Environmental Peacebuilding: 2024 in Review

Jan 7, 2025 | Environmental Peacebuilding Association

2024 was another big year for environmental peacebuilding!

 

Environmental peacebuilding is more relevant than ever.  Territory and natural resources drive conflict, the environment is a silent victim of conflict, and it provides opportunities for cooperation and peacebuilding. Climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts are starting to consider conflict dynamics and peace potential. International law continues to expand its protections for the environment during armed conflict and the linkages to humanitarian principles. The Conferences of the Parties (COPs) for climate change, biological diversity, and desertification all saw efforts and policies to integrate considerations of peace and conflict.

 

There is growing attention to localized approaches to environmental peacebuilding.  Scholars and practitioners are actively exploring ways to decolonize environmental peacebuilding and engage Indigenous Peoples and other historically marginalized groups.

 

In 2024, the Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPAx) continued to grow and support the evolution of the field.  In June, EnPAx and the Grotius Centre at Leiden University convened the Third International Conference.  The Conference was an amazing experience of connection, inspiration, and community-building.  In addition to panels, roundtables, and posters, the Conference featured a series of flagship initiatives to advance environmental peacebuilding in concrete ways:  an Oral History Project, major reports on digital technology and on migration, and the launch of an inclusive process to develop a glossary of environmental peacebuilding terms.

 

Since the conference, the Association had elections for the chairs of the Interest Groups and for the Board of Directors.  As we enter 2025, the Association has new leadership. Erika Weinthal is the new President, joining Lauren Herzer Risi and Larry Swatuk as Vice Presidents and Païvi Lujala as the Treasurer.  The Board has appointed Carl Bruch as Executive Director.  With the new leadership, the Association is looking forward to:

 

  • The Ninth Al-Moumin Award for Thought Leadership on Environmental Peacebuilding and accompanying Lecture;
  • Development of the Glossary of Environmental Peacebuilding Terms;
  • A range of events and activities undertaken by the EnPAx Interest Groups;
  • Ongoing publication of the journal on Environment and Security; and
  • Starting preparations for the Fourth International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding for June 2026 in Ottawa, Canada.

 

We will be hosting numerous events in 2025.  We welcome your ideas and engagement.  Please consider helping to organize an event in-person, hybrid, or online.  If you want this organization to represent the best of us, please step up and play a role!  If you are not already a member of the Association, we encourage you to join us to make the environment a cause for peace!

 

 

Erika Weinthal, President, Environmental Peacebuilding Association, and Carl Bruch, Executive Director, Environmental Peacebuilding Association

 

 

 

Here are a few milestones from 2024:

 

  • In 2024, the Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPAx) continued to mature. Launched in 2018, by the end of 2024 the Association includes 448 individual members from 76 countries on 6 continents, and 30 institutional members. The membership composition is 87% professional and 13% student. By the end of 2024, the Association had established twelve Interest Groups (on Africa; Data and Technologies; Climate Change, Disasters, and Resilience; Education; Forests; Gender; Law; Middle East and North Africa (MENA); Monitoring & Evaluation; Transitional Justice; Water; and Young Professionals), with an Interest Group focusing on urban environmental peacebuilding under development; the Interest Groups are undertaking a wide range of activities.
  • The Environmental Peacebuilding Knowledge Platform (www.environmentalpeacebuilding.org/), the leading global platform on issues related to natural resources, conflict, and peacebuilding, continues to grow. In 2024, we added 371 Library items, 32 Announcements, 68 Events, 216 Jobs, 580 International News articles, and 239 Blogs & Opinion pieces. At the end of the year, the Platform includes more than 6,600 Library items and 8,900 International News articles. In 2024, the Association continued to maintain and expand its dedicated microsites, including subsites on Palestine and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, monitoring and evaluation, gender, and data and technologies, among others.
  • The Environmental Peacebuilding Community of Practice added 195 members this year. The Community is now almost 4,400 people strong, with members from more than 150 countries.
  • This year, we celebrated eleven years of publishing the Environmental Peacebuilding Update, our biweekly e-newsletter highlighting recent developments relating to natural resources, conflict, and peace, with links to new publications, international news, upcoming conferences and events, and job openings. Today marks the publication of the 287th issue. When we consult members of the Environmental Peacebuilding Community of Practice and of EnPAx, they consistently highlight the value of the Update and the website.  We are deeply indebted to our editor, Joel Young, and the large team of volunteers who collect, code, and post materials, and then create the Update every two weeks. Under the leadership of Julie Yoon and Madeleine Loll, with guidance from Silja Halle and the Gender Interest Group, we have also continued our monthly Newsletter on Gender, Natural Resources, Climate, and Peace.
  • In June 2024, EnPAx and the Grotius Center for International Legal Studies at Leiden University hosted the Third International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding in The Hague, Netherlands. More than 400 people participated in the four days of in-person events, and another 300 participated in the virtual day. The Fourth International Conference will be held at the University of Ottawa from June 16-19, 2026.
  • The Association held many virtual webinars, consultations, and skills-building events. By the end of the year, EnPAx had held 13 events.
  • 2024 was the first full year of the journal Environment and Security, published by EnPAx and SAGE Publishing. Started in 2023, Environment and Security is the leading global outlet for peer-reviewed research and debates on issues at the intersection of environmental and security. Environment and Security is a quarterly journal that seeks to publish innovative research on the intersections between environmental and security issues, and to inspire debates by decision makers and practitioners. 2024 featured the first special issues of the journal, including a special issue on “From Climate Conflicts to Environmental Peacebuilding” (volume 2, issue 1) and a special issue on “Decarbonization and Peace” (volume 2, issue 3).  Access to Environment and Security is free-of-charge for all EnPAx members. 

 

 

Editor’s Note

 

As 2024 comes to a close, we hope you have enjoyed all of the selections offered through our Knowledge Platform. EnPAx is a small, volunteer-run, global organization with a dedicated team of contributors bringing you the latest environmental peacebuilding initiatives, publications, news, job opportunities, events, and opinions from the field. Each of the pieces we publish to our website are carefully compiled, curated, and coded to ensure that the most relevant, interesting, and noteworthy developments in environmental peacebuilding are accessible to our community. We are grateful to receive submissions to the Knowledge Platform from both EnPAx Members and members of the Environmental Peacebuilding Community of Practice and are delighted to meet and discover emerging voices for environmental peacebuilding.

 

 

Favorites of 2024: Editor’s Picks

 

2024 was a busy year for environmental peacebuilding, which means there was a lot to read! 371 articles, books, videos, and other items were added to the online Library.  Here are some of our favorites from the year:

 

 

 

Of the 819 news and opinion articles posted on the Knowledge Platform in 2024, here is a selection of some of our favorite stories:

 

 

  

The war in Ukraine continued to be a top story for environmental peacebuilding through 2024. Whether for you to re-visit or catch-up on the developments of 2024, here is our selection of thoughts, research, and reporting from the field on the Ukraine war. More items are available on our Ukraine subsite at https://www.environmentalpeacebuilding.org/featured/ukraine/:

 

 

 

The Gaza-Israel war continued throughout 2024. Here is a sampling of some of the top publications, news, and opinion pieces regarding the environmental dimensions of this conflict. More items are available on our Palestine-Israel subsite at https://www.environmentalpeacebuilding.org/featured/palestine-israel/.

 

 

There are additional environmental peacebuilding stories from across the world, many of them heartbreaking and some inspiring. Please visit the Environmental Peacebuilding Knowledge Platform to see the full range of stories.

 

We at EnPAx sincerely thank all our Members, volunteers, contributors, and supporters for helping us have another positive and productive year of building the Association and Community of Practice. As Editor of the Update, I humbly thank all our dedicated readers for tuning in to this newsletter every other week. I hope that you have as much enjoyment from reading the Environmental Peacebuilding Update as we do from publishing it.

 

Ahead to 2025!

 

Joel Young

Editor, Environmental Peacebuilding Update