Peace engineering as a pathway to the sustainable development goals

Abstract

Two billion people live in countries where sustainable development outcomes are affected by fragility, conflict, and violence. Conflict is a critical development challenge that threatens the successful achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Business-as-usual practices that apply top-down approaches to development projects without considering the contextual dynamics are neither appropriate nor sufficient. To fully attain the Sustainable Development Goals, engineers must first recognize that development can only proceed when there is peace and stability, then must be prepared and willing to meet the complex challenges that threaten their long-term achievement. Peace Engineering is an emerging field dedicated to reducing and eliminating conflict-motivated violence through the use of innovative research, technology, policy, systems-level thinking and design. Peace Engineering provides a clear pathway for engineers, scientists, and technologists to apply strong technical skills and system approaches to meet the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals by incorporating conflict and peace outcomes into business practices, project design and implementation. This paper explores opportunities for engineers to directly advance the Sustainable Development Goals, identifies critical issues that hinder the progress of these goals, introduces Peace Engineering as a guiding framework for overcoming sustainability challenges, and provides examples of effective peace engineering projects and outcomes.