Pearson Papers, Volume 12 will soon be available!
The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre (PPC) is pleased to present Volume 12 of The Pearson Papers:
Environmental Considerations for Building Peace (PDF 2MB)
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- Foreword
- The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre is pleased to present the twelfth volume of The Pearson Papers: “Environmental Considerations for Building Peace.”
As the international community continues to manage the evolving nature of intra-state conflict, there has never been a greater need for effective levels of cooperation and coordination among civilians, military and police who contribute to peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts.
The environment is an issue that can no longer be neglected. Despite this knowledge, international institutions and nations still respond in silos instead of understanding the relationship and interconnections among crosscutting issues. Environmental degradation and competition for resources have a real impact on the success or failure of peace operations and post-conflict peacebuilding efforts. Conversely, peace operations are not neutral in their effects, and managing change can also have intended and unintended impacts on the environment. Consequently, it is imperative that the environment be factored into the overall response to conflict.
Volume 12 of The Pearson Papers aims to further the understanding of the way in which environmental issues affect the conduct of peace operations, and vice versa. Such understanding, we hope, will help in the planning of future missions and post-conflict peacebuilding efforts, as well as in the development of training material for military, police and civilian actors.
We would like to acknowledge the important contributions that have been made by others in preparing this issue. First and foremost, we would like to thank Kathryn Robicheau for her incredible eye for detail, her fastidious work ethic, as well as her commitment, continuous assistance and invaluable inputs throughout the process. We are very appreciative of our Editorial Review Board for their contributions of expertise and time towards this project. We would also like to acknowledge the in-house Pearson Papers team, who volunteered invaluable time and input during the selection and editing process: Zoe Dugal, Harry Ford, Jason Kelland, Jennifer Matthews, Sean McLean, Alejandro Pachon, Kim Pilkington, Jules Sisk and Antoine Terrar. In addition, we are grateful to Amanda Darres, Printing and Production Technician, for her thoroughness and dedication to assisting with the project.
We hope that you enjoy this issue and find that it makes a valuable contribution to your understanding of complex peace operations.
Ann Livingstone, Ph.D.
Editor
Kristine St-Pierre, M.A.
Managing Editor
Ottawa, Ontario - Introduction
- As an organisation whose mandate is to make peace operations more effective through research, education, training and capacity building, the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre has learned that issues such as gender, ethics, culture and human rights are not well served by one-time training sessions and must be made an integral part of the learning activities and learning products that are designed to support capacity development.
While issues surrounding the environment have for a long time been neglected by peacekeeping and peacebuilding actors, there is a growing recognition among the international community that environmental concerns can have a real impact on the success or failure of peace operations and peacebuilding efforts. If peace is to be sustainable in the long run, there is a need to consider and integrate environmental issues as part of peacekeeping and post-conflict peacebuilding efforts.
Peacekeeping missions both affect and are affected by the environment in which they are deployed. The “environment” of peace operations is often used to refer to the cultural and physical (natural) space in which one is located. While both are intricately linked, this volume of The Pearson Papers is concerned primarily with the physical dimension of the environment.
See PDF for complete introduction. - Land Rights: Challenges at the Nexus of Violent Conflicts and Environmental Degradation
- After years of being at the margins of the development debate, land policy and resource rights are receiving increased attention. Whereas previously land tenure was seen primarily as a call for social justice, today land tenure and pro-poor land governance are seen as being also at the nexus of current economic, political and social challenges including conflicts over access to natural resources and progress in implementing peace accords.
This paper examines the contribution that secure resource tenure can make to peacebuilding and long-term security. It also highlights the preventative role that tenure rights can play in staving off the escalation of conflict into violence. In many developing country contexts, keeping land relations peaceful can reduce the scope to which historical injustices, accumulated grievances or situations of acute hardship turn into violent conflict, including armed warfare. Authored by: Bruce H. Moore. - Environmental Dimensions of the Conflict in the Gaza Strip
- Over the past several decades the narrative on peacebuilding policy and research has been shaped by trying to understand better the root local causes of conflict. One focus has been on non-combatant populations who often disproportionately suffer material and human loss owing to forces beyond their control. Lingering uncertainties in the Middle East peace process have exposed the people of the Gaza Strip to this dynamic in many different forms. The paper analyzes this trend by exploring the extreme depravation caused to the natural environment by years of conflict and over-exploitation. It then goes on to suggest that by supporting the capacity of Gazans to take greater charge of their dwindling natural resource base, important steps in improving their immediate humanitarian needs and preparing for a more secure future can be made. Authored by: Olaf Juergensen.
