Larry Swatuk

Professor
University of Waterloo
Canada

Feb 14, 2023

Larry Swatuk is a Full Professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) at the University of Waterloo (UW) in Canada. He came to UW following 14 years in Africa, the last 11 of which was spent at the University of Botswana where he was a Lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies in Gaborone for 7 years and Associate Professor of Natural Resources Governance at the Okavango Research Institute in Maun for 4 years. His research focuses on the political economy of natural resources with a particular focus on freshwater governance and management in the Global South.

As a Master’s student, he participated in a cross-cultural exchange program to Lesotho, which he describes as one of his pivotal moments. As a result of his experience here, he shifted the focus of his Master's thesis toward small African state security and development challenges. Here he began to develop different understandings of the social and environmental challenges for peacebuilding. He eventually earned a PhD in political science and international relations from Dalhousie University. While his PhD research focused on foreign policy in small states (namely, Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland (now Eswatini)), during his field work he became aware of numerous large water infrastructure projects underway across Southern Africa. These projects and the dynamics around these projects led him to start considering how environmental cooperation could help build peace. Around this time, Robert Kaplan’s “The Coming Anarchy” and Tad Homer-Dixon’s “Environmental Scarcity and Violent Conflict” were published. Both of these popular studies ran counter to what he was seeing in Southern Africa. Thus, he prepared a post-doctoral scholarship application focused on what he called “The Coming Order” and hypothesized the opposite of what Kaplan and Homer-Dixon were arguing. He got the scholarship and has spent the last 30 years theorizing and chronicling the potential for environmental peacebuilding.

After lecturing at the University of Botswana and at the Okavango Research Institute, he came to University of Waterloo (UW) to develop and deliver two programs in international development: an undergraduate program (INDEV) and a Master’s of development practice (MDP). The MDP is part of a global association comprising more than 40 similar programs around the world. The undergraduate program sends students to different partner countries for 8 months during their final year of study. In addition to his development work, he is cross-appointed to the Department of Geography and Environmental Management as well as the School of Planning at UW. He is also a faculty member in the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the Water Institute. With his long international career, he has “collected” other affiliations, including Adjunct Professor, Department of International Development, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada; Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Security and Development, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada; External Researcher, Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies, Bonn, Germany; and Extraordinary Professor, Institute for Water Studies, University of Western Cape, South Africa. Larry serves on several boards, including on the Board of Directors of Oxfam Canada and the Board of Directors (as Vice President) of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association.

Currently, he has been working with colleagues in different parts of the world exploring the idea of the “boomerang effect”— a concept that explains how actions by states to address climate change can inadvertently harm communities, businesses, and others, which can in turn lead to negative impacts on the state. His interest in the boomerang effect is to add nuance to our understanding of impacts by more carefully parsing and understanding the impacts. Maladaptation framings tend to be overly general and can include almost any negative impact. In their work on the boomerang effect, in contrast, they distinguish between negative local-level side effects (effects usually equated with maladaptation) and state-level boomerang effects, meaning negative effects upon state actors. The goal is to assist decision-makers to improve climate action. They have published a number of papers and one edited volume, and several of their research partners have also explored the idea of the boomerang effect upon private sector actors and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs).

Another project that Larry has been involved for the last four years is W12+, which is an exciting partnership involving two non-profit organizations, the Institute for Ecological Civilization and W12. Together they have created W12+, wherein he is the “resident water expert.” This partnership works with private sector companies, (municipal, state, federal) governments, IGOs, and NGOs to support sustainable water management. For example, they have developed an interactive database to showcase solutions for pressing urban water problems. This project is particularly significant for sustainable urban water security because it provides an integrated approach with different disciplines, insights, and perspectives. When they work with a particular city, they bring together key actors to discuss political, technological, economic, social, and other measures to support urban water security by 2100; they then facilitate the process of brainstorming options and identifying priorities.

For more than three decades, Larry has held on to the belief that cooperation on environmental issues can foster larger positive social outcomes between, among, and within states and that these activities can serve as useful lessons and examples across issue areas and geographical contexts. At the same time, he recognizes that this is not a simple direct correlation. There are deliberate and accidental negative outcomes (such as maladaptation and boomerang effects) as well as reversals over time. But given that a healthy environment is the foundation for sustainable and equitable human community, is environmental peacebuilding not worth the effort?

Larry serves as a Vice-President at the Environmental Peacebuilding Association, which he describes as a home. He also appreciates how the association serves as a middle-ground for academics, practitioners, and policy makers and encourage the next generation. For young people who are interested in environmental peacebuilding, Larry mentions that your career may not proceed in linear fashion and you may end up somewhere you never ever thought possible; but if you follow your passions and interests, you will find your place in the world. He encourages young people to avoid feeling unqualified: if you are interested, you can find a way. There are many entry points such as global programs, exchange programs, and NGOs, among others. He also encourages people to follow their academic interests, to not be afraid to move, and to avoid over-planning their future.