Interest Groups

The Environmental Peacebuilding Association® (EnPAx®) has a variety of active Interest Groups to engage researchers, practitioners, decision makers, and students alike.

EnPAx® Interest Groups are spaces for collaborative work, networking, mentoring, and sharing knowledge and expertise. Although specific activities will vary depending on the Interest Group, activities may include, among other activities, organizing panels, webinars, and other events; preparing technical papers and other publications; selecting and maintaining a group of experts that can be contacted for information by individuals and groups outside the Association; and organizing sessions at the Association's global conferences. Interest Groups are encouraged to focus on assessing what we know about particular issues within that topic, taking stock of the evidence base, and developing an agenda for further research and action.  

Following are the current Interest Groups:

To express interest in participating in a particular Interest Group or to suggest possible Interest Groups, please email association@environmentalpeacebuilding.org.

Participation in Interest Groups is open to all members of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association®. Read more about membership here. 

Africa

The Africa Interest Group (AIG) assembles academics, practitioners, and decision makers interested in local, national, regional, or international issues concerning the relationship between natural resources, the environment, conflict, and peacebuilding in Africa. In alignment with the Association’s purpose, AIG is multidisciplinary and nonpolitical in nature. Its operations include educational, networking, and scientific activities. 

Big Data and Frontier Technologies

Frontier technologies have become invaluable assets for addressing human security challenges, environmental degradation, and climate change. They also offer great potential for resilience planning, conflict and disaster early warning, conflict monitoring, negotiation and mediation, cooperative resource management, land use planning, and much more. At the same time, there are risks to privacy, accountability, accessibility, disinformation, data misuse, and other ethical dilemmas that must be managed. This interest group focuses on the intersection of frontier technologies with themes such as climate change, hazards, conflict prevention, environmental degradation, livelihood, empowerment, and governance. Technologies of interest include artificial intelligence, big data, Earth observation, the Internet of Things, management tools, and social media.

Climate Change, Disasters, and Resilience

The Climate, Disasters, and Resilience (CDR) Interest Group brings together scholars and practitioners exploring how climate change and disasters shape conflict, cooperation, and pathways to peace. As compounding risks intensify—drought, floods, extreme heat, displacement—this interest group focuses on how climate-related stressors intersect with governance, inequality, and fragility, as well as how resilience-building can serve peace and justice. The CDR Interest Group aims to foster exchange across disciplinary, institutional, and geographic boundaries to inform policy and practice, and embark on collaborative action, including through webinars, collaborative publications, and conference sessions. Specific areas of the CDR Interest Group include the following:

Education

The Education Interest Group (EIG) welcomes members from many disciplines tied together by a common interest in understanding and advancing education in the field of Environmental Peacebuilding. This diverse membership reflects the multi-disciplinarity of the field of environmental peacebuilding education. Our members also come from many countries and a wide range of domains, including formal settings (universities, primary and secondary education), non-formal (popular and community-based education, citizen education, and socio-community mediation), professional (institutions), and practitioners. This diversity of backgrounds reflects the diverse domains in which education for and about environmental peacebuilding occurs.

Forest

The Forest Interest Group (FIG) provides a collaborative platform for exchanging knowledge, expertise, and experience at the intersection of forests and environmental peacebuilding. It facilitates opportunities for professional networking, collaboration, and mentoring among members. FIG’s activities include convening conference panels and webinars, participating in external events, sharing relevant resources and publications, and contributing to the development of publications. Through these efforts, the group aims to deepen understanding of the complex roles forest resources play in conflict dynamics and peacebuilding processes. The group meets regularly through monthly coordination calls, with additional working groups forming on an ad-hoc basis around specific initiatives. Membership is open to all Association members with an interest in forests and environmental peacebuilding.

Gender

The Gender Interest Group of EnPAx brings together individuals and institutions committed to ensuring that intersectional gender perspectives are fully incorporated into environmental peacebuilding approaches. The Gender Interest Group is committed to the principles of inclusion and diversity and to addressing the broad range of gendered experiences and identities in its work and deliberations. Specifically, the Gender Interest Group (GIG) seeks to strengthen understanding of the gender dimensions of environmental peacebuilding, to advance research and learning on this topic, and to foster an inclusive and collaborative network that bridges existing communities of practice. The Gender Interest Group will follow closely the developments in international and national policies related to gender, security and environment, including climate action; it will also seek to identify and document approaches that respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities presented by this nexus, including planning, monitoring, and learning practices and systems. Additionally, the Gender Interest Group will strive to coordinate advocacy and outreach on these topics.

