Environment, Peace, and Security: Lessons from Latin America

The second event in this year’s Environmental Lecture Series will be a presentation by Geoffrey Dabelko from Ohio University.  That will be Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 pm in the Ronk Lecture Hall, COE.  This event is being co-hosted by the Ashland Center for Nonviolence.



Dr. Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Ohio University

Dr. Geoffrey D. Dabelko is Professor and Director of Environmental Studies at the George V. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University in Athens, OH. From 1997-2012, he served as director of the Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP), a nonpartisan policy forum on environment, population, and security issues at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.   Dabelko continues to work as a senior advisor to the Wilson Center where he helps facilitate dialogue among policymakers, practitioners, and scholars grappling with the complex connections that link environment, health, population, conflict, and security.   Dabelko is also a member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Expert Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict, and Peacebuilding. 

Dabelko is co-editor of the 2002 book Environmental Peacemaking, that describes how environmental degradation can catalyze conflict and violence.  On the other hand, cooperation between adversaries with shared environmental concerns can open up pathways to peace and security, by “enhancing trust, establishing habits of cooperation, lengthening the time horizons of decision makers, forging cooperative trans-societal linkages, and creating shared regional norms and identities.”  Dabelko’s most recent research focuses on climate change and security linkages as well as environmental pathways to confidence building and peacemaking, with a special emphasis on management of fresh water resources.   He is a lead author for the 5th assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II Chapter 12 on Human Security.  He also teaches courses on global environmental politics, environmental leadership, climate change, and environmental peacebuilding.    

This year’s Environmental Lecture Series explores “Environmental and Human Health in Latin America,” with perspectives from experts in human ecology, policy, and scientific study related to specific environmental issues.