Daniel Kjebekk Drivdal has been awarded the Gløbius Prize for 2025 for his MA thesis on Climate Mitigation and Conflict.
The thesis in political science, titled “REDD+ and Conflict: Exploring the Underlying Conditions,” was submitted to the Department of Sociology and Political Science at NTNU in June.
The Gløbius Prize was founded by Nils Petter Gleditsch in 2024. It is funded by the Möbius Prize for excellent research, which Gleditsch received from the Research Council of Norway in 2009.
The jury for the Gløbius Prize consists of PRIO department directors Marianne Dahl and Siri Aas Rustad, together with the Gleditsch himself. It awards NOK 5000 (equivalent to USD 465 for the best quantitative master’s thesis on peace and conflict at a Norwegian institution, with an extra NOK 5000 if a paper from the thesis is accepted at an international conference.
A paper based on this year’s winning thesis was presented at the XCEPT workshop on ‘Climate change mitigation, peace and conflict’ in London, which took place in September.
Daniel`s thesis presents an analysis of the conditions under which climate mitigation action projects – specifically REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) – encounter local resistance. It employs qualitative comparative analysis to compare 18 forest conservation projects across Global South countries.
Nils Petter Gleditsch endorsed the thesis, saying that “this thesis makes a significant methodological and empirical contribution to the study of climate mitigation and conflict. Its comparative approach represents a notable advancement in a field still largely characterized by single-case analyses. It also offers nuanced insights into the potential causal links between REDD+ and social conflict, supported by thorough and transparent documentation.”
