Environmental Peacebuilding: Voinovich School professor co-authors lead article in January issue of International Affairs

Geoff Dabelko, environmental studies professor and associate dean of Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, co-authored the lead article for the January 2021 issue of International Affairs, a special issue on environmental peacebuilding that he also co-edited.

The article, “The past and future(s) of environmental peacebuilding,” introduces the special issue by defining and describing international peacebuilding, reviewing the last two generations of research and identifying knowledge gaps for further study.   

“The contributions to this special issue share advances in research on environmental peacebuilding from different countries, across a range of resource sectors, at varying scales and highlighting the role of multiple actors,” Dabelko and co-authors wrote. “They address important theoretical and empirical gaps and thus advance the third generation of environmental peacebuilding research. In the context of rapid global environmental change and exceptionally high numbers of violent conflicts around the world, such research is of major importance.”

In addition to co-editing the issue, Dabelko moderated a Wilson Center webinar with a panel of contributors to the leading journal. Environmental peacebuilding is a topic Dabelko has advanced through scholarship including his 2002 co-edited volume Environmental Peacemaking and policy engagement as a member of the UN Environment Programme’s Expert Advisory Committee on Environment, Conflict, and Peacebuilding.

Read the article here as well as the full issue of International Affairs here. Additionally, read the article in New Security Beat that details the webinar event and discusses the impacts of conflict on infrastructure in the next wave of environmental peacebuilding.