Walk the Talk
The EU needs an effective early warning system to match its ambitions to prevent conflict and promote peace

Author(s): Lucia Montanaro and Julia Schu?nemann
2011-04-30

This paper argues that given the EU’s global ambitions in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, a number of changes are necessary to improve the EU early warning and response system. The reforms of the Lisbon Treaty and the establishment of the EEAS do not go far enough: The scattered strands of the EU early warning system need to be woven together so that the EU can be cost effective and maximise its potential impact. The current system suffers from weaknesses in the production, communication, warning receptivity and disconnects between its early warning and early action. This paper identifies the key constraints to an effective system and suggests ways to overcome them.

LOS IMPACTOS DEL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO SOBRE LOS CONFLICTOS SOCIO-AMBIENTALES:
Diagnóstico y desafíos de la situación Argentina

Author(s): Pablo Lumerman, Jimena Psathakis y María de los Ángeles Ortiz
2011-04-01

El presente informe aborda la temática de cómo los impactos del cambio climático generan y potencian conflictos socioambientales. En él, se argumenta que la implementación de un enfoque sensible al conflicto para el desarrollo y la implementación de políticas públicas en el abordaje del cambio climático, y la promoción de sistemas de alerta temprana permiten enfrentar conflictos actuales y prevenir los futuros de forma más constructiva. El informe está dividido en dos secciones: la primera, analiza la relación entre los impactos del cambio climático y los conflictos socio ambientales; la segunda, incluye ciertas recomendaciones para la reducción de los impactos del cambio climático a través de un enfoque integral, multisectorial y multidisciplinario.

Evaluating the EU’s role and challenges in Sudan and South Sudan
Sudan and South Sudan Case Study

Author(s): Joost van der Zwan
2011-01-10

This report analyses the EU’s institutional capacity to carry out conflict early warning, early action, and conflict prevention in two of the most conflict-ridden and war-affected countries in the world: Sudan and South Sudan. It analyses the institutional aspects of EU conflict early warning approaches and assesses the extent to which they are applied in-country and in Brussels to inform policies, strategies and programming processes. It provides a number of recommendations on how the EU can overcome challenges and constraints so that it can better link early warning to effective & timely response to prevent conflict and build peace, under the new Lisbon Treaty architecture. The report concludes by noting that the EU needs to identify its peacebuilding niche in a heavily crowded field of actors. If it decides its niche is related to early warning, conflict prevention and peacebuilding, it needs to prove this through sustained political willingness to engage on the crucial conflict issues discussed above and invest heavily in building up its systems, networks, capacity and tools to be able to play a viable role in both Sudan and South Sudan. The key here would be to develop a coherent approach that is fully grounded in an understanding of the realities of the different conflicts, and developing and mobilising the type of complex political engagement and partnerships that are needed to deliver concrete results in terms of improved stability and security for the Sudanese and South Sudanese people.