The United Nations (UN) has declared that each year, International Day of Peace should be observed internationally on 21 September. The Thammasat University Library owns several books about peace and peace studies. 

As the UN website explains,

• The United Nations Member States adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 because they understood that it would not be possible to build a peaceful world if steps were not taken to achieve economic and social development for all people everywhere, and ensure that their rights were protected.  The Sustainable Goals cover a broad range of issues, including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice.
• Sustainable Development Goal 13 “Climate Action” is a call for immediate action by all to lower greenhouse emissions, build resilience and improve education on climate change.
• Affordable, scalable solutions such as renewable energy, clean technologies are available to enable countries to leapfrog to greener, more resilient economies.

This year’s theme for International Day of Peace is Climate Action for Peace. The idea is that the increasing effects of climate change will make the world a much less peaceful progress:

Climate change causes clear threats to international peace and security. Natural disasters displace three times as many people as conflicts, forcing millions to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere. The salinization of water and crops is endangering food security, and the impact on public health is escalating. The growing tensions over resources and mass movements of people are affecting every country on every continent. Peace can only be achieved if concrete action is taken to combat climate change.

As the Saline Agriculture Worldwide Knowledge centre online by Salt Farm Foundation notes,

Factors such as sea level rise, drought, usage of poor quality groundwater for irrigation and improper usage of fertilizers and pesticide has led to the soil become salt-affected.

Soil that has become affected by salt will not grow the same crops as before salinization. To address this and other challenges, a Climate Action Summit will be convened by the UN on 23 September.

A role for students

What can students and other young people do to protect the world they will be living in for many years? The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty adopted in 1992, recommended that students and other young people can be active in

raising awareness, running educational programmes, promoting sustainable lifestyles, conserving nature, supporting renewable energy, adopting environmentally-friendly practices and implementing adaptation and mitigation projects.

This year, the International Day of Peace Student Observance will highlight these activities as part of the effort to reverse climate change and promote peace.

Choosing peace

All TU students know that peace means friendship in society, without violent conflict. Peace can refer to a lack of war or more widely, an absence of having to worry about violence as part of daily life.

Methods to avoid war and other hostilities before they begin are useful for saving lives and improving the quality of life for many people. The noun peace derives from a Latin term meaning agreement, calmness, and absence of hostility.

The original Latin word is pax. TU students who enjoy Hollywood films are aware that one of the adoptive sons of the movie star Angelina Jolie is named Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt. He was born Pham Quang Sang in Vietnam and raised in an orphanage, the Tam Binh Orphan Center. The names Pax Thien mean peaceful sky.

Thailand and peace studies

TU students may be aware of the Research Center for Peace Building (Old) Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University. Mahidol University’s Research Center on Peacebuilding was founded in 2004 to help find solution to conflicts in three southern provinces of the Kingdom, Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala. As its website states,

• The Center’s Philosophy is grounded in nonviolent approaches building long-term social change where cultural differences are honored and respected so that people can peacefully and harmoniously co-exist.
• Center’s Vision: Create a society where voices from all sectors are heard and incorporated into public policy that engenders non-violent co-existence.
• Center’s Mission: Facilitate the formation of relationships throughout all sectors of society based on trust, cooperation and making a space for discussion, using participatory processes.

Objectives:

• To increase Thai people’s ability to understand each other, sharing and learning from each other so they can live in peace and harmony.
• To practice nonviolent approaches in the conflict situations.
• To revive restorative justice and reconciliation processes among people of difference backgrounds.
• To help create public policies with input from people of different ethnicities and religions.

Action steps

• Promoting community dialogue that includes persons from various sectors
• Facilitating training in non-violent approaches to peacebuilding, e.g., reducing prejudice, open communication, non-violent action.
• Studying public policies and proposing recommendations for change.
• Promoting cultural forums throughout Thailand to increase understanding and appreciation of people from southern Thailand
• Promoting and increasing understanding of human rights for all Thai people.

Another institution of higher learning offering options for peace studies is the International Buddhist Studies College (IBSC) of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU) at Lam Sai, Wang Noi, Phra Nakorn Si Ayutthaya.

The Master of Arts in Peace Studies and a Doctor of Philosophy in Peace Studies degree are options at MCU. The mission of the latter:

The Doctor of Philosophy in Peace Studies program aims to integrate both inner and outer peace with an initiative to develop capable and skilled students to be able to learn, develop, and practically apply Peace Studies knowledge based on the ideology of mindfulness, wisdom and toleration. The goal is to equip graduates with profound knowledge of theory and practices in Peace Studies, which generate tools for resolving and preventing conflict at individual and social levels.

The university also publishes The Journal of MCU Peace Studies which aims to promote research and disseminate academic and research articles for researchers, academicians, lecturers and graduate students. The Journal focuses on Buddhism, Peace Studies, Sociology, Liberal Arts and Multidisciplinary of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The Asian Resource Foundation offers a School of Peace Studies and Conflict Transformation as part of its International Institute of Peace and Development Studies (IIPDS). Students acquire skills for peacebuilding and creative just peace advocacy and actions from grassroots, national and international levels.

The IIPDS is located in Nong Chok district, Bangkok.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)