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Latest Policy Briefs and Reports
Toda Pacific Declaration on Climate Change, Conflict and Peace
Declaration No.41 - May, 2019 • By
In September 2018, the Toda Peace Institute and the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Otago, New Zealand) conducted a workshop on “Climate Change and Conflict in the Pacific: Prevention, Management and the Enhancement of Community Resilience” in Auckland, New Zealand. Flowing from the debates and findings of that workshop, a draft of the ‘Toda Pacific Declaration on Climate Change, Conflict and Peace’ was elaborated and opened for comment. After an extensive and comprehensive process of discussion and several iterations of the draft, the Declaration was launched on 26 July 2019. The Declaration has been contributed to by many academics, policymakers, peacebuilding practitioners and civil society actors concerned about the challenges and potential conflict linkages posed by climatic uncertainty in the Pacific. In particular, Toda is grateful to the lead authors Volker Boege, John Campbell, Kevin Clements, Kirsten Davies and Upolo Luma Vaai.
Social Media, Technology and Peacebuilding
Brazil’s Digital Resistance Against Corruption
Policy Brief No.40 - May, 2019 • By Shaazka Beyerle1
From 2008 to 2010, 3.6 million Brazilians took part in the “Ficha Limpa” movement which aimed to impact political corruption by ensuring that anyone who runs for office has a “clean record.” The combination of a grassroots social movement paired with the Avaaz global web movement’s use of social media as discussed in this case study holds important lessons for civil society. Nonviolent “digital resistance” in Brazil shifted power relations and translated into real-world actions and outcomes. The case study examines the background to the Ficha Limpa movement in Brazil, the way in which the Avaaz campaign unfolded and the results that were realised. The policy brief concludes with nine policy recommendations for civil society regarding digital resistance which emerged out of the Ficha Limpa case.
Social Media, Technology and Peacebuilding
Engaging with Narratives of Peace
Policy Brief No.39 - May, 2019 • By Julia Roig
How do peacebuilding organisations communicate about peace online and offline? Narrative competency must be a fundamental aspect of our work as peacebuilders in the modern age, as we confront the challenges posed by social media, divided on-line communities, growing political polarisation globally and more easily-ready manipulation tactics within public discourse. The term narrative is ubiquitous today and commonly used interchangeably with story. However, within the peacebuilding field there is currently a lack of understanding of the concept of narrative fundamentally as a cognitive framework that resides at the level of our unconscious minds, which allows human beings to make meaning of the world. While much has been written about how activists can address narrative change, peacebuilders have a special calling to engage with narratives in a way that is self-reflective, curious, seeks complexity and constructs meaning with others. This policy brief argues that narrative engagement should be a top priority and concludes with policy recommendations for those in the peacemaking field.
Social Media, Technology and Peacebuilding
Mapping Responses to Social Media Threats
Policy Brief No.38 - April, 2019 • By Lisa Schirch
Recognizing the global relevance of social media threats to human rights, democracy, and peace, the Tokyo-based Toda Peace Institute convened twenty experts from the fields of peacebuilding, democracy, governance, and human rights for an international workshop in December 2018. This workshop is part of a larger programme at the Toda Peace Institute on Social Media, Technology and Peacebuilding which includes a series of policy briefs, beginning with a peacebuilding review of the “Social Media Impacts on Social and Political Goods" in October 2018. The Toda Peace Institute is planning further policy briefs and workshops, while a “Global Summit on Technology and Peacebuilding” is planned for 2020.
Climate Change, Migration and Land in Oceania
Policy Brief No.37 - April, 2019 • By John R. Campbell
Over 90 per cent of land in Pacific Islands is held in a range of customary forms of communal ownership, belonging as much to past and future generations as it does to the resent. In most cases it cannot be bought or sold although some countries have provisions for longterm leases. Land is a critical component of Pacific Island societies and in most places the people and their land are mutually constituted. One cannot be considered complete without the other. Climate change poses two broad problems in relation to this union. First, it may damage the land so that its ability to support its people is curtailed or even destroyed. This will not only have serious implications for the material security of the affected communities but may also affect their emotional and spiritual wellbeing. It is likely that many people will be induced or forced to leave their ancestral lands and find new homes. Second, relocation and resettlement of individual families, and in some cases whole communities, will require new land to be found, a task that will be made difficult because other communities are unable to sell or give their land away. Where there has been significant in-migration to areas in the region, tensions and conflict have often arisen, frequently with land as a significant underlying issue. Finding durable solutions for climate change migrants is likely to be a critical issue in the future.