transformation of conflicts.

11 Such as for example the “dialogue circles” (techniques in which the participants discuss a guiding question and continuously shift groups. At the end, one participant goes through all the groups).

12 COPAS is a group of people, in this case the selected stakeholders in Norte de Santander, who share a common learning goal, and in which participants share their knowledge. They “circulate their experience”, in a particular area (in this case conflict transformation) and express their readiness to learn by interacting with their surrounding. Practice communities involve active men and women with a sense of community.

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The team of environmental education committees and the CORPONOR officials in charge of basin management, advised by the German cooperation, identified conflicts regarding the water and forest resources and the stakeholders involved in four municipalities of its jurisdiction . For this purpose, the team raised the following questions: Where do we know that interesting things are happening? Who is doing those things? What can we learn from this? A Practice Community was created in each of the four municipalities. These Practice Communities aimed to answer these questions: Where are the conflicts? How are conflicts resolved? How are disputes settled? What is the role of people? What is it that concerns us as a community? How have we resolved our conflicts? Where and how have we faced difficulties?

Subsequently, “products of knowledge “ were produced, which collect the experiences and lessons on socio-environmental conflicts. CORPONOR and CERCAPAZ developed the training plan on conflict transformation from these knowledge products, and established a network of disseminators.

The training plan addressed the following topics: steps for conflict transformation, types of leadership, collaborative dialogue, the process of visual thinking , visualisation techniques and conflict analysis and acknowledgement . All these methodologies are used in order to make conflicts evident, to discern between an issue (environment) and attitudes (social) and to allow for constructive transformation.

The communities gained knowledge and tools from these training sessions, and they aimed to replicate them. To this date, this exercise has involved at least two hundred people in the four municipalities.

“This cooperation has allowed us to expand and strengthen the integration of stakeholders in the environmental commitment. Personally, I have been empowered and motivated to promote borderless protection and conservation of the environment through transformation of conflicts, especially water resources”.

AsozuliaIrrigationDistrictUser–NortedeSantander.

13 Cúcuta, Cucutilla, Mutiscua and Arboledas.14 A “product of knowledge” is a system, a procedure or

a concept that has been implemented successfully and has effectively worked. In general, there is no standard product; rather, a product may be a very simple instrument, a guide, or it may be composed of several combined partial modules, depending on conditions, adapted to specific needs.

15 The four steps of visual thinking are: looking, seeing, imagining, and showing. To look is to collect all the information around us; it is to design a general overview of what we have in front of us. To see is to more consciously analyse and to select the most important information or stimuli in detail. To imagine is to see what is not blatantly present. To show is to indicate what we imagine, whether in pictures or in images.

16 By means of the key questions: 1. What? 2. Who? 3. When? 4. Where? 5. How? 6. How much? 7. Why? 8. What for?

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Dialogue based on mutual respect generates learning and fosters a culture of peace.

The Norte de Santander Water Agenda and the Immediate Action Plan (PAI) of the Guarinó River: twoexperiencesofconflicttransformationplatforms

“Everyone was acting in an isolated and individual fashion, very neglectful to share information and without consulting others’ information. Additionally, we had an uninformed civil society, very low participation in management, and a serious likelihood to generate socio-environmental conflicts”.

CORPONOROfficial

The initial situation that led to the creation of the Water Agenda, previously described, was characterised by a lack of confidence among the different stakeholders. In addition to the above, social and socio-environmental conflicts were generated.

What caused the conflict? What relations should we prompt in order to mitigate and prevent conflict? Who should we involve? These were some of the questions which stakeholders asked in order to transform the situation which was taking place at that moment, and which led us to create a platform to move forward with this initiative.

Thus the Water Agenda was born as an attempt to implement a shared water resource management among representatives of civil society, the academia, the private sector and the competent authorities (CAR, public service companies, municipalities, Governor’s offices and the Regional Assembly).

The Water Agenda was conceived and developed as a collective, non-formal mechanism, for dialogue between public institutions, private institutions and civil society in order to harmonise the actions planned and developed by each one of the different stakeholders. This cooperation network was formed through the signing of a statement of intention. The network recognises the different interests of stakeholders and aims to build a shared vision. For this it fosters policy dialogue, technical information exchange and management of participatory projects.

