Geoff Dabelko

Professor
Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, Ohio University
United States

Jul 30, 2019

Geoff Dabelko is Professor and Associate Dean at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University. Focusing on the intersection between research and policy, he has been working on issues of environmental security and environmental peacebuilding for almost 30 years. Geoff holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Duke University, and a Master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Department of Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has held numerous positions, including as Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program (where he is now a Senior Advisor), as Editor of the Environmental Change and Security Report, and as a lead author of the 5th Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is also a member of UN Environment’s Expert Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict, and Peacebuilding. Geoff has been a thought-leader in the field of environmental peacebuilding, publishing widely on environmental peacebuilding, environmental security, and environmental conflict. Among his many publications, he was the co-editor (with Ken Conca) of Green Planet Blues: Critical Perspectives on Global Environmental Politics (6th edition 2019) and Environmental Peacemaking (2002). He has focused on the ways in which scholarship and practice can inform one another on issues of environmental conflict and peacebuilding, particularly focusing on furthering understanding of how environmental factors can inform not just conflict, but trust-building, cooperation, and peacebuilding. In recognition of his work, he and Ken Conca received the Al-Moumin Award in Environmental Peacebuilding in 2018, and delivered the 5th Al-Moumin Distinguished Lecture. 

Geoff’s work has expanded the field of environmental peacebuilding through on-the-ground research as well as through scholarship and critical thought. Geoff’s focus on teaching and knowledge-building helps to build the next generation of scholars and practitioners focusing on these issues. For example, in partnership with Todd Walters of International Peace Park Expeditions, he has been running a “Environmental Peacebuilding and Sustainability” study abroad program with Ohio University in the Balkans region, focusing on environmental peacebuilding and targeted research around conservation and peace parks. This course provides a unique experiential learning experience for introducing US undergraduate and graduate students to a new region and topic.

Through a series of articles, Geoff has also been focusing on larger critiques and new directions for the field of environmental peacebuilding and security, particularly looking at the impact of the ways that different actors are responding to conflict and peacebuilding. For example, he has been researching ways that well-meaning efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change could inadvertently lead to conflict, especially around land grabbing. He elaborates on this concept of “backdraft” saying, “In a resource constrained environment, if we can find ways to have coordinated interventions, address peacebuilding objectives, and achieve climate adaptation and mitigation goals, that would hold real promise.” For Geoff, this comes down to understanding the perspectives of multiple actors: “It is necessary to not always lead explicitly with the environmental peacebuilding and conflict framing, but instead be open to understanding how the particular parties on the ground are defining the issues. In many of these instances, what we call it really matters -- if we are using it in ways that aren’t positive or productive, it makes it more difficult to achieve environmental peacebuilding goals.” 

For Geoff, the Environmental Peacebuilding Association, and the field of environmental peacebuilding more broadly, holds great potential for reflecting and facilitating multidisciplinary realities. He says, “Environmental peacebuilding brings together so many different worlds, people, disciplines, budgets, and objectives, which is a true reflection of how we live and the challenges we face. We are always learning from different actors and groups of people.” As an Environmental Peacebuilding Association Board Member, Geoff’s work furthers the Association’s ability to connect diverse groups of people across different fields and stages in careers, as well as expand programming on environmental peacebuilding in the direction of both research and policy.