ABSTRACT
The peacebuilding architecture is intended to bring cohesion to the United Nations (UN) existing peace and security, development, humanitarian, and human rights pillars of peacebuilding. This chapter focuses on one element of the architecture, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), during its first five years of existence (2005–2010). It considers how the PBC has been affected by a deepening understanding of the connections between conflict and natural resources. The chapter provides a description of the origin and purpose of the peacebuilding architecture. It also provides a discussion of the PBC's work in Sierra Leone and a discussion of the PBC's work in the Central African Republic. The PBC strategies are instruments for spelling out mutual commitments; thus, the final formulation illustrates where the common denominator was found. The PBC committed to supporting capacity building in the management of natural resources, focusing in particular on the Ministry of Mineral Resources.