Although the process is young (it is only two years old), changes are satisfactory if one takes into account the initial situation. Today it has a teamwork platform, with a network that brings together more than twenty local and regional stakeholders, which exchange information through the Water Agenda and the Water Observatory website .

The stakeholders have built a common language; they recognise the importance of the resource and take responsibility with regard to it. Different plans have been adjusted in order to achieve

17 http://www.agendaagua-ns.org/jm/index.php

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integrated management of water resources; Regulation and Management Plans for Watersheds (POMCA – from its original Spanish language initials - Planes de Ordenamiento y Manejo de Cuencas Hidrográficas); Regional Forest Development Plan (PDDF); Plans of Municipal Environmental Education Committees. The Departmental Assembly and the Municipal Councils have recognised the importance of water resources and the need to address the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts regarding its use.

Another successful change is the Immediate Action Plan for the Guarinó River Basin (PAI Guarinó), in the Caldas region. The initial situation was characterised by environmental degradation of the basin and its consequences for human welfare. There were conflicts over water use between the power generation company ISAGEN, civil society and environmental institutions (Government, CORPOCALDAS and CORTOLIMA ). There was no management plan for the use and management of watershed resources, communication between the stakeholders was scarce, there was no capacity in the region to deal with socio-environmental conflicts in a cooperative manner, nor was there any capacity whatsoever to initiate concerted actions which would lead to improvements in the environmental status of the basin. A construction project for the transfer of water between the rivers Guarinó and La Miel found strong resistance: The Civic Committee “No to Diverting the Guarinó River” made up of citizens of the town of La Dorada in 2008 filed a popular claim to revoke the environmental license granted by the Ministry of Environment, since the river is the main water source that supplies the local aqueduct.

This led CORPOCALDAS to seek a mechanism for ongoing communication to build confidence and lay the foundations for direct shared actions with the inhabitants of the basin. As a consequence, a platform for dialogue was designed for the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts between civil society, the private sector and public institutions: the PAI Guarinó.

CORPOCALDAS asked CERCAPAZ to provide technical assistance to this initiative, to which CERCAPAZ responded by designing a development project, which contained four milestones: (i) Strengthening the PAI Motor Group, (ii) The establishment of permanent roundtables in order to build and strengthen confidence, (iii) The establishment of an impact monitoring and evaluation system; and (iv) the socialisation of the progress of the process. Within the framework of this project, members of CORPOCALDAS and the Programme of Development of Peace of Central Magdalena (PDPMC from its original Spanish language initials – Programa de Desarrollo y Paz del Magdalena Centro) partook in the “Do no harm” training cycle, as well as in methodologies for conflict transformation.

“The PAI led us to understand that many of us are responsible and that the communities have the responsibility to “actively participate and interact”, as well as municipalities, corporations and other entities. Understanding shared responsibility is to take on the process for development in a comprehensive manner”.

Environmentalspecialist,ISAGEN,memberof PAILaMielmotorgroup

18 The Guarinó River basin covers the territory under the jurisdiction of the Tolima region.

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Not only does the PAI formulate a plan, it also analyses interests, makes an effort to improve relations among the stakeholders and provides a contribution to the regulation and management of the basin. PAI results contribute to the formulation of the POMCA , which is the legal instrument for the planning and management of the basin. This platform allowed the positioning of the Programme of Development of Peace of Central Magdalena (PDPMC – from its original Spanish language initials - Programa de Desarrollo y Paz del Magdalena Centro) as the principal counterpart for environmental institutionalism in the region. An example of this is the meeting which PDPMC promoted between the Governor of Caldas and the Chairman of ISAGEN company (who were at a point of high tension) in order to bring them closer and make arrangements, such as the commitment of ISAGEN to increase their financial contributions to PAI.

As another result of the PAI, the environmental authorities of the basin (CORPOCALDAS and CORTOLIMA) have strengthened their capacity for continuous and fluid dialogue with the population for conflict transformation. This led, among other things, to the participatory formulation of the Regulation and Management Plans for Watersheds (POMCAS – from its original Spanish language initials - Plan de Ordenamiento y Manejo de Cuencas Hidrográficas), which included gender equity in order to make management of the basin better and fair. As an unplanned effect, the PAI led to the formation of the Asociación de Municipios de Oriente de Caldas ASOORIENTE (Association of Municipalities of the east of Caldas), with the purpose of joining efforts for the environmental recovery of the basin.

“A very important aspect that demonstrates the effect of German cooperation in the territory is the social and participatory approach which processes currently have. This recognises the importance of the stakeholder who is in the territory and has achieved a more inclusive institutionalism, which at least listens to them and tries to comply with the suggestions and needs expressed. A recent example of this occurs in the Watershed Council, where the members of the council expressed their concerns and inconformity about the process that has been supported by CORPONOR, and suggestions were collected. Decisions about the process are no longer unilateral”.

FormerCORPONORofficial

If environmental management is carried out through dialogue spaces and implementation of planning tools for participatory environmental management, a contribution is made to peacebuilding and social justice.

Dialogue generates new knowledge in accordance with the quality of the conversations in which we participate. Dialogue between different stakeholders in the State and civil society increases the chance of building mutual recognition, solidarity, confidence and work towards (re-)conciliation. The ability to dialogue means to express, visualise and argue ideas and needs, to differentiate the discourse from the person, to recognise and respect each other, to establish a discussion of arguments, to find shared views and build consensus.

19 The objective of POMCAS is that of regulating the use and management of natural resources in the basin so as to maintain or restore proper balance between the use of such resources and the conservation of the basin. Therefore, they have a great deal of importance, not only ecologically but also in the economic and social development realms.

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Since 2007 the environmental authority in Norte de Santander has worked on the formulation of the Pamplonita and Zulia Regulation and Management Plans for Watersheds (POMCASxx– from its original Spanish language initials - Planes de Ordenamiento y Manejo de Cuencas Hidrográficas). During this period, CORPONOR and CERCAPAZ detected the low commitment and participation of local authorities (councils, mayors, ombudsmen), whereupon they suggested having dialogues involving regional stakeholders and local municipalities in order to get the stakeholders with capacities and financial resources more strongly committed. Likewise, CORPONOR and CERCAPAZ promoted dialogues with members of the Watershed Council in order to create a schedule of activities which would ensure the sustainability of the basin. As part of this work, CERCAPAZ made it emphatic to CORPONOR that sustainability of the basin could only be complete if the social aspect was properly taken into account. In order to achieve social sustainability in watershed management, it is quintessential to involve women and men in an equal fashion, thus strengthening the role of women - still weak in watershed management. CORPONOR and CERCAPAZ organised a special workshop to address specific issues around the gender issue and ensured equal participation of men and women at all workshops for the construction of the POMCA, so that different gender-specific visions enter the POMCA whose construction was supported.

“The POMCA have received substantial support from GIZ and this is acknowledged by CORPONOR officials; strengthening the transfer of capacities and methodologies has led to maturity in the activities of the institution - above all in working with communities since there has been progress from a mere law-application approach and moved into articulated work among stakeholders with different resources to contribute to POMCAS and its application. Our communities must learn to develop harmonious relations among its members, learn to tolerate one another and have constructive dialogue”.

CORPONOROfficial

4.3 ConfidenceBuilding

From 2008 to 2012, the “socio-environmental conflicts” component supported a variety of activities in which State stakeholders and civil society jointly developed and implemented constructive mechanisms for the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts. In the design of these interventions we assume that confidence is a key element in achieving favorable levels of cooperation between the State and civil society.

When seeking to develop a cooperative process, the definition of a common goal appears as a fundamental premise. It is in this task where different positions and interests of each participant are made evident, as well as the attempt to make their ideas and expectations

20 The POMCA carry a comprehensive analysis of the territory, which seeks to establish interests and needs, but in a coordinated and harmonised way, respecting the natural aptitude of the territory. It also acknowledges the historical context, the current situation and future scenarios to propose development alternatives which have been concerted with the different actors of the basin to ensure environmental sustainability and economic development of the basin.

21 Social organisation for participation, reflection and collective construction in view of water-related conflicts.

22For example the relationship between women and men, the traditional perception of the role of men and women, desires and needs in watershed management and so on.

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prevail. In order to build a viable process it is necessary to encourage and nurture attitudes which create confidence. Some of these attitudes are commitments, coordinating activities, transparency, respect for difference, participation in decision-making, collective construction and the definition of roles of the parties involved.

