Environment, Peace, and Conflict: Opportunities and Risks for the New Administration

Feb 24, 2021 | Environmental Peacebuilding Association and the Wilson's Center Environmental Change & Security Program (ECSP)
online
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The new Biden administration faces a variety of challenges and a rapidly changing environment will exacerbate many of the challenges. There will be opportunities to make progress in the Arctic, the South China Sea, and other geopolitically sensitive regions. The administration could also pursue opportunities to build peace through cooperation in areas such as shared resources, climate action, or disaster prevention. 

A failure to act decisively could leave military infrastructure at risk, accelerate the risk of environmentally induced migration, precipitate global health crises, or create other unanticipated environmental conflicts. On top of all of this, could a poorly planned process of transitioning to a carbon-free economy result in new conflicts over land, minerals, and other resources? 

Please join the Environmental Peacebuilding Association and the Wilson Center's Environmental Change & Security Program for a discussion on the potential opportunities and risks the new administration will need to navigate in the coming years. The following experts will join us to provide their insight and perspectives:

  • Tegan Blaine, Senior Advisor on Environment and Conflict at the U.S. Institute of Peace
  • Cynthia Brady, Global Fellow at the Wilson Center, Former Peacebuilding and Resilience Advisor & Senior Peacebuilding and Conflict Advisor, U.S. Agency for International Development
  • Sherri Goodman, Senior Fellow with the Polar Institute and Environmental Change & Security Program
  • Lieutenant General Wallace Gregson (USMC, Ret.), former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Asian and Pacific Security Affairs
  • Aaron Salzberg, Director of the Water Institute and the Don and Jennifer Holzworth Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The event will be moderated by Richard Matthew, Associate Dean of Research and International Programs, School of Social Ecology and Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy and Political Science, University of California Irvine.

This online event will be held on Zoom Webinar. The event is open to all. The archived recording of the webinar will be available for Environmental Peacebuilding Association members. 

Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Time: 12pm EST, 6pm UTC

Please register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_G12R61ieQJCZDZygvogKaA.  

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.