Issue #295 – Apr 29, 2025

Announcements

2025 Al-Moumin Award for Thought Leadership in Environmental Peacebuilding Awarded to Nada Majdalani, Yana Abu Taleb, Gidon Bromberg, and Tareq Abu Hamed

April 29, 2025 | Environmental Peacebuilding Association

The Environmental Peacebuilding Association is pleased to award the 2025 Al-Moumin Award and Distinguished Lecture on Environmental Peacebuilding to Nada Majdalani, Yana Abu Taleb, Gidon Bromberg, and Tareq Abu Hamed.

EnPAx Launches New Webiste

April 25, 2025 | Environmental Peacebuilding Association

The Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPAx) is pleased to announce a major upgrade of the Environmental Peacebuilding Knowledge Platform (www. environmentalpeacebuilding. org).

Follow “Environment and Security” and Engage!

April 1, 2025 | Environmental Peacebuilding Association

“Environment and Security” has new accounts on Bluesky and LinkedIn. Please follow us and learn, share, and engage!

Events

For more upcoming events on environmental peacebuilding, please visit our online calendar of events.

6th Annual Environmental Politics in MENA Conference: Rethinking Justice in Environmental Transition during Times of Conflict and Crisis

May 12, 2025 - 2025-05-13 Arab Reform Initiative
Beirut, Lebanon and online

This conference will provide a platform for critical discussions on the structural barriers that hinder equitable access to and sharing of resources in the MENA region while highlighting policy strategies and grassroots responses…

Advocate for Gender and Environmental Peacebuilding at These Events in 2025!

March 15, 2025 - 2025-12-31 Environmental Peacebuilding Association

Check out these exciting 2025 events in our infographic!

Library

In the last two weeks, 20 new publications were added to our online library of materials on environmental peacebuilding. Here is a sampling of the new additions:

From Conflict to a Climate Future: Unraveling the Nexus between Warfare and Environmental Degradation

April 29, 2025 | Musrat Nazir, Imran Khan, Syed Afzal Moshadi Shah, Talat Islam, Kamran Azam, Imran Naseem, and Khalid Zaman
Sustainable Futures

The natural environment in conflict zones is often severely impacted by warfare, with long-lasting effects on water resources and ecosystems.

Sustainability amid Conflict: Gaza's Environmental, Social, and Economic Struggles

April 29, 2025 | Abdo Hassoun
Journal of Environmental Management

The recent war on Gaza (October 2023–January 2025) has led to profound environmental degradation, social instability, and economic collapse, posing substantial obstacles to sustainable development.

Environmental Vulnerability and Conflict Occurrence Are Tightly Related

April 24, 2025 | Richard Marcantonio and Sean Field
Nature Communications Earth and Environment

Conflict and environmental risks are simultaneously on the rise globally, and these two phenomena often interact both in cause and consequence.

The US Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement—Implications for Global Climate Governance and Security

April 24, 2025 | Ashok Swain, Carl Bruch, Tobias Ide, Päivi Lujala, Richard A. Matthew, Erika Weinthal, and Tom Deligiannis
Environment and Security

The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, is a landmark international accord designed to combat climate change by limiting global warming to below 2°C, with an aspirational goal of 1.

Destabilization From ‘Within’: A “Termite Theory” of Climate’s Pathway to Violence

April 23, 2025 | Peter Schwartzstein
Council on Strategic Risks

When we talk about climate’s contribution to violence, we generally characterize these stresses as external forces, as destabilizers applying pressure to already ‘messy’ socio-political contexts from above or outside.

From Climate Conflicts to Environmental Peacebuilding: Exploring Local Dimensions

April 23, 2025 | Jan Sändig, Natalia Dalmer, Tobias Ide, and Anselm Vogler
Environment and Security

Environmental change and armed conflict are major challenges of the 21st century.

Pathways to Respond to Climate Change, Forced Displacement, and Conflict Challenges

April 21, 2025 | Edoardo Borgomeo and Anders Jägerskog
Environment and Security

The collision of climate impacts with forced displacement and conflict renders efforts to promote peace and development particularly challenging.

Peacebuilding Perspectives and Herder-Farmer Conflicts in Africa (chapter in "Herder-Farmer Conflicts in Africa")

April 19, 2025 | J. Shola Omotola
Palgrave Macmillan

This chapter proposes a peacebuilding approach to the management of herder-farmer conflicts in Africa. Specifically, the chapter reflects on the contending perspectives on peacebuilding, notably the neoliberal and popular progressive arguments.

Hidden Depths — Introduction: Water Conflict and Cooperation [Video]

April 19, 2025 | Doug Weir, Iryna Babanina, and Peter Gleick
Center for Strategic and International Studies

In June 2023, Russian troops deliberately destroyed the Kakhovka dam in southeast Ukraine, highlighting an alarming trend: Water resources are facing increasing pressure from armed violence worldwide.

Building Critical Minerals Cooperation between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo

April 17, 2025 | Gracelin Baskaran
Center for Strategic and International Studies

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the world’s most resource-rich countries, and in 2024, it attracted the largest volume of mineral exploration investment in Africa. Enhancing U. S.

Armed Conflict Causes Long-Lasting Environmental Harms

April 16, 2025 | Florian Krampe, Joakim Kreutz, and Tobias Ide
Environment and Security

Armed conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza are very visible reminders of the severe negative impacts that armed conflicts have on the environment.

Are Wolves the Real Problem? Challenges Faced by Livestock Farmers Living Alongside Wolves in Northwestern Greece

April 15, 2025 | Maria Petridou and Vassiliki Kati
Sustainability

Mitigating human–wolf conflict is crucial, yet conventional approaches often overlook the broader socioeconomic challenges faced by farming communities.

Building Resilience through Climate Action: Gender, Peace, and Security in Sri Lanka

April 15, 2025 | Janani Vivekananda
Toda Peace Institute

Sri Lanka is at a crossroads. The impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly visible, with erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, and rising sea levels disrupting livelihoods and threatening fragile ecosystems.

Jobs

Please visit our jobs page to view these positions and other job opportunities.

Sudan: Private Sector Engagement Manager: Agriculture/Livelihoods (World Bank)

April 29, 2025
Catholic Relief Services

CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries.

South Sudan: Conflict Sensitivity and Conservation Training Consultant

April 29, 2025
Saferworld

The Conflict Sensitivity Resource Facility (CSRF) supports the aid community in South Sudan, with support from the British, Swiss and Dutch donor missions alongside the EU, through provision of technical analysis, services and…

Iraq: Study on Investments in Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus, focusing on promoting Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) (Consultancy)

April 20, 2025 | Oxfam

Oxfam is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice.

Iraq: Consultant for Conducting Agro-Ecological Practices and Seed Multiplication Systems, in the Governorate of Anbar and Salah al Din Governorates, in Fed

April 20, 2025 | Oxfam

Oxfam is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice.

Food Security, Peace and Stability: A Review of CGIAR’s Role in Fragile and Conflict Affected States (Consultancy)

April 20, 2025 | CGIAR

Conflict and insecurity are major drivers of food insecurity and the highest numbers of people facing acute food insecurity are found in fragile and conflict affected states (FCAS).

South Sudan: Climate Resilience Expert

April 17, 2025 | Welthungerhilfe

Welthungerhilfe (WHH) is one of the largest private aid organizations in Germany, without political or religious affiliation. Since WHH was founded in 1962 each sitting German President has been its patron.

Canada: Sustainability and Data Analyst, Bloom by IMPACT

April 15, 2025 | IMPACT Transforming Natural Resource Management

IMPACT, formerly Partnership Africa Canada, has been transforming how natural resources are managed in areas where security and human rights are at risk for over 30 years.

International News

In the last two weeks, 15 international news items on environmental peacebuilding were posted on our website. The following is a sampling:

DRC: EU Companies Fueling Minerals Smuggling in DRC

April 28, 2025 | Ronald Musoke
Independent

All actors in the supply chain of illicit mineral exports, from operators of the mines to end product users, need to be held accountable for sustaining the bloodbath in the conflict-riven eastern Democratic…

India/Pakistan: Pakistan Suspends Trade with India, Says Diverting Indus Water ‘an Act of War’, Closes Air Space

April 25, 2025 | Shubhajit Roy
Indian Express

A day after India took several diplomatic measures against Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack, Islamabad said Thursday it “shall exercise the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including but not…

Colombia: New Research Finds Substantial Peat Deposits in Colombia’s Conflicted Amazon

April 23, 2025 | Erik Iverson
Mongabay

In the heart of the Colombian Amazon, the towering mountains of the Serranía del Chiribiquete harbor secrets including South America’s oldest rock art.

Water: How Conflict-Sensitive Water Management Builds Peace: Lessons from CGIAR’s Training with Egypt’s NWRC

April 22, 2025 | Ibukun Taiwo
CGIAR

Climate change is straining water supplies and heightening community tensions. Evidence shows that when water scarcity rises within certain contexts, the risk of conflict increases.

Sierra Leone/Liberia: Conserving Gola Forest: Sierra Leone and Liberia Unite for Peace, Sustainability

April 22, 2025 | Seraphine Wakana
United Nations

The governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone, in partnership with the United Nations, have launched the Resilience, Empowerment, Access and Peacebuilding (GOLA-REAP) project, aimed at protecting the biodiversity-rich Gola Rainforest while fostering peace and…

Sierra Leone: From Blood Diamonds to Critical Minerals: Sierra Leone’s Mining Transformation

April 21, 2025 | Jason Mitchell
bne IntelliNews

Once defined by war and blood diamonds, Sierra Leone is now looking to turn its rich but underdeveloped mineral base – iron ore, gold, rutile and bauxite – into a driver of economic…

Ethiopia: Supporting Inclusive Customary Institutions for Environmental Peacebuilding in Tigray-Afar Region, Ethiopia

April 21, 2025 | Luca Kroese
Tropenbos International

In Ethiopia’s Tigray-Afar border region, pressure on natural resources has grown following years of conflict.

Liberia: Gov’t Cracks Down on Illegal Wetland Encroachers

April 18, 2025
Observer

The Government has taken a firm stance against the persistent encroachment and destruction of protected wetlands across the country, and as such began a massive demolition operation in the Mesurado Wetlands area, especially…

Colombia: Armed Groups, Cattle Ranchers Drove 35% Rise in Colombia’s Deforestation in 2024

April 18, 2025 | Antonio José Paz Cardona
Mongabay

The prediction came true: deforestation in Colombia increased in 2024 after two years of decline, just as the environment ministry had warned since April last year.

Ukraine: Ukraine Says Pact Signed with US Is First Step towards Minerals Deal

April 17, 2025 | Reuters

Ukraine said on Thursday Kyiv and Washington had signed a memorandum as an initial step towards clinching an agreement on developing mineral resources in Ukraine, a deal promoted by U. S.

Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan/Uzbekistan: Territorial Disputes no Longer Threaten Peace and Stability in Central Asia

April 16, 2025 | Nurbek Bekmurzaev, Eurasia Daily Monitor

On March 31, three Central Asian states entered a new era of regional cooperation by resolving their last remaining territorial dispute.

South Sudan: South Sudan Banks on World’s Largest Mammal Migration to Boost Tourism

April 15, 2025 | Dickens H. Okello, ChimpReports

South Sudan is ramping up efforts to position itself as a premier ecotourism destination by leveraging the global spotlight on the Great Nile Migration—now officially recognized as the world’s largest land mammal migration.

Blogs & Opinion

In the last two weeks, 6 blogs & opinion pieces on environmental peacebuilding were posted on our website. Here is a sampling:

Illicit Mineral Supply Chains Fuel the DRC’s M23 Insurgency

April 23, 2025 | Clarkson Kamurai, Brad Handler, and Morgan Bazilian

The insurgency by M23 in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the latest example of the damage that can be wrought by the illicit trade of mined materials.

The Cost of Conflict: Understanding the Health Consequences of War and Displacement

April 23, 2025 | Nour Suaaidi Amane

Peace and conflict, two words that are opposite, yet existing in the same world.

A New Political and Funding Reality for Environmental Peacebuilding

April 22, 2025 | Conflict and Environment Observatory

The Trump administration’s January 2025 decision to freeze all foreign assistance funding has had massive and reverberating consequences for humanitarian, development and conservation programmes in areas affected by conflicts and fragility – for…

Conflict-Monitoring Collective Wins European Space Agency Earth Observation Excellence Award

April 17, 2025 | Conflict and Environment Observatory

The Decentralized Damage Mapping Group — an international collective of academics and civil society organisations — has advanced the use of satellite analysis to document the humanitarian and environmental consequences of damage from wars…

From Risk to Resilience by Securing Wildlife Stockpiles in Liberia, Sierra Leone

April 16, 2025 | Charles Henson

The authors recently traveled to Sierra Leone and Liberia as part of an Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation (EPIF) project to help improve the security of wildlife products in government custody and thereby support the…

BRICS: An Environmental Cooperation Opportunity for Half the World's Population

April 15, 2025 | Shina Ansari

The modern world is grappling with a series of profound environmental and social challenges.

Join the Association

The Environmental Peacebuilding Association® (EnPAx®) is the leading global network that brings together practitioners, researchers, and decision makers working on environment, conflict, and peace. EnPAx includes both individual and institutional members. If you have any questions regarding membership, please contact us at membership@environmentalpeacebuilding.org.

Sharing and Posting Materials

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About Our Community of Practice

Environmental Peacebuilding is a knowledge platform and global community of practice on natural resources, conflict, and peace, hosted by the Environmental Peacebuilding Association. The platform unites a global network of researchers, practitioners, and decision makers in sharing experiences and lessons from managing natural resources in fragile states and conflict-affected settings. The platform also helps people to access new publications on the topic, conduct new research, and participate in events to support the growth of the field. As part of our Community of Practice, we bring you biweekly updates on recent developments, including news about our program as well as links to new publications, upcoming conferences and events, and job openings.

Please visit us at www.environmentalpeacebuilding.org for more information.

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