4.3.1 Transparencyfostersrelationsofconfidence

The National Forest Development Plan (PNDF - from its original Spanish language initials - Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Forestal), formulated in 2000 by the Ministry of Environment, eroded confidence among the parties. This occurred because participation in its formulation was reduced to delivery of information to stakeholders, without taking heed to their proposals. The plan was seen by the Ministry as a planning tool and it did not regard its formulation process as a way of making public policy. With this as the most recent history, the Ministry initiated the update of the plan ten years later.

Event attendees of the National Forestry Roundtable, especially representatives of indigenous organisations and African descendant communities, are restless. The Ministry of Environment is socialising the proposed update of the PNDF. The situation is tense. Background facts, such as the declaration of unconstitutionality of the Forestry Act of 2008 due to having failed to undergo prior consultation , generated lack of confidence. Despite the Ministry’s efforts to justify the importance of participation in the update process, community representatives remain distrustful:

“This is not prior consultation: we do not know the process that the Ministry wants to advance: We do not see a participatory design process that defines a common goal and actions to be undertaken to attain it. We have no prior information about the document. Those of us who know something about the PNDF, do not feel conceptually or ideologically identified. The procedure which the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente intends to develop should have had from the beginning the active participation of communities, an it shouldn’t be institutional and unidirectional procedures. The PNDF should be a place where ethnic groups can have a leading role, and not figure as a guest just to fulfill procedures”.

Indigenousparticipantof theNationalForestryRoundtable.

23 The PNDF is an instrument for planning and orientation of the forest policy, which aims to “establish a strategic framework that actively incorporates the forestry sector into national development, thereby optimising the comparative advantages and promoting the competitiveness of timber as well as non timber products in the national and international market, with sustainable management of natural and planted forests at its base.” See: MAVDT, MARD, MCIT, and DNP. 2000. National Forestry Development Plan. Bogotá. p.71. This CERCAPAZ-supported process started as an update to the PNDF; in 2010 the Ministry of Environment decided to raise the status of the Plan to a policy, and the PNDF changed into the formulation of a National Policy on Sustainable Forest Development (PNDFS). After the change of government, in late 2010, the focus of the policy was restricted, calling it henceforth National Policy on Natural Forests. However, plans to reverse this decision once more are under way, which would thus return to the formulation of a National Policy on Sustainable Forest Development..

24 Prior consultation or “Free, prior and informed consent” (FPIC) is defined as the right to give or withhold their free, prior and informed consent to actions that affect their territories and natural resources. See: http://www.oxfam.org.au/resources/filestore/originals/OAUs-GuideToFreePriorInformedConsent-0610.pdf

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‘

The three days’ worth of work allotted for the first PNDF modernisation workshop in November 2009 allowed the resetting of the relationship among the stakeholders, but were not enough to succeed and thus led the Ministry of Environment to a shift in the process. They decided to open more and better opportunities for dialogue, thus choosing to restore the confidence lost as an intrinsic goal of the Plan Update.

Confidence is strengthened if a process is constructed in a transparent and participatory manner, including objectives, activities, incremental results and clearly established roles.

The ministry requested the support of the “socio-environmental conflicts component” to help design and socialise a process of dialogue with all stakeholders, which would allow for joint reflection on the problems, possibilities, expectations and approaches to forest development in Colombia.

As part of this initiative, a series of workshops was implemented which allowed forest stakeholders to know and think about the realities of various groups living off the woods. Working with traditionally excluded groups (indigenous peoples, African descendants, among others, and always with due regard to gender differences within these groups) provided opportunities for dialogue for understanding different ways of thinking . The results were incorporated both in the diagnosis and the strategic framework of the proposed new PNDF. This process of dialogue was crucial for building confidence.

“Very good methodology, we worked in harmony and without conflict, we have acknowledged one another, the road is laid out with diversity of thought. Progress is evident with this exercise; we see that this [project] begins to make sense. I see, not without a sense of gratitude, that the contributions we have been making on the issue in past meetings have been taken into account”.

Arepresentativeof anAfricandescendantcommunity

Updating the PNDF, which the ministry developed, became thus an opportunity to strengthen dialogue opportunities generated under the National Forestry Round Table and the promotion of a change in organisational culture (management of organisational change and development).