- Something in the Water: Applying Medical Geology to Complex Emergencies
- Medical geology provides a framework for addressing the natural impairment issues of drinking-water supplies, which frequently undermine peace operations if they are not identified at an early stage of deployment. The most common challenges encountered in any theatre are related to (1) adaptation to changes in drinking-water quality by personnel and civilians, (2) the presence of a conflict-prone environment owing to natural environmental factors, and (3) the unintended consequences of environmental interventions like water-well drilling and water treatment. Although positive, progressive, and long-term solutions can be created through the cooperation and coordination of civilians, medical geologists, and those involved in peace operations, deficiencies in the critical elements of policy, law, and governance have greatly limited the ability to resolve natural impairment issues pertaining to drinking-water supplies thus far. Authored by: Heather Gingerich.
- The Military as Environmental Steward in Peace Operations
- Can the military be an environmental steward and a partner in environmental protection? This paper explores the role of the military in addressing environmental concerns within peace operations and argues that the military can in fact play an important role as environmental stewards. The paper also provides an overview of recent developments within UN, NATO and EU for improving environmental protection in field missions. It concludes by making several recommendations for mainstreaming environmental considerations into current and future operations. Authored by: Annica Waleij and Birgitta Liljedahl.
- Medical and Environmental Intelligence in Peace Operations and Crisis Management
- This paper discusses from a Swedish perspective the international development within the field of medical and environmental intelligence in peace operations and crisis management. Today, there is an urgent need to agree on standards and tools to improve interoperability, both between and within nations. Furthermore, since most peace support and crisis management operations take place in war-ravaged or disaster areas, it should be of great value to improve both the sharing of information concerning environmental and environmental health issues and the mission-specific knowledge between military and civilian actors. The paper provides an overview of the tools currently under development that focus on the gathering of information and data and the sharing of medical, environmental and health-related information. It also discusses why thistype of information might be of high relevance when it comes to planning operational tasks and ultimately reaching the desired end state of the operation itself. Authored by: Birgitta Liljedahl, Björn Sandström, Sture Sundström, Claes Nyström, Christina Edlund and Annica Waleij.
- The Essential Condition:A Stable Environment, Global Security, and Sustainable Peace
- This paper investigates two central questions: what is the theoretical relationship between the environment and security? And how does the environment affect the conditions for sustainable peace and successful peace operations? First, it examines treatment of the environment within security literature. Second, it examines the environment within peacebuilding scholarship and outlines the role of the environment in providing the conditions for sustainable peace. These sections suggest that a theoretical reconceptualization of the environment is necessary. Third, the paper proposes an alternative model for understanding the relationship between the environment and security. The security-insecurity pyramid model distinguishes criteria of imminence, agency and severity among different types of hazards, while recognizing the multi-sectoral nature of peace and security. This model indicates how environmental hazards can undermine security and peace in all other sectors and illustrates how the natural environment must be considered the essential condition for security and a basic requirement for lasting peace. Authored by: Wilfrid Greaves.
Volume 11, Issue 2:
Opportunities for Enhancing Cooperation and Coordination in Peace Operations (PDF, 1328 KB)
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- Foreword
- The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre is pleased to present the second issue of its eleventh volume of The Pearson Papers: "Opportunities for Enhancing Cooperation and Coordination in Peace Operations." Our last issue explored the concept of integration by examining different challenges to cooperation and coordination in peace operations. The issue discussed civil-military relations and the whole of government approach from different perspectives, including a coalition and a humanitarian perspective. The issue reiterated a known argument: the enhanced and concerted coordination among all actors involved in peace operations is critical to achieving long-term peace and security. Indeed, through experience, we have learned that fragmented efforts are counterproductive, providing certain gains but to the detriment of any potential overarching achievements.
