Recent international cases

In Israel, conflicts between Bedouin communities and the Israeli government have grown increasingly intense in recent years. At stake in the strategically and symbolically important southern Negev Desert region are fundamental questions of both security and stability for the State of Israel and development, justice, and human rights for the Bedouin minority citizen population.

CBI Practitioners

David Kovick

CBI was retained by IFC to design and facilitate an external stakeholder engagement process to discuss the draft policies as part of the review process.

CBI Practitioners

David Fairman

From November 2005 to March 2006, CBI staff and dispute resolution partners in Argentina and Uruguay were retained by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to assess stakeholder concerns and facilitate stakeholder involvement in a review of environmental and social impacts surrounding two controversial paper pulp mills – co-located 8 kilometers apart on the Rio Uruguay.

CBI Practitioners

Merrick Hoben

For the past several years, CBI has partnered with the UNDP to build the negotiation capacity of UNDP staff stationed all over the world.

CBI Practitioners

David Fairman, Stacie Nicole Smith, Merrick Hoben

CBI assisted the World Bank Compliance Advisor Ombudsman team to address concerns raised regarding social and environmental impacts of the Allain-Duhangan hydroelectric project in India. Issues and concerns included: quality and quantity of village drinking and irrigation water; worker safety near the construction site; assurance of women’s and children’ safety; excessive dust from project activity; and introduction of HIV/AIDS induced by migrant laborers.

Clients

World Bank

CBI Practitioners

David Fairman, Merrick Hoben

The Lincoln Institute for Land Policy supported a CBI study, led by CBI Managing Director David Fairman and Senior Associate Merrick Hoben, to research land use conflicts in Latin America.

Clients

Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

CBI Practitioners

David Fairman, Merrick Hoben

In July 2001 the Asian Development Bank (ADB) asked the Consensus Building Institute (CBI) to undertake an independent and neutral process of social assessment for the Chashma Right Bank Irrigation Project (CRBIP), Stage III with the goal of initiating a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the subject.

CBI Practitioners

David Fairman

CBI completed a Consensus Building / Conflict Resolution Toolkit on forest management standards for the IKEA-WWF Cooperation on Forest Projects. The toolkit was launched at a meeting of FSC national certification groups in China, and received very positive feedback.

CBI Practitioners

David Fairman

CBI initiated the Global Forum on Trade, Environment and Development (GFTED) in early 2001 in response to the difficulties experienced by the international community in setting and implementing a negotiating agenda on the evermore-pressing issues lying at the intersection of trade, environment and development.

CBI Practitioners

David Fairman

CBI partnered with IPMS to train senior officials from the public, private and non-profit sectors in the techniques of multilateral dialogue to resolve the conflicts that arise in the context of implementing sustainable development.

CBI Practitioners

Lawrence Susskind, David Fairman, William Moomaw

CBI completed an evaluation of the multistakeholder dialogue processes instituted in 1998 by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the body created and mandated to promote the execution of Agenda 21, the program of action adopted at the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development.

Clients

United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development

CBI Practitioners

David Fairman

CBI worked with a network of Japanese not-for-profit organizations and government officials in exploring ways of using consensus-building tools to address public policy disputes in Japan.

CBI Practitioners

Lawrence Susskind

In November 2002, CBI began working with Peru’s Centro de Conciliacion y Arbitraje to provide public policy consensus building training, with particular focus on the environmental, economic and social justice dilemmas emanating from the country’s controversial mining industry.

Clients

Centro de Conciliacion y Arbitraje

CBI Practitioners

Merrick Hoben

In the summer of 2000, the Joint Environmental Mediation Service (JEMS) was created as a partnership between the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), a think-tank devoted to developing practical solutions to the Middle East conflict and CBI, which took a lead role in its development.

CBI Practitioners

Michele Ferenz, Merrick Hoben, Stacie Nicole Smith

Since 1998, CBI has worked closely with the Indian Taxation Advisory Board (ITAB) and the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) to help improve relationships and negotiations among First Nations and the gas and oil industry.

Clients

Indian Taxation Advisory Board, Canada Canadian Energy Pipeline Association

CBI Practitioners

Patrick Field, Matthew McKinney