25 World Café is a process and a dialogue technique which drives collaborative learning. The World Café conversation is an intentional way of creating a living network of conversation around questions that matter. A World Café conversation is a creative process that leads to a collaborative dialogue, whereby knowledge and experiences are shared. (Brown J. and Isaac D. 2005. World Café Community. Berrett Koehler Publishers. San Francisco, California. 242 p.).

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4.3.2 Confidenceisstrengthenedbyresults

It was established that, between 2001 and 2004, 22% of the 68 goals outlined in the Plan did not report any type of development. 45.6% did not meet the scheduled compliance, 25% was fulfilled and 7.4% surpassed the goal. It was inferred that the full compliance level reached a meager 33% , which weakened confidence in many people with regard to the usefulness of such a plan and a real commitment by the State to implement it.

During the time that CERCAPAZ supported the PNDF update process, we involved different forest stakeholders in dialogue and collective reflections which generated key inputs to feed the diagnosis and the proposed strategic framework of the new Forest Policy. Different expectations by the participating groups were incorporated, especially those of traditionally excluded groups, generating an atmosphere of confidence between them and the Ministry. This confidence led to the creation of new demands: Peasants representatives, as well as representatives from indigenous groups and African descendant communities, requested the establishment of regional discussion sessions which would allow feedback to be provided on the formulation of the Plan from the local level.

26 See: CONIF/FAO 2008: Proposed Amendments to the National Forestry Development Plan - PNDF. Bogotá. P. 9.

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“The process is being developed in a positive manner; however, there must be deeper work on differential approaches which will render evident the way of thinking and acting of ethnic groups. Such work is only being carried out from Bogotá, and it is also necessary to implement regional spaces to enable collection of new ideas from the local level, to include the actual experiences of the stakeholders living in the forests”.

Africandescendantcommunityrepresentative

Demand for regional dialogue sessions by ethnic groups has been alive since the beginning of the process of updating the Plan. Nonetheless, this demand increased along with growth in confidence and commitment within the framework of the National Forestry Roundtable.

Although the Ministry agreed to create regional sessions, to date these sessions have not materialised, since the process is currently stopped due to lack of definition by the Ministry with regard to what is expected from the National Forestry Policy. This is largely due to changes in the National Government in August 2010, which resulted in the revision of numerous policy priorities and institutional changes.

Additionally, during the planning and data input collection stages to update the PNDF, an inclusive process was designed, socialised and agreed upon in order to bring the different regional realities closer, thereby opening room for the possibility of implementing Regional Forest Roundtables. Its purpose is that of analysing and enhancing the proposed Plan. These actions generated expectations; noncompliance therewith will surely have a negative impact on the reactivation of the process. The abovementioned facts mar the objectives met, undermine the credibility of similar processes and become obstacles once the decision to resume the process is made.

A more encouraging picture is observed in the process of formulating the Norte de Santander Plan for Forestry Development (PDDF). Different forest stakeholders met in order to discuss the current status of this department. The general perception among participants was: “we need a planning tool to drive forest intervention in priority areas, recognising the region’s environmental, social and economic potential”. CERCAPAZ, at the request of the authority responsible for the preparation of this plan CORPONOR, provided assistance to this process from its beginning, supporting the organisation of a series of workshops which for more than two years included the participation of a large number of interest groups from the forestry sector of the region. A strategic team was also created to lead the formulation of the plan .

The strategic group was able to generate results quickly, with the participation of multiple forest stakeholders to ensure that the PDDF reflect the multitude of interests around the forest resource in the department. The PDDF is also an environmental planning instrument which is sensitive to the conflicts which surround forest resources in the department. There were key moments which led to building confidence and ownership by the participants. Some

27 This team was composed of the Governor of Norte de Santander, CORPONOR, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA – from its original Spanish language initials - Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario), the Foundation for the Development of Catatumbo (FUNDESCAT – from its original Spanish language initials - Fundación para el Desarrollo del Catatumbo) and the Regional Competitiveness Committee (CRC – from its original Spanish language initials - Comisión Regional de Competitividad).

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of these moments were: the development of a diagnosis of forestry in Norte de Santander, the design and implementation of participatory workshops for the construction of the Plan, various meetings with the strategic group for the analysis and consolidation of inputs, technical advice to the process and continuous dialogue with policy makers such as the Governor of the department and CORPONOR officials. In those moments CORPONOR showed their willingness to be transparent in the construction of the PDDF, to open the instrument to the participation of all stakeholders, and to be subject to criticism and review in order to reach shared environmental planning.