As we continue to think about integration, we are beginning to view and appreciate it, not as a process but as a way of thinking and doing. Far from being a set concept, integration can have multiple meanings and can take various forms. Common to all approaches of integration, however, is the objective of enhancing the effectiveness of peace and security efforts through greater cooperation and coordination among all the actors involved in peace operations.
In this spirit, the current issue of The Pearson Papers presents four ways of thinking about integration in the context of peace operations specifi cally and peace and security generally. Beyond simply acknowledging the need for greater cooperation and coordination in peace and security, the articles present different rationales and approaches for enhancing cooperation and coordination. The current issue also uses examples from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The first article examines whole of government responses in Mongolia and examines the link between domestic responses to peace and security and Mongolia's increasing involvement in international peace operations. The second article, a joint study on local governance support in Liberia by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, examines the concept of County Support Teams as an approach to integration at the local level in Liberia. The third article discusses the current opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean for supporting initiatives that encourage the incorporation of women in peace operations, and for fomenting national debates on this issue.
The last article explores the challenges of securing peace in Afghanistan, while at the same time defining the need and the opportunities for concerted efforts by international and local actors. - Whole of Government Responses in Mongolia: From Domestic Response to International Implications
- The Mongolian case illustrates the strong link between domestic responses to changing circumstances and the capacity for whole of government response in international operations. Both domestic and international pressures since democratisation in 1992 created new divisions between formerly unified security organisations, but domestic failures, the July 2008 riot, and reliance on some of the skills learned for international peacekeeping have pushed military, civil defence, and border police back toward each other.
Here we trace the evolution in Mongolia of whole of government responses to domestic needs, and the two-way relationship with international operations. As a small country Mongolia does not have its own development agency and lacks some of the other tools deployed by larger countries, but this is not necessarily a drawback for international operations, and Mongolia may offer a better model for other modest but well-intentioned international contributors. Authored by: Jargalsaikhan Mendee and David Last. - Good-Practice Ideas in Cross-UN Support to Post-Conflict Local Governance:
The Example of County Support Teams as an Integrated Mission Approach at the Local Level in Liberia - The County Support Team (CST) initiative is a joint mechanism that the integrated United Nations presence in Liberia (the UN Peacekeeping Mission and the UN Country Team) has developed to combine UN capacities, knowledge, expertise and resources in support of strengthening local government. The CST model has added considerable value in the Liberian
context, providing a framework for UN action at the local level as well as assisting the local authorities to organise, build their capacity and strengthen their relationship with the centre. It has also been a means for those UN actors without full local representation to extend their reach, and it has facilitated UN planning and transition processes. Despite the specificities of
Liberia in terms of size, support needs, and government structure, the CST model has extensive potential for replication or adaptation in other postconflict settings. The major success factor is the existence of leadership and staff with a commitment to both integrated approaches and national ownership. The report identifi es a number of areas of good practice that may be of relevance to other missions and UN Country Teams considering a model of this nature. Authored by: Joanna Harvey, Judith Karl, Munyaradzi Motsi and Nessie Golakai. - The Incorporation of Women in Peace Operations: A Regional Perspective for Latin America and the Caribbean
- The participation of Latin American and Caribbean countries in peace operations has increased by 756 percent since the year 2000. However, peace operations continue to be seen as a military matter only. In Latin America and the Caribbean the participation of women in peace operations is directly linked to their incorporation into the military forces and the police and little has been done regionally to promote a discussion on the incorporation of women into these institutions. Given this context, this article examines the challenges to and opportunities for incorporating women in peace operations in general and within Latin American and Caribbean countries more specifically. The article argues that there exists a clear disposition among actors to address the challenges and to improve practices in all areas referring to peace operations, including the participation of women. The incorporation of women not only represents a sign of openness and democratisation of
Latin American and Caribbean institutions, but also suggests a much larger change in how Latin American and Caribbean countries view and understand peace operations. The incorporation of actors other than the military, including civilians, police and women, is emerging as the cultural and political undertaking of the future. Authored by: Marcela Donadio. - Afghanisation: Playing with Fire?
