Introduction
When conflict disrupts lives and communities, how can young activists still protect nature? In 2022, the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) brought this question to us when replying to our call for proposals. As the official youth coordination platform and constituency under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), GYBN connects 1.25 million young environmental leaders across 172 countries and 712 organisations worldwide.
Many GYBN members work in contexts marked by violence, repression, or deep social divides, and navigate challenges that often go unseen. Through our partnership, GYBN wanted to bring these experiences together, learn collectively, and build a support system that intentionally strengthens young environmental defenders in conflict-affected contexts.
The Partner
GYBN unites youth in knowledge exchange, grassroots action, capacity-building, and policymaking, influencing change from local communities to international decision-making forums. The network amplifies marginalised voices in environmental governance and challenges traditional power dynamics, making space for youth-led conservation.
Our partnership aimed to explore how conflict sensitivity could be integrated into the network, could strengthen the capacities of members to work effectively in conflict-affected contexts, and could create mechanisms for peer support, training, learning, and engagement on conflict-sensitive biodiversity conservation.
Our Support
We began from a simple premise: young people in conflict-affected areas need support to navigate these realities safely and take up opportunities for trust-building and collaboration around conservation aims. We provided a conflict-sensitivity grant and close accompaniment to help GYBN explore how conflict and peace dimensions affect members and how the network could respond.
The inception of our partnership focused on listening to and documenting members’ experiences of navigating tensions, dealing with violence, and fostering cooperation as they do their work. This informed GYBN’s inputs at the CBD Conference of the Parties (COP) 15 and sparked the creation of a dedicated internal Working Group on Conservation, Conflict and Peace.
Through our partnership, a dedicated consultant provided conflict sensitivity training and mentoring to Working Group members, who then applied the tools to their own work. This resulted in the first Practical Guide on Conflict-Sensitive Conservation for Youth and case studies from Bolivia, Cameroon, Madagascar, and beyond.
The Results
Conflict sensitivity is now one of the main pillars of work and an organising principle for the network. The Working Group coordinates a community of practice that connects young people across regions and environmental sectors, builds a common vocabulary, provides peer support and strengthens skills on conflict-sensitive conservation.
GYBN members are bringing others into this approach, sharing what they have learned with pupils, colleagues and community actors and supporting efforts to reduce harm, foster inclusion, and stay engaged in politically complex environments.
GYBN brings youth experiences from the Global South into conservation and peace conversations in international policy spaces and events, such as the International Youth Summit on Biodiversity, CBD COP 16, the ICLEI Yeoncheon Global Forum on Peace with Nature, and the Escazú Agreement processes. As active members of the Environment Climate Conflict and Peace (ECCP) global community of practice, GYBN also co-drafted policy priorities on the biodiversity-conflict-peace nexus and contributed to the launch of a free e-learning course on conflict-sensitive conservation at the 2025 IUCN World Conservation Congress.
In a world where young people are often excluded or endangered, GYBN is forging a new path – where young people lead, connect, and co-create solutions at the frontline of environmental and social change.
“The support from PN has been instrumental for GYBN to work towards our broader vision: to empower young people to work effectively in conflict affected settings, raise awareness on biodiversity-conflict-peace nexus, and mobilise support for conflict sensitive conservation activities. This is the first step towards creating a community of young people who are aware that they have the necessary skills to navigate conflict situations and to employ a conflict sensitive lens to the work they undertake.”
Shruthi Kottillil and Sudha Kottillil, Peace Working Group Leads