The results achieved during the formulation of the plan increased the political will of the Governor of the department, who expressed his commitment to launch and implement the plan. From the Governor’s standpoint, the forest sector is a new axis of socio-economic development and the Plan is a good tool to transform environmental conflicts around forest resources. An added value the plan has to offer is its argumentation in the sense that the incorporation of a gender equity approach in environmental planning and forest resource use may turn these into more sustainable and socially fair processes.

Finally, confidence between civil society and the State is consolidated if the implementation of the plans participatorily formulated is equally participatory and yields visible results which improve the quality of life for all.

The more positive results a process of conflict transformation generates, the greater the confidence of the participants.

4.3.3 Acknowledging differences

“The National Forestry Development Plan does not envision the reality of ethnic groups and peasants, key stakeholders for the conservation of this resource in the country”. Representativeof indigenous,Afrocolombianandpeasantcommunities

inameetingof theNationalForestryRoundTable

Although there was participation in the formulation of the National Forest Development Plan in 2000, the particularities of the different groups were not recognised then in the proposed actions.

Opportunities for dialogue with ethnic groups were created in the year 2010 for this reason. At the beginning of these workshops, representatives of participating groups expressed their concerns about the proposed policy: “A developmental approach is identified. Indigenous, African descendant and peasant communities are not visible, that is to say the multiethnic reality of Colombia is not reflected”.

The stakeholders and organisations involved in updating the PNDF have different ways of life and ways of thinking and interpreting reality. Acknowledging these facts significantly helped to reduce tensions and to make progress in the identification of a more complete diagnosis of the initial situation.

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‘ ‘Cooperation on an equal footing and confidence are only possible if the diverse realities and needs of the different stakeholders are accepted and acknowledged.

4.3.4Fromconfidenceinpeopletoconfidenceininstitutions

The approaches by interest groups from civil society to institutions certainly occur through individuals, whether because they are sometimes in charge of the subject, or because someone is personally interested and motivated.

This is the regular channel to go through when installing a new item on the agenda of institutional management. However, it is not enough if consolidation and sustainability of the initiatives are sought, as well as their subsequent extension and dissemination.

Confidence in people can be related to aspects such as empathy, honesty, openness and interpersonal relationships. On the other hand, institutional confidence is rather related to the set of rules, legitimacy, organisational capacity, convening, compliance, transparency in decision making, equity and accountability in organisations.

Every development process is aimed at the consolidation and sustainability of its results, for which it is important to build confidence levels which are more stable, lasting and independent of personal relationships – only this way can confidence between the State and civil society be built, and not only between State individuals and civil society. This happens if we move to the level of confidence in institutions, rules and their implementation.

Although there are other paths, a feasible possibility to create confidence in institutions is the identification of key stakeholders within institutions, which serve as liaisons and promoters to generate results in the short term, thus hoping to influence the operation of the entire institution.

Such is the case of the Water Agenda, where initially members of civil society related to technical officers of the entities participating in the process, securing a technical team to direct the work of the agenda with fast and tangible results. Based on these results, they proceeded to the formation of a Board Committee composed of decision makers.

In conclusion, conflict transformation processes are more efficient if the various stakeholders know and have confidence in a policy and institutional framework, which acts in a predictable and objective manner, and not in accordance with subjective criteria of one or more people. Institutional strengthening, which is at the core of technical cooperation, pursues this overall objective: to develop an efficient, capable, transparent, and, importantly, a reliable system.

Unfortunately, the experiences of the “socio-environmental conflicts” component show that processes still remain at the level of confidence in people, and these processes have the challenge of consolidating a reliable system.

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4.4 Public-Private Cooperation

Companies are major stakeholders, both to create and to transform conflicts. Given the influence and the resources companies have, more often than not dialogue becomes the “imposition of the interest of the strongest”, but as information travels faster, society has the opportunity to exercise greater control on the actions of the private sector and international initiatives “invite” companies to have wider dialogue with the communities around them.

Consequently, in addition to economic development, the private sector also has a lot of potential to contribute to peacebuilding. For this reason CERCAPAZ introduced activities which would strengthen the private sector’s contribution to the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts.

At this stage, these activities were aimed at the generation of better capacities in the private sector itself and some practical experience in socio