Communities that live and work in forest settings would seemunlikely sites for conflict. But tension exists even in these quietrural settings – most commonly reflected in disputes over how localnatural resources should be used and managed. Dissent can arise notonly among villagers but government officials” local companies and NGOs– all of whom may have differing views on living in and with theirforest surroundings.

RECOFTC and the FAOhave been working together for many years” particularly in this fieldof conflict management – and now they’re jointly running a trainingcourse in Bangkok called Managing Conflict for Natural Resource Management.

Thecourse has attracted participants from seven countries. Co-trainers areRECOFTC’s Peter Stephen and Antonia Engel from the FAO’s LivelihoodSupport Program. Antonia manages the capacity building program onnatural resource conflict management in Rome. Peter and Antonia areshowing participants how to anticipate and address conflict in itsearly phases. They’re also discussing how to analyze conflict” assessmanagement options and develop strategies to manage it. Invitedspecialists in the field of conflict management are also sharing theirexperiences and case study material with the course. An objective ofthe course” says Peter” is to “prepare participants for their role asfuture mediators” when they’ll apply conflict management knowledge andskills in their work.”

Many participants come from countries no stranger to conflict – including Afghanistan” Indonesia” Mongolia” Vietnam and Nepal.

Thecourse is not restricted to the lecture room. It concludes with afive-day field visit to a ‘live’‘ conflict at the Phu Pha Manh nationalpark” where participants will observe and explore the many dimensionsof natural resource conflict and work out strategies to manage it. Theconflict management course is one of a series of training projectsconducted throughout the year by RECOFTC” mainly for forestry and natural resource professionals.