Austrian Forum for Peace 2024 - "Towards a Climate of Peace"
Conference 1 - 4 July 2024 at Schlaining Castle
Violence, militarisation and war are being used and presented as legitimate ways of asserting economic and political interests. Important peace processes are stalling, multilateral organisations are losing their relevance, the calls for dialogue and civil society-based tools of conflict resolution and peace work are fading, and resources are lacking.
This Austrian Forum for Peace 2024, titled "Towards a Climate of Peace", aimed to address the challenges of international conflict transformation in a changing world. The conference seeked to strengthen networks, discuss different approaches, initiate thought processes, generate ideas, and contribute to the promotion of sustainable global peace.
Increasing global complexity and unpredictability are exacerbated by the effects of the man-made climate crisis. This threat is felt across conflict lines and can worsen the burden on countries affected by conflict. However, it can also be an opportunity to build trust between opposing parties and work together on solutions. This approach, known as Environmental Peacebuilding, was first discussed at the UN Climate Change Conference COP 28 in 2023 and has been specifically pursued at the ACP for some time.
At the same time, the global system is becoming more fragmented and restructured, partly due to the increasing number of international mediation parties, some of which are involved in conflicts. In this new reality, one possible approach could be to use the comparative advantages of new, different actors in a targeted manner to support regions affected on their way to a climate of peace.
The use of technology, including artificial intelligence, also plays a major role not only in warfare worldwide, but increasingly also in considerations and projects for the prevention of civil conflict and peacebuilding.
The plenary sessions of the conference can be accessed via the ACP podcast "Inside Conflict".
Findings
The twelve-page outcome paper "ALLIANCES FOR PEACE - AUSTRIAN FORUM FOR PEACE 2024: TOWARDS A CLIMATE OF PEACE" deals with the growing impact of the climate crisis on conflicts, upheavals in international relations and the prerequisites for mediation in the war over Ukraine or in West Africa. Assessments of how technological tools (PeaceTech) can support peace work and of new actors promoting and mediating peace are also summarised here in compact form.
The presentation of the results took place on 29 July in the form of a talk between ACP Director Moritz Ehrmann and European Voices Editor-in-Chief Thomas Seifert. This conversation can also be accessed via the ACP podcast "Inside Conflict".
Opening event on 1 July 2024:
AGENDA
Here you will find all information on the conference's focal topics, workshops and events as well as the participating experts.