- In October 2001 an international military coalition dominated by the United States invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban and Al Qaeda who were considered to have their safe havens in Afghanistan. Quick battlefield success left the US-led coalition and the United Nations to manage a complex political transition. Seven years after the initial intervention, a
basic lack of security continues to pervade all aspects of life in Afghanistan, hampering both political and physical reconstruction efforts. Economically and socially Afghanistan remains far behind its neighbours and remains the
poorest country in the world outside sub-Saharan Africa. On issues of governance, the Afghan government remains weak and ineffective. Provided that a lasting peace in Afghanistan is the ultimate aim of any intervention, what can Afghans do to advance this objective? This article argues that while the longevity and sustainability of the ongoing peace process depends on the Afghans themselves, they lack the capacities and the means that are required to own the process. Authored by: Allard Wagemaker.
Volume 11, Issue 1:
Challenges of Effective Cooperation and Coordination in Peace Operations (PDF, 884 KB)
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- Foreword
- With the mix of different actors and organizations taking part in complex peace operations, the concept of integration has become increasingly relevant, as evidenced by the lively debate among theoreticians and practitioners within the peace operations community. Integration, in its narrow sense, is often seen as difficult and even undesirable. However, if understood as part of a larger trend toward strengthening peace operations, integration can be said to reflect the importance of cooperation and coordination among all actors involved in peace operations.
Increasingly, military, police and humanitarian actors find themselves, sometimes sharing but more often, co-habiting a common space in complex peace operations. Faced with diverse perspectives, lack of clarity regarding roles and responsibilities, and the need to identify lessons learned, they are finding new and innovative ways to collaborate and synchronize their actions. While revised operational principles, guidelines and doctrines are carefully crafted to incorporate the multiplicity of perspectives found in intervention efforts, more is required to enhance our understanding of current approaches to today's complex operations. In this spirit, the current issue of The Pearson Papers thoughtfully discusses and analyzes the theme of cooperation and coordination through a selection of four major articles and one dispatch from the field.
The first article examines the effects of a shift from multinational to regional peace operations on the United Nation's ability to maintain international peace and security. While some positive outcomes are identified from this shift, ultimately, the argument remains that enhanced and concerted coordination amongst all actors involved in peace operations is critical to achieve long-term peace and security. Coordination becomes even more critical where leadership is dispersed, efforts are fragmented and there is disagreement on priority access to scarce resources and facilities. This is reflected in the remaining articles and dispatch from the field, which discuss the theme of cooperation and coordination among diverse actors in the context of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is an interesting prototype of UN-mandated but coalition-led intervention, which not only disrupts our traditional "linear" understanding of peace processes, but pushes the boundaries in terms of how we view, understand, and work in integrated environments. Given this background, the articles examine the challenges and effectiveness of civil-military interaction in Afghanistan and the advancement of a "whole of government" approach from a coalition, Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), and humanitarian perspective. Lastly, the dispatch from the field provides a credible account of the nature of the challenges of cooperation and coordination on the ground. - The Implications of Regional Peace Operations on United Nations Capacity for Peacekeeping
- The deployment of peace operations by regional organizations is often promoted as a means of relieving the UN in the area of peace and security and of promoting cooperation among organizations with complementary goals. In practice, however, the growing preponderance of peace operations by other actors than the UN is not necessarily a value-neutral enterprise, and the legitimization of the use of force by regional agencies coincides with a growing reluctance among developed nations to place troops under UN command. This paper will evaluate the shift towards regional peace operations by assessing whether it is undermining the UN's ability to maintain international peace and security. It will examine two regional operations: Operation Artemis, deployed by the European Union into the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003, and theAfrican Union Mission in Sudan. This paper will argue that while these operations provide some temporary relief during an ongoing humanitarian crisis, without improved cooperation with the UN, regional operations will have little impact on long-term peace and security. Authored by: Laurie Gorman
- NATO and Militaries as Trusted Partners in Civil-Military Interaction
- NATO's future in conflict, post-conflict, and post-disaster multidimensional missions is assured if NATO continues to enhance and expand its civil-military interaction capacity. Effective NATO civil-military interaction is dependant on being trusted by civilians as a partner, for which various NATO militaries are devising new or expanded civil-military interaction mechanisms. This will be the sine qua non of successful NATO transformation as set out in the seminal August 2004 Strategic Vision by NATO's Strategic Commanders. This paper looks at some of the key principles of effective civil-military interaction and some courses of action for NATO and militaries in general.
At the core of militaries being a trusted civil-military partner will be a conscious and hard-won reputation by NATO militaries that they are not taking over civilian roles, nor looking to coordinate the civilians. Various NATO militaries have been overstepping into civilian territory, proving to be highly counterproductive in the effort to gain the requisite civilian trust.
NATO's future in complex multidimensional missions is inexorably linked to effective civil-military interaction at the field level. Success will come from NATO restricting itself to a military role that above all provides a stable and secure environment for its civilian partners. This self-disciplined effort by NATO is vital to its being seen as a trusted partner. There is a danger of NATO giving into the temptation of trying to control, drive, shape, or even supplant the civilians, which would destroy rather than build the requisite trust for effective civil-military interaction, and would diminish the abilities of both the military and the civilians. Authored by: Paul LaRose-Edwards - Understanding the Performance of Civil-Military Cooperation: A Case Study of the Dutch Provincial Reconstruction Team
- This article investigates the performance of civil-military cooperation. A performance assessment of civil-military cooperation is appropriate as it addresses the actual contribution of the cooperation. In practice however, it is frequently difficult to assess whether, and to what extent, the cooperation has actually contributed to the objectives of the respective participants. A performance assessment framework consisting of a set of performance criteria is developed and by means of multiple case studies, is applied to eight civil-military alliances of the Dutch Provincial Reconstruction Team in Baghlan, a province in northern Afghanistan. The case study shows that despite the overall positive feelings of participants about their performance, most alliances did not contribute significantly to many of the descriptive performance criteria, such as sustainability, situational awareness and force protection. To improve the performance of civil-military cooperation, the research ends by formulating recommendations with respect to ensuring continuity of activities. These include structuring the collection and processing of information, and increasing the involvement of local populations and humanitarian organizations. Authored by: Bas Rietijens
- Rethinking Deeper Integration: The Case for Safeguarding Independent Humanitarian Action in Afghanistan and Beyond
- Current best practice suggests that conflict resolution missions are most likely to succeed under an integrated or "whole of government" approach (WGA). This approach is dependent on defense, diplomatic and development actors working together seamlessly to protect the population, meet their basic needs and support the rebuilding of failing states.
This model has now been appropriated for service in the 'War on Terror' which belatedly dressed its interventions in human rights language and humanitarian clothing. In Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is now implementing a WGA in a counter-insurgency war, where 'State Security' needs dominate at the expense of 'Human Security' needs and humanitarian concerns (both of which are now going largely unmet).
This paper will argue that the politicization and militarization of aid under the WGA in Afghanistan has created a number of un-resolved and counterproductive humanitarian challenges which can be partially remedied by decoupling humanitarian activities from the WGA and the politico-military project underway. Authored by: Stephen Cornish - Clash of Revelations: ISAF Nations Struggle to Sell the Integrated Approach on the Home Front
- Whether one cares to look at the ISAF operation from an Afghan or a troop-contributing national perspective, it is not the military situation that causes concern to most analysts. It is the lack of national security capacity, the fragile social fabric of a war-torn country, and the absence of local governance structures, that pose a threat to normalcy. The question is whether there is enough political commitment to put the necessary resources into diplomatic and economic efforts, in order to create real stability and tangible peace dividends for the population. Efforts must be combined into a more integrated strategy to assist Afghanistan in what is one of the most challenging state-building exercises of modern history. A genuine commitment to an inclusive political process is the key to stability in Afghanistan. Encouraging negotiations with the Taliban should be part of a comprehensive approach and an exit strategy of foreign troops. Authored by: Christa Meindersma
Volume 10, Issue 1:
Measures of Effectiveness: Peace Operations and Beyond(PDF, 871 KB)
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- Our Seven Wars in Afghanistan: Progress under the SWORD Model
- Continued reports of corruption, increasing violence, struggles with development, and slow progress with poppy eradication seem to indicate that the situation in Afghanistan is on the decline. This paper will argue that the chances for success in the troubled nation are actually improving - although several adjustments must be made to how the problem is being solved.
The ongoing counterinsurgency in Afghanistan will be assessed with respect to the SWORD model's seven strategic dimensions or 'wars within the war.' These strategic dimensions are: (1) the legitimacy war; (2) the shooting war; (3) the war to isolate the insurgents from internal support; (4) the war to isolate the insurgents from external support; (5) the war to stay the course and maintain commitment; (6) the intelligence and information war; and (7) the war for unity of effort.
A trend-based approach is used whereby the progress or regress with respect to each 'war' is assessed using trends that relate to the key elements of that particular war. These trends will be derived from indicators of the situation in Afghanistan as well as the increasing or decreasing adherence of the involved elements of the international community to the dimensions of the SWORD model. Most of the trends are positive, indicating that the wars are being won and overall chances of success in Afghanistan are thus increasing. A few others are negative, indicating regression.
The paper will suggest how positive trends can be further improved and how negative trends can be reversed so that the seven wars can be won, focusing on those which can be most easily influenced by the Afghan government and the international community. Authored by: N. N. French - Measuring the Effectiveness of Reconstruction and Stabilization Activities
- The international community has become seized with measuring the effectiveness of emerging 'reconstruction and stabilization' activities in war-affected environments. This is partially motivated by a need to calculate the costs of these very expensive ventures, but also because activities have not been as effective as intended. While, on one hand, the international community is interested in measuring the effectiveness of its work in places like Afghanistan, on the other, it may be reticent to discover if reconstruction and stabilization activities are ineffectual, or worse, that they have negative effects on recipient populations recovering from armed conflicts.
The measures of effectiveness systems that are available, especially military combat metrics, are limited in relation to quantifying cultural and social indicators and require a recasting in order to capture the longer-term impacts upon cultural narratives within recipient populations recovering from such conflicts.
This paper argues that there is a need to include social and cultural narratives, as well as numbers and scores, in emerging measurement systems to better understand the effectiveness of reconstruction and stabilization activities in war-affected environments. Further, it is incumbent upon interventionists to revisit recipient populations and identify measures of effectiveness from their perspectives. Authored by: Sarah Meharg - What to Measure in Peace Operations
- This essay presents background to the field of evaluating peace support operations. It recommends a mix of macro and impact evaluation approaches, combined with Social Capital Theory and the results accountability model of Mark Friedman, which stresses contribution over attribution.
The main innovation of this essay is to posit that evaluating the complex interrelationship between a peace support operation, violence, human security, perceptions, group dynamics and politics is to accept that war is a culture in itself. If we accept this, then we need to develop indicators to measure the latent nature of society's transformation from a culture of war to a society that deals with its problems and fissures through non-violent means.
To this end, the essay's evaluation model attempts to outline a methodology that can incorporate multiple contributing factors. One approach that dodges the need for strict application of causality is to apply a change-agent model. Authored by: Joseph Schumacher - Israeli-Palestinian Bi-level Conflict Zone and Its Implications for International Intervention: What Went Wrong and What Can be Done?
- Over the course of the Second Intifada, the international community launched several unsuccessful initiatives to secure a ceasefire and return Israelis and Palestinians to September 2000 conditions. This article seeks to understand why those missions failed to meet their objectives.
A number of factors common to most of the recent interventions underscore the need for rethinking approaches to intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone, whose unique characteristics as a bi-level conflict zone defy the traditional distinctions between interstate and intrastate conflict. Analysis of the international experience in the Israeli-Palestinian arena as well as in Iraq demonstrates the need for new conceptual approaches that focus on stabilization and reconstruction instead of peace and reconciliation.
This articles further claims that the deployment of an international force with strong state-building capabilities in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone is necessary for the establishment of a Palestinian state entity. Such international involvement might also reduce, to a substantial degree, the dimension of political asymmetry in the conflict zone and provide the necessary conditions for the commencement of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Authored by: Kobi Michael and David Kellen
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