Eighth Al-Moumin Award and Distinguished Lecture on Environmental Peacebuilding – CEOBS and PAX

Sep 19, 2023 | Environmental Peacebuilding Association
Utrecht, Netherlands; London, UK; and online
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The Environmental Peacebuilding Association® (EnPAx®) is pleased to announce the recipients of the Eighth Al-Moumin Award for Thought Leadership in Environmental Peacebuilding, honoring outstanding contributions to the field. At a special event in September 2023, the award will jointly recognise the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) and the PAX Environment, Peace, and Security Project for their ongoing leadership in monitoring, quantifying, and redressing the environmental impacts of war.

The Conflict and Environment Observatory and the Environment, Peace, and Security Project at PAX are leading the way in creating and disseminating knowledge about the environmental impacts of political violence - and, in particular, building a data-driven evidence base quantifiably documenting the intersections between conflict, ecosystems, and communities.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is bringing enhanced global attention to resource drivers and environmental consequences of armed violence. Meanwhile, conflicts in places like Yemen, Iraq, and Colombia continue to have devastating impacts on both ecosystems and human communities. Climate change is decreasing biodiversity and increasing human migration, with spillover effects on resource availability and environmental tensions. It is critical that we better understand and act on the interactions between the environment and conflict. For the past decades, CEOBS and PAX have been leading the way in helping us do just that.

CEOBS challenges the idea of the environment as a ‘silent victim of armed conflict’ by highlighting ecological and humanitarian consequences, ‘speaking for’ habitats and environmental concerns on the global stage. PAX works to document the environmental impact of new and ongoing conflicts, and to build better responses in order to reduce threats to public health and environmental risks for civilians.

PAX knows that the documentation of environmental hazards in both conflict and post-conflict settings is often minimal due to security constraints - and seeks to fill that gap. They are joined in that mission by CEOBS, who are driven by the principle that access to reliable environmental information is vital in relation to armed conflicts, and that openness and transparency are especially critical when the environment becomes politicized.

One of these organizations’ key strengths is their multi-sector partnerships. Both work with international organizations, civil society, and universities as well as local communities in collecting, monitoring, and publicizing data. The teams also develop tools for data collection and sharing, and monitor law and policy around these themes. Their overarching goals are to ensure that the environmental consequences of armed conflicts and military activities are properly documented and addressed, and that affected communities are assisted.

The work of CEOBS and PAX is especially exciting from a thought leadership perspective for their use of GIS and other contemporary scientific methods to collect, analyze, and communicate data. By quantifiably measuring and making known ecosystem impacts such as pollution rates, greenhouse gas emissions, and species population, these teams are furthering the case for global attention to environmental peacebuilding. Their work directly supports and informs science-based policy around these themes.

The Environmental Peacebuilding Association would like to thank committee members Ken Conca, Alexis Manuela, and Hassan Mowlid Yasin, as well as volunteer Carrie Hanks, for their support of the 2022-2023 EnPAx Awards process. “Thanks to the nominators and committee members, we were able to consider a range of candidates representing a wide variety of issues and regions,” says committee chair Becca Farnum. “I am looking forward to learning more about recent findings and future directions in the field of environmental peacebuilding from our recipients at the September event.”

The Eighth Al-Moumin Distinguished Lecture on Environmental Peacebuilding will be presented at a special event about “Analyzing the Environmental Impacts of Political Violence: Challenges and Opportunities for Data Technologies”, to be hosted by EnPAx on 19 September 2023, 1-4pm UTC. The event will include presentations from CEOBS and PAX, as well as reflections and interventions from a variety of practitioners and scholars. In addition to an online livestream, community hubs around the world will feature in-person networking and related side-events as part of the day.

To register, please visit https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_is-huofyR_6bnvmev5Ucsg.

For more details about hosting or attending a hub event, please email awards@environmentalpeacebuilding.org