Philippe Le Billon

Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs
University of British Columbia
Canada

Philippe Le Billon is a Professor at the University of British Columbia with the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. He holds a PhD in Geography (Oxford). Prior to joining UBC, he worked as humanitarian, in peacekeeping, and as a Research Associate with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). A political ecologist, he works on linkages between environment, development and security with a focus on resource-related conflicts. He currently works on the ‘green transition’, environmental defenders, and ocean sustainability. His publications include Wars of Plunder: Conflicts, Profits and the Politics of Resources (Oxford UP, 2013), Oil (Polity Press, 2017 with Gavin Bridge), and Environmental Defenders: Struggles for Life and Territory (Routledge, 2021 with Mary Menton), The Great Green Grab, Climate Extractivism and Resource Imperialism (Hurst, 2026).