The aim of the project was to probe the concerns
raised by environmental change for conflict and violence and to understand how we can respond more effectively to them.
Aims and objectives
The aim of this 4-year program was to probe the concerns raised by environmental change for conflict and violence and to understand how we can respond more effectively to them. It did so by tackling a question identified by the recent IPCC report as a crucial question, what produces conflict and violence in the face of environmental change?
The research therefore begun from the insight that environmental governance policies and programs are often a platform on which actors struggle over discourses, authority and responsibilities. More scientific scrutiny is required into how such struggles within policies and programs can erupt as flash points for conflict and violence, or alternatively, can open up pathways towards peace and reduced vulnerability. Drawing from the social sciences the program explored how climate change is linked to perceptions of and responses to those changes. The work focused on changes in forest and water resources in 2 countries: Nepal and Kenya.
The objectives were:
- To better conceptualise the social-political processes through which changing forest and water resources become enrolled in crises of legitimacy, conflict and violence.
- To produce empirical evidence of how global environmental change manifests social-politically within two carefully selected countries on two continents: Asia (Nepal) and Africa (Kenya).
- To generate insights into how governance mechanisms can be better designed to address environmental conflict and violence concerns in least developed countries.
The outcome was concrete evaluation of how conflict and environmental change together create new vulnerabilities and points of empowerment for people and polities.
