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OAS to Hold Meeting in Lima on the Management of Socio-Environmental Conflict

  December 5, 2012

The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) will hold, on December 6 and 7 in Lima, Peru, the Meeting of Government Experts on the Management of Socio-Environmental Conflict for the countries of Central America and the Andean Region.

The purpose of the meeting is to strengthen the institutional capacities of governments in addressing socio-environmental conflicts through the exchange of information and the presentation of institutional mechanisms used to bring about solutions to these problems.

The meeting aims to provide a space for reflection, analysis, and debate on the dynamics of socio-environmental conflict in the participating Member States in order that mechanisms can be found for the appropriate management of these conflicts using the national experiences of participating countries and input from experts in the field.

The meeting will be held over two days and will be attended by representatives of government ministries and agencies of OAS Member States responsible for addressing socio-environmental conflict. It will specifically address themes such as citizen participation in public policy formation, prior consultation, early warning systems, and dialogue as a tool for conflict management.

This initiative is held within the framework of the institutional strengthening project in mediation and dialogue of the Department of Democratic Sustainability and Special Missions of the OAS Secretariat for Political Affairs, which is funded by the government of Canada.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-449/12