Law

The Law Interest Group explores the protection of the environment before, during, and after armed conflicts. In addition, the group explores emerging approaches to international law on environmental peacebuilding—for example, how international law relates to water, gender, climate change, environmental security, indigenous peoples, investment, trade, etc. can shape environmental peacebuilding. It is open to all Association members interested in the legal aspects of environmental peacebuilding. Our group’s goals are to connect members with these interests and foster connections between our group and other EnPAx interest groups. We foster programming based on our members’ needs.

Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) interest group was created as a platform for environmental peacebuilding practitioners, scholars, and researchers to share relevant materials and to foster a larger community of practice. Founded in 2024, the group is intended for people from the region and for those who work on environmental and peace issues within it. It currently comprises members drawn from a wide array of professional backgrounds. We meet for online gatherings every few months to discuss issues ranging from EP’s prospects in post-regime Syria to the impact of “traumatic decarbonization” on the region’s fossil fuel Dependents.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is the process through which we seek to understand and communicate the impact of our work. In the context of environmental peacebuilding, this means the process of collecting and analyzing data to understand if the interventions are on track (monitoring) and whether they are reaching their intended outcomes and impacts (evaluation) both in terms of societal processes and natural resources. It is equally important for M&E to be vigilant about any unintended consequences, either positive or negative, both to people (especially vulnerable and marginalized groups) and the environment and natural resources. Effective M&E provides accountability, not only to program proponents and funders, but to the people intended to benefit from the intervention. It also supports adaptive management and learning, which is particularly important in the often-fluid situations in which environmental peacebuilding interventions operate.

Transitional Justice

The Transitional Justice Interest Group (TJ-IG) is a platform that seeks to stimulate research, study, enrich, and engage, from an environmental perspective, the ‘processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempt to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation’. It aims to bridge the disconnect between the reality of environmental degradation and damage in societies with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, and the processes and mechanisms associated with that society’s attempt at ensuring accountability, serving justice and achieving reconciliation.

Urban

The Urban Interest Group brings together scholars and practitioners who work at, and seek to explore further, the intersection of peacebuilding’s urban and environmental dimensions. Recognizing the importance of urbanization globally and the significant share of the world’s population that lives in cities today, as well as cities as influential global agents (including on issues like climate change), it is timely to treat ‘the urban’ and the environment no longer as separate. Building on existing research and practice, the IG constitutes a forum for exchange and making those links more explicit. Themes of interest include, but are not limited to, city diplomacy; urban climate action and resilience; urban energy production; urban violence, conflict, and alternative dispute resolution institutions; environmental remediation and repair; urban agriculture and food; "slow violence" and urban justice; and infrastructure (e.g., transportation, WASH).

Water

The Water Interest Group seeks to enhance the multidisciplinary knowledge, research, and practice on the use of water as an incentive for peace. Areas of interest include the protection of water infrastructure, migration, and rivers’ rights with a focus on the nexus of land use-water-climate. Members discuss and examine the different scales of cooperation on shared water resources ranging from the global and regional to basin and local levels. The strengths and weaknesses of different models for water management and protection are considered with a view towards preventing and resolving water disputes and helping countries manage water in conflict-recovery scenarios. Collaboration with other institutions and EnPAx interest groups seeks to enhance studies and joint actions on gender, biodiversity, and the role of youth in water management and climate adaptation.

Young Professionals

The Young Professionals Interest Group provides a peer-led platform aiming to support young professionals entering or currently working in the field of environmental peacebuilding. Through connecting an active and diverse network of peers with broad academic and career interests in environmental peacebuilding, this group will create access to opportunities ranging from mentorship, knowledge sharing, sharing job openings, and internships, networking, and engagement at the EnPAx annual conference, while facilitating learning exchange through webinars and discussion forums tailored to the groups’ diverse interests. The group is open to all Association members who self-identify as being early or mid-career professionals within the field of environmental peacebuilding. The group hosts a variety of members, including those representing academia, the public sector, civil society, and more.