Environment (2012-2015)

The Environment research group defines the environment in the broad sense of physical factors that condition human affairs as well as sociopolitical configurations of settlement patterns.

13/03/2015
5-year Project on Climate and Security

The European Research Council (ERC) have now confirmed the funding of the 5-year project CLIMSEC - or CLIMate Variability and SECurity Threats. Based at PRIO, the project will be led by Research Professor Halvard Buhaug, a leading scholar on climate change and security.

The funding is based on a competition, and is one of the ERC's Consolidator Grants, which is a part of the European Union Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020. This year, 372 top researchers have been funded "to consolidate their research teams and to develop their most innovative ideas".

Press release from the European Research Council.

10/03/2015
Reflections on Climate-Conflict Research: More Confusion than Knowledge

Does climate change constitute a threat to peace and security? Many agree that it does. The US administration's new National Security Strategy, launched last month, portrays climate change as 'an urgent and growing threat.'

And this week, a new study appears to add scientific credibility to this concern, suggesting human-caused climate change contributed to the drought that preceded the Syrian civil war.

So does the Syrian case represent a general pattern, where climate changes and extremes are systematically increasing conflict risk? The short answer is no. But if scientists want to explore these links more closely, there are a few steps they need to take.

Read more at the Carbon Brief.

14/10/2013
MINDfields Interview with Nils Petter Gleditsch

A video interview with Nils Petter Gleditsch, Research Professor at PRIO, has recently been published as a part of the MINDfields interview series. The MINDfields project is the brain child of Christian Davenport, who is Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He has teamed up with Will Moore, Ernesto Verdeja, Ragnhild Nordås and Jaqueline Demeritt to conduct interviews with senior conflict, violence and peace scholars. The interviewees reflect on the trajectory of their research agendas during the arc of their careers, thus providing a unique perspective on conflict and peace research. In this video, Nils Petter Gleditsch is interviewed by Ragnhild Nordås, Senior Researcher at PRIO.

22/03/2013
PRIO Report on Water Scarcity in Bangladesh

On the occasion of World Water Day 2013 (22 March), PRIO has published a new report on water scarcity and transboundary rivers in South Asia, titled Water Scarcity in Bangladesh. Transboundary Rivers, Conflict and Cooperation (PRIO Report 1/2013). In addition to reviewing bilateral agreements on water cooperation in South Asia, the report investigates water scarcity in Bangladesh and explores institutional mechanisms and strategies for basinwide and multilateral cooperation on the management of transboundary river water. View the report online or download the report as a PDF.

06/03/2013
Urbanizing India (URBIN)

A new three-year research project on urban security in India was initiated on 1 March, funded by the Research Council of Norway’s INDNOR program. It involves PRIO researchers Halvard Buhaug (project leader), Kristian Hoelscher, Jason Miklian, and Gerdis Wischnath, as well as researchers from the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation. URBIN will study the interaction between three related social challenges in India: (1) managing an inclusive and peaceful transition from rural to urban society; (2) ensuring sustained social and economic inclusion; and (3) tackling environmental change. The project is explicitly multi-disciplinary and will combine quantitative analysis with qualitative fieldwork-based research. URBIN is a collaborative project between PRIO and Observer Research Foundation, lasting from March 2013 through December 2015.

19/11/2012
Successful Doctoral Dissertation Defence by Ole Magnus Theisen

Ole Magnus Theisen successfully defended his thesis at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) on Friday 16 November. His work is titled: Renewable resource scarcity, natural disasters, and the possibility of collective violence.

He has been a student with the Department of Sociology and Political Science at NTNU, and attached to the 'Environmental Factors in Civil War' Working Group at PRIO's Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW).

The evaluation committee:
Karen Witsenburg, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Thomas Bernauer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Scott Gates, PRIO/NTNU

His supervisors are both at CSCW:
Nils Petter Gleditsch
Halvard Buhaug

29/10/2012
Vacancies: Senior Researchers

PRIO is seeking to hire highly competent researchers to strengthen the institute’s research capacity.
For a full description of this position and details of how to apply click here.

17/07/2012
Nils Petter Gleditsch turns 70

Today, 17 July 2012, Nils Petter Gleditsch, Research Professor at PRIO and former editor of the Journal of Peace Research turns 70 years. He was born 17 July 1942 in Sutton, Surrey, Great Britain.

11/06/2012
Succesful Doctoral Dissertation Defence by Marit Brochmann

Marit defended her PhD dissertation on Monday 11 June at the University of Oslo. The thesis is titeled Bridge over Troubled Water - Interaction in International River Basins.

She has been a Doctoral Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Civil War in the Working Group for Environmental Factors in Civil War.

04/05/2012
Successful Doctoral Defense by Rune Slettebak

Rune Slettebak, a PhD candidate at NTNU and a research associate of CSCW/PRIO successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in Trondheim on 3 May. The title of the dissertation is 'Climate Change, Natural Disasters, and the Risk of Violent Conflict'.

This PhD project assesses the relation between natural disasters triggered by extreme weather events and the risk of violent conflict. Han Dorussen (University of Essex) and Espen Sjaastad (Norwegian University of Life Sciences) were the opponents at the dissertation defense, while Indra de Soysa and Henrik Urdal were PhD supervisors.

(2011)
Climate Change and Civil War? A Quantitative Approach on Climate Variability and Armed Conflict in Asia

Master Thesis

(2012)
Heat Waves and Rebel Raves? On Climate Variability and Civil War in Asia

Conference Paper

(2013)
On climate-conflict dynamics across India

Conference Paper

(2014)
Artisanal Mining, Conflict and Sexual Violence: Micro-Level Evidence from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Conference Paper

(2012)
High-Value Natural Resources and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding

Edited Volume

(2012)
High-value Natural Resources: A Blessing or a Curse for Peace?

Book Chapter in High-Value Natural Resources and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding