Authors

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Mishkat Al Moumin is the Former Minister of the Environment in the Interim Iraqi Government and Environmental Law Institute. Dr. Al Moumin is a well-known Iraqi lawyer, and an assistant professor of human rights in University of Baghdad - School of Law. Since Iraq did not previously have a ministry of the environment, Dr. Al Moumin designed its entire structure. In this post, she also developed new environmental law, led campaigns to support Iraqi people living in environmentally dangerous areas, and initiated awareness and cleaning projects. In all these campaigns, Dr. Al Moumin engaged community based NGOs and community leaders. Most notably the Ministry — during her time — has issued the first report in the modern Iraqi history about the environmental status in Iraq.

Stephanie Altman is a Legal Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture in Liberia. Prior to living and working in Liberia, Stephanie was a Law Fellow at the Environmental Law Institute, where she worked as part of the Liberia Forest Initiative to inform the development of Liberia's new wildlife conservation law and model Forest Management Contract. Before her career as an attorney, Stephanie worked throughout West Africa for four years. She worked as a Field Team Leader for the Overseas Processing Entity where she assisted refugees seeking admission to the United States Refugee Resettlement Program. Stephanie was also an Agro-forestry Extension Agent for the Peace Corps in Senegal. Stephanie received a JD cum laude from Vermont Law School.

Natalie Ashworth is a citizen of Britain. Her undergraduate studies were completed at Nottingham University in 2000 in Law and Politics (BA) with a thesis on Race and the Death Penalty in the USA. Ms. Ashworth completed a Masters Programme at the School of Oriental and African studies in 2002 in Violence Conflict and Development (MA). Her research interests include the role of diamonds and the diamond industry in Sierra Leone, and justice in Cambodia. Her professional career has focused on human rights and democracy in Burma and the role of natural resources in Burma and West Africa. Ms. Ashworth has worked at Global Witness since 2003, initially on Burma and West Africa, and has since focused on the implementation of sanctions in Liberia, regional peace and security, reform of natural resource industries in post conflict countries (Liberia/ Sierra Leone), peacebuilding in Sierra Leone and Liberia and the role of natural resources in post conflict reconstruction. She has monitored the implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Kimberley Process in both Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ms Ashworth has carried out numerous field investigations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire.

Born in Torit, Sudan, Joseph Bartel studied at the University of Juba, College of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies and completed his undergraduate work in Forestry in 1991. Upon completion of his studies at the University of Juba, Mr. Bartel was appointed an assistant lecturer at the Forestry Department at the University of Juba later in the same year he was appointed as an assistant conservator of forests by the Forest National Corporation and assigned to the Sudan Resource Assessment and Development Project. In 1995, Bartel migrated to Canada where he undertook graduate studies in Forest Management at the University of British Columbia. Bartel also received a Master of Science degree in Forest management at UBC. In Canada, Mr. Bartel worked as a teaching assistant and later as a Research Scientist at UBC, faculty of Forestry. He joined UNEP Post conflict Branch in 2006 and participated in the post conflict environmental assessment of the Sudan. Mr. Bartel is currently the Project Manager of the UNEP Darfur Timber and Energy Project and is based in Khartoum, Sudan.

Nesreen Barwari is a citizen of Iraq and resident of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She is the former Minister of Municipalities & Public Works, Government of Iraq (2003-2006), Baghdad, and the former Minister of Reconstruction & Development, Kurdistan Regional Government, Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq (1999-2003). Ms. Barwari has worked with different UN agencies (UN-Habitat, UNHCR, UNIRCU, UNOCHI) on various program and management positions from 1991 to 1998. Her undergraduate studies were completed at Baghdad University in architectural engineering and urban planning (BSc 1991), and graduate studies at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government in public policy and management (MPA 1999). Ms. Barwari completed two years in a PhD program at the University of British Columbia School of Community and Regional Planning. Her research interest is: “Rethinking decentralization as the pathway to democratic governance: How decentralization and governance shape local planning practices — lessons from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.” Her professional career has been a seamless series of sought challenges to improve the human condition, with full spectrum involvement from local environments to senior levels of responsibility at regional and national levels. With interest and sensitivity regarding the effects of policy development at the people level, with roots and work experience in the mountains of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, she empathizes public policy development (formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation), improving governance and governing performance, raising ethical standards, and promoting integrity, requiring sensitive and effective leadership and management.

Michael D. Beevers is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland and an affiliate with the Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda. Michael’s interests are in the domains of environmental politics and international relations where he focuses broadly on the intersection of development and security, and how discourses of global governance reverberate at the local level. His dissertation research examines how environmental and natural resource governance influences and shapes outcomes in war-torn societies and is conducting related fieldwork in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Before attending the University of Maryland, he was as a Research Associate at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School in the Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Program where his work explored the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. Mr. Beevers has been a consultant for the World Resources Institute, and has worked in South Asia and West Africa on development and environment issues. Michael served in the Peace Corps (Niger) and also holds a MS and MPA from the University of Washington.

Timothy Bosetti has a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas, and is a licensed Professional Engineer with a concentration in environmental engineering and project management. He has provided engineering support and consultation to humanitarian missions and hurricane disaster relief. His field experience includes environmental engineering and base camp development support to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Peacekeeping Operations in Bosnia, Macedonia, and Kosovo. Most recently he was a member of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Committee (SPSC) Workshop to develop environmental best management practices for peacekeeping and stability operations. He is a member of the American Water Works Association Water Re-Use Committee.

South African-born Belinda Bowling is the Environmental Law and International Conventions Expert for the UNEP Capacity Building and Institutional Development Programme for Environmental Management in Afghanistan. She is based in Kabul, Afghanistan. She has a BA LLB LLM (Marine and Environmental Law) from the University of Cape Town, and has been working for the past ten years in the field of environmental law and policy in developing countries. Before joining UNEP in October 2003, Belinda worked as an environmental attorney and legislative and policy consultant, working with both the public and private sectors, primarily in the southern African region. Prior to specializing in environmental law, she worked as a commercial attorney.

Glaucia Boyer works as a DDR Policy Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme/Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery in Geneva, Switzerland. She has been currently working in two functions: 1) as the facilitator of the Geneva end of the UN inter-agency process on DDR (coordination, policy and training issues); and 2) as the natural resource management focal point in the conflict team/DDR team. Glaucia has been working with the United Nations since 1994 in different agencies (OCHA, DPKO, ILO, UNDP and UNU) and supporting DDR programmes in different countries (Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia/Aceh, Niger, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Sudan). She has a law degree from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a PhD from the Graduate Institute of International Studies, in Geneva, Switzerland. She is married and has two children.

Brendan Bromwich manages UNEP’s programmes in Darfur on environmental technical support for the humanitarian programme and on water resource management. Issues that the programmes address include governance of natural resources, livelihoods, energy, and drought preparedness. The work includes a combination of field research, analysis, advocacy and technical support to the wider UN led humanitarian response. The programme is built on a collaborative approach with Darfurian and international research institutions in order to best inform humanitarian practice within Darfur. He was a contributor to UNEP’s Sudan Post Conflict Environmental Assessment, and co-author of “Darfur: relief in a vulnerable environment”, “Darfur: water supply in a vulnerable environment” both for Tearfund and “Sharpening the Strategic Focus of Livelihoods Programming in the Darfur Region” in collaboration with Tufts University. He has established a task force for the introduction of alternative construction and energy technologies in Darfur comprising Darfurian universities, UN and NGOs. This task force is overseeing a number of studies to assist the development of strategy for the uptake of new technology. The first study assesses dynamics in the trade in timber and woodfuel and how these have been impacted by the conflict. The second study addresses options for alternative energy. Current studies on water resource management include a strategy document on drought preparedness, and an assessment of stakeholders with an interest in water resource management in Darfur. These programmes all build on Brendan’s earlier experience in Darfur working on the delivery of community-based water and sanitation projects that served pastoralist, displaced and farming communities. He has been based in Darfur or Khartoum since 2004. Prior to his work in Darfur he has worked as an engineering consultant specialising in strategic planning and water engineering. He worked on World Bank funded water and environment projects in China and Central Asia, and The Sultanate of Oman’s master plan for the water sector, which developed a national strategy for water supply over a 20-year period. Additional work in the UK, Ireland, Oman and the UAE focussed on the planning and design of water and environmental infrastructure. In 2003, he co-authored a book on the Hydraulic design of side weirs. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London.

Margie Buchanan-Smith is an independent consultant and policy researcher. She has worked in the humanitarian aid sector for over 20 years, in senior management positions as well as doing policy analysis and research. Margie has held research fellowships at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, and at the Overseas Development Institute where she was Coordinator of the Humanitarian Policy Group. She was also head of the Emergencies Unit at ActionAid for three years. She has published widely, on institutional and policy-related aspects of humanitarianism, and on Sudan (as well as other African countries). Her work in Sudan began in the 1980s when she worked with the Darfur Regional Government for two years between 1987 and 1989, as Agricultural Economics Adviser to the Agricultural Planning Unit. During this time, she initiated and designed a drought early warning system for North Darfur and carried out a study of the grain market throughout the region. Since the conflict began in Darfur in the early 2000s, Margie has carried out a number of advisory and evaluation assignments for different agencies, including UN agencies and international NGOs. In 2006, she led a WFP livelihoods study (Conflict, Camps and Coercion: The Continuing Livelihoods Crisis in Darfur); in 2007, she co-facilitated with Tufts University a series of workshops in Darfur on livelihoods programming, and also carried out a study on trade and markets in Darfur (Adaptation and Devastation: the Impact of the Conflict on Trade and Markets in Darfur); in 2008, she led a team for UNEP, investigating how the conflict has impacted on the trade in timber and wood fuel and impacts on Darfur‘s forest resources (forthcoming). A number of her publications are focused on Darfur. In 1995, she co-authored a book on Famine Early Warning and Response—the Missing Link. In the mid-1990s, she was Head of the Emergencies Unit at ActionAid.

Allan Cain is an architect and specialist in project planning, urbanisation and the upgrading of squatter settlements. He has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies (Waterloo, Canada), did his graduate studies at the Architectural Association (London, UK) and further specialist studies at Harvard and Boulder, Colorado (in Microfinance). He has over 35 years of professional experience in developing countries, 28 of those in conflict and post-conflict Angola implementing projects for community water supply, school building & planning, environmental sanitation, land rights and public participation. Mr. Cain has also developed programmes with local civil society and NGO partners in Angola on peacebuilding. In recent years, he has participated in several programme evaluations and missions for the United Nations, European Union and the World Bank. He has worked in Canada, Egypt, Oman, Iran, USA, Niger, Angola and Mozambique. He is the director of Development Workshop (Canada, France and Angola), Canadian Honorary Consul to Angola and an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the boards of several development institutions. He has lectured at universities in Canada, Angola, Norway, USA, South Africa and UK. His articles and papers have been published widely in international journals. Along with his co-founders of Development Workshop he is working on a forthcoming book titled “Planning with Vulnerable People in Turbulent Times”.

Alexander Carius studied political science and law in Berlin and is co-founder and codirector of Adelphi Research and Adelphi Consult. He is specialised in international environmental policy and development cooperation. The main fields of his research and consulting include “Environment, Development, Foreign Policy and Conflict Prevention,” “Environmental Policy and Law in the ECCAA countries,” “Regional Environmental Cooperation” as well as governance and institutions in national and international environment policy. He is board member of various projects and scientific journals and member of the German Federal Foreign Office’s Advisory Board “Civilian Crisis Prevention”. In the past 15 years, he has served as a team leader for almost 100 projects in the area of environment, development and foreign policy, and published 125 research reports, articles and books.

Binod Chapagain has a Masters in Sociology and an MBA in Business Administration. He recently worked for Nepal Livelihoods and Forestry Programme, a bilateral program funded by UK Department for International Development. The program works directly with more than 4, 500 Community Forestry User Groups (CFUGs) including the areas mostly affected by conflict. He is directly involved in the strategizing and operationalizing programas the monitoring and communication adviser. Mr. Chapagain has conducted several studies and researches including economic impact of CFUG, forest-poverty link and impact of NGOs actions on rural poor. He has written papers and made presentations on climate change, livelihoods, economic impact of CFUGs and forest poverty issues among others. He has also published manuals on NGO capacity building, participatory monitoring and evaluation and a book titled ‘Healthier Civil Society’. Mr. Chapagain has been involved in issues like NGO capacity-building, poverty and exclusion, women’s rights and people’s rights over land and forest resources for more than 15 years in South Asia.

Ken Conca is a professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland and Director of the Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda. His research and teaching focus on global environmental politics, environmental policy, social movements in world politics, and peace and conflict studies. He is the author/editor of seven books, including The Crisis of Global Environmental Governance (Routledge, 2008); Governing Water (MIT Press, 2006); Green Planet Blues (Westview Press, 2004); Environmental Peacemaking (Johns Hopkins/Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002); and Confronting Consumption (MIT Press, 2002). He is a recipient of the International Studies Association’s Chadwick Alger Prize for best book on international organization (for Governing Water) and a two-time recipient of ISA’s Harold & Margaret Sprout Award for best book on international environmental affairs (for Governing Water and Confronting Consumption). Dr. Conca is associate editor of the MIT Press journal Global Environmental Politics; a member of the Scientific Steering Committee on Global Environmental Change and Human Security; and a member of the UN Environment Programme’s Expert Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding.

Alec Crawford is a project officer with the Environment & Security team in IISD’s Geneva office, and has worked on policy research in a variety of topics. He co-authored a report commissioned by the OECD DAC on managing the environment to prevent conflict and build peace, which was presented to various donor agencies in Stockholm in February of 2005. Alec also co-authored a paper on climate change and security in Ghana and Burkina Faso, commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Crawford has co-authored a paper and tipsheet on the linkages between pastoralism and conflict, commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation. Other research and writing topics include: commodity price volatility; agricultural commodities and conflict; resource rights and post-disaster reconstruction; emerging environment and security issues in the Arctic, Canada and China; and the linkages between trade, aid and security.

Geoffrey D. Dabelko is director of the Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP), a fourteen year-old nonpartisan policy forum on environment, population, health, and security issues at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. He is also an adjunct professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He has held prior positions with the Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign Policy, and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Dr. Dabelko’s current research focuses on environment, conflict, and cooperation with a special emphasis on environmental pathways to peacebuilding. He is principal investigator for ECSP’s Navigating Peace Water Initiative and co-editor with Ken Conca of Green Planet Blues: Environmental Politics from Stockholm to Johannesburg and Environmental Peacemaking. He is a member of advisory or editorial boards for the UN Environment Programme, International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change, Global Environmental Change, Wilton Park USA Foundation, Center for Unconventional Security Affairs at the University of California, Irvine, Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, Screenscope, Inc., and Circle of Blue. Dr. Dabelko received a Ph.D. in government and politics from the University of Maryland and an AB in political science from Duke University.

Nicholas Garrett is a Mining Consultant specialising in conflict and post-conflict minerals management and corporate social responsibility in high-risk environments. Nicholas has worked with multilateral institutions, the British and German governments, the private sector, NGOs and multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as the EITI, to improve the developmental impact of natural resource sectors. He has undertaken extensive field research in DR Congo, Rwanda and Angola. Nicholas is enrolled as a Heinrich-Böll-Foundation funded PhD Candidate at the Freie Universität Berlin, where he writes under supervision of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Chairman and Transparency International Founder Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen on how to channel the DR Congo’s natural resource wealth into sustainable development processes.

Alexander Gillespie is a Professor of Law at the University of Waikato in Hamilton. Professor Gillespie obtained his LLB and LLM degrees with Honours from The University of Auckland. He completed his PhD at Nottingham and post-doctoral studies at Colombia University in New York City. His specialty is international law and he has written close to fifty academic articles, and eight books. His most recent book is Protected Areas and International Law. He has been awarded a Rotary International Scholarship, Fulbright Fellowship, Rockerfeller Fellowship and a number of smaller domestic awards. In 2004, Al was awarded the New Zealand Law Foundation International Research Fellowship. Al is also the New Zealand lawyer/expert on a number of international delegations involving international environmental law, and has over ten years diplomatic experience. He was rapporteur to the World Heritage Convention in 2006, special advisor to the Chairperson of the World Heritage Convention in 2007, and co-led the New Zealand delegation.

Lisa Goldman is a Staff Attorney, Staff Counsel, and Co-Director of the Africa Program at ELI. Her research interests include forestry and biodiversity in Liberia, transboundary environmental impact assessment, post-conflict natural resource management, community environmental enforcement, and constitutional environmental law. She graduated from Stanford University in 1994 with a major in Human Biology, received her JD in 2001 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and received an LL.M. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2004, where she litigated domestic environmental cases for two years with the Institute for Public Representation. Prior to law school, Lisa spent three years working on natural resource management as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger. She has also worked on human rights and environmental issues with EarthRights International in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Arthur Green is a McGill Major and USINDO Fellow currently working on his doctoral dissertation under Dr. Jon Unruh in the Department of Geography, McGill University. His research examines how land reforms in post-conflict and legally pluralistic contexts impact access to resources and subsequently the dynamics of resistance, conflict, and peace. His dissertation focuses specifically on conflict transformation and land reform in Aceh, Indonesia. His general research interests include land reform; legal pluralism; evolutionary economics; uneven spatial development; spatial statistics; and resistance, conflict, and peace studies. He combines his academic work with applied practice through consulting in Africa (Cameroon) and SE Asia and management of the non-profit organization Green Consensus.

Anne Hammill is a Senior Researcher for IISD’s Climate Change & Energy and Environment & Security programmes. Much of her work focuses on understanding how better environmental management can contribute to human security through resilience to climate stress, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding. Anne’s most recent work has involved field research, training, and policy analysis on climate change adaptation, as well as conflict-sensitive conservation in Eastern and Central Africa. She holds a BA in Geography & Environmental Studies, and a MA in Geography.

Naomi Hatsukano is a research fellow at IDE-JETRO (Institute of Developing Economies, Japan). She is conducting research activities in Cambodia as a visiting researcher at Royal University of Law and Economics, Cambodia, May 2007-May 2009. Her current research covers land law and policy in Cambodia, and focuses on the development and implementation of land law and policy since the 1990s. She holds an M.A. in International Studies and a B.A.in Law from the University of Tokyo.

David Jensen heads the Policy and Planning Team of the UN Environment Programme’s Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, Geneva, Switzerland. Since 2000, he has worked on 10 post-conflict operations either as a technical expert or as a project coordinator. Jensen is now leading UNEP’s efforts to provide technical expertise on environment and conflict to the Peacebuilding Commission and the United Nations Development Group. He holds an Bachelor Degree in Geography from the University of Victoria and a Masters Degree in Biology from the University of Oxford. For more information, see http://postconflict.unep.ch.

Patricia Kameri-Mbote is an Associate Professor of Law, an internationally renowned scholar and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She studied law in Nairobi, Warwick, Zimbabwe and Stanford and has served as a Policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She teaches at the School of Law, University of Nairobi. She has also taught law at the Universities of Kansas; Stellenbosch; and Zimbabwe. Her areas of specialisation include environment and natural resources law and policy, human rights, women’s rights, land rights, intellectual property rights and biotechnology policy and law. Kameri-Mbote is the Chair to the Kenya Seeds and Plant Varieties Tribunal; a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and the Kenya National Academy of Sciences. She is a board member of the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE-Uganda); Pell Centre for International Relations, Salve Regina University, Rhode Island; a trustee of the Kenya Land Conservation Trust, a Trust established to acquire and hold land for wildlife conservation through leases, easements and other innovative property mechanisms; a member of the Scientific Steering Committee, Global Environmental Change & Human Security Project, International Human Dimensions Programme; a Member of the Arts & Humanities Research Board (AHRB) Research Centre for Law, Gender & Sexuality, University of Kent and a former board member of the Kenya Copyright Board. She has consulted for many international and national agencies and participated in national policy making and drafting initiatives in Kenya, Uganda and Ghana. She has published a number of books and many articles in international journals.

Kazumi Kawamoto is a Master’s candidate at the Graduate School of Arts and Science in the University of Tokyo. She is majoring in International Relations, and participates in the Programme on Human Security in the University. Her research focuses on the mining sector in Sierra Leone, specifically sustainable opportunities in diamond mining. She is interested in the economic productivity of diamonds as well as governance over mining locations. Ms. Kawamoto is currently doing field work in Sierra Leone, working directly with stakeholders. Ms. Kawamoto has conducted research and volunteer work in Geneva (Switzerland), Indonesia, Cambodia, and Togo.

Born in Tel-Aviv Israel, Itzchak E. Kornfeld is with the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he researches and writes on transboundary and post-conflict environmental disputes and damages to natural resources. Professor Kornfeld is visiting the Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, FL for the 2008-2009 academic year. He is currently legal advisor to a joint Israeli-Palestinian NGO, which is investigating the impact of aquifers due to the illegal dumping of hazardous waste in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. He has also advised The Honorable Shelley Berkely, Congresswoman for the First Congressional District of Nevada on crafting legislation for reusing/reclaiming water. Previously, he was General Counsel for Oasis Environmental Resources, a company that aided developing states in expanding and improving their potable water systems. Mr. Kornfeld has also spent over a decade litigating environmental cases across the United States. He has published numerous articles on water issues, including a number of book chapters, the most recent one being "The Water Law of Mesopotamia". Earlier he was employed by Texaco, Inc. as a geologist and was a senior hydrologist with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and a consultant to the Agency, where he worked identifying toxic and hazardous waste sites. Professor Kornfeld holds a B.Sc. and an M.A. in geology; a J.D. from Tulane Law School, and LL.M. from Georgetown Law Center and is expected to receive his Ph.D. in Law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2009.

Lance Lattig is a campaigner on conflict resources at Global Witness. His work focuses on breaking the links between natural resource exploitation and armed conflict, in particular by strengthening UN, AU and EU responses to this problem. Prior to joining Global Witness in 2008, he worked for Human Rights Watch on a number of campaigns worldwide. He has conducted field investigations on human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war in a number of countries, including Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Gaza Strip and Nigeria. He previously worked as a journalist at The Wall Street Journal, and was educated at Princeton and Columbia.

Birgitta Liljedahl is a senior analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) with specialty in environmental impact assessments and health hazard assessments in conflict and disaster areas. Since 2001, she has been the project manager for FOI support to Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF) regarding Environmental and Medical Intelligence, including environmental vulnerability assessments for Darfur, Chad, Lebanon, DRC and Afghanistan. Since 2006, she has been the project coordinator for the Collaboration on Environment and Health between Sweden and United Nations Department of Field Support (UNDFS) with pilot mission UNMIS, Sudan. Liljedahl has a background as an environmental geologist, and holds an MSc from Uppsala University, Sweden.

Achim Maas is working as project manager at Adelphi Research. His main areas of work are the interlinkages and between natural resources, violent conflict and peace on all levels of society. Within these areas, the security implications of climate change as well developing analytical frameworks and methods are core topics. Currently, he works primarily on environmental cooperation in the South Caucasus within the context of the Initiative for Peacebuilding and the UN Environment Programme Expert Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding. Beyond that, he is a member of the Environment, Conflict and Cooperation Newsletter editorