Co-Creating Environmental Conflict Management Processes

National Mediation Conference

September 2021

MBBO Members Ken Waldron, Claire Holland, Nicholas Shadhu

This session is a panel presentation with members from the organization Mediators Beyond Borders Oceania, MBBO is a regional chapter of mediators Beyond borders International. Our presenters on the panel include Ken Waldron an experienced commercial negotiator mediator and businessman across agribusiness global trade and environmental issues. Joining Ken is Claire Holland the director of the conflict management and resolution program at James Cook University, she is also a conflict management practitioner researcher. Nicholas Shadhu is a mediator and lawyer with over 20 years experience across Australia and Fiji on the panel.

Today we are here to talk about MBBO’s project to develop an environmental conflict management process and toolkit. The purpose of this toolkit is to facilitate access to justice and provide a platform for communities in Oceania to adopt for resolving conflicts particularly for environmental related issues. Our aim is to engage and co-design this process in toolkit with the people of Oceania and and to ensure we include the traditional knowledge and practices that have been part of the customary conflict management system for centuries. During this session we will outline some of the challenges in the environmental conflict space, the structure of the toolkit, and who needs to be involved in co-designing the process and toolkit.