Routledge Handbook of Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding

The past two decades have witnessed the emergence of a large body of research examining the linkage between environmental scarcity, violent conflict and cooperation. However, this environmental security polemic is still trying to deliver a well-defined approach to achieving peace. Studies are being undertaken to find the precise pathways by which cooperative actions are expected not only to pre-empt or moderate resource conflicts but also to help diffuse cooperative behaviour to other disputed issues. The recognition that environmental resources can contribute to violent conflict accentuates their potential significance as pathways for cooperation and the consolidation of peace in post-conflict societies.

Conceived as a single and reliable reference source which will be a vital resource for students, researchers and policy makers alike, the Routledge Handbook of Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding presents a wide range of chapters written by key thinkers in the field, organised into four key Parts:

• Part I: Review of the Concept and Theories;
• Part II: Review of Thematic Approaches (resources, scarcity, intervention, adaptation, and peacebuilding);

• Part III: Case studies (Middle East, Iraq, Jordan, Liberia, Nepal, Colombia, Philippines);
• Part IV: Analytical challenges and future-oriented perspectives.

Enabling the reader to find a concise expert review on topics that are most likely to arise in the course of conducting research or policy making, this volume presents a truly global overview of the key issues and debates in environmental conflict and peacebuilding.

Ashok Swain is a Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, UNESCO Chair of International Water Cooperation, and the Director of Research School of International Water Cooperation at Uppsala University, Sweden. He has written extensively on new security challenges and democratic development issues.

 Joakim Ojendal is Professor of Peace and Development research at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He has been researching water management for twenty years and has published widely within water management as well as within regionalisation in East- and Southeast Asia, and has been specialising within Cambodia studies.