Call for Abstracts: Symposium on the Water-Energy-Peace Nexus

Jun 24, 2025 (Deadline: 2025-07-14) | Environmental Peacebuilding Association and University of Ottawa
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The Environmental Peacebuilding Association and the University of Ottawa are pleased to announce a call for abstracts for presentations to be delivered at a one-day Symposium on the Water-Energy-Peace Nexus.

Presentations may be made in English or in French.  The event will be both in person (at the University of Ottawa) and online. While papers are not required, the symposium organizers anticipate inviting selected papers for potential inclusion in a special issue of Environment and Security.  

Access to basic services is fundamental for addressing humanitarian crises, rebuilding livelihoods, advancing just solutions, and restoring trust in institutions in conflict-affected and post-conflict countries. Providing access to clean water and energy is vital for advancing environmental peacebuilding. Efforts to provide water and energy often take place in isolation from one another despite clear synergies between water and energy, as governments and non-state actors focus on restoring previous systems that were destroyed or impaired. Yet, energy is often needed to power water and sanitation treatment systems and to pump water for irrigation. 

This symposium will explore a range of solutions from around the world, including smaller-scale solutions that could be employed to provide water and energy in conflict-affected regions in a just and sustainable manner. These might include the use of renewable sources of energy and decentralized systems of water provision. Global cuts in humanitarian and development assistance will require not only more low-cost and nimble solutions for peacebuilding along with the inclusion of other actors such as the private sector.

The symposium will feature a series of panels with presentations from scholars, practitioners, and students. It will also showcase the winners of the ninth Al-Moumin Award for Thought Leadership in Environmental Peacebuilding: Nada Majdalani, Yana Abu Taleb, Gidon Bromberg, and Tareq Abu Hamed.

Please submit your abstract here. The deadline for submission is July 14, 2025. People will be informed of the results no later than July 31, 2025.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at conference@environmentalpeacebuilding.org.