A Paradigm for Peace: Celebrating “Environmental Peacemaking”

Mar 20, 2018 | Wilson Center
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“Most fundamentally, we turned the ‘resource scarcity drives conflict’ argument on its head and asked, ‘Can environmental interdependence drive cooperation in ways that can be harnessed to build trust and contribute to conflict prevention and peacebuilding?’” said Geoff Dabelko, Associate Dean at Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, about Environmental Peacemaking, which was one of the first books to investigate these questions. In the 15 years since he and Ken Conca, a professor at American University’s School of International Service, published their edited volume, the idea that shared environmental issues could be used to build peace has become a focus of innovative research, policy, and programs. In recognition of their contributions to the field, Conca, a former fellow at the Wilson Center and Dabelko, the former director of the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program, were awarded the fifth annual Al-Moumin Award and Distinguished Lecture for Environmental Peacebuilding by United Nations Environment, the Environmental Law Institute, and American University. At the award ceremony at American University on January 30, Dabelko and Conca reiterated their call to reframe environmental concerns as catalysts for cooperation, rather than simply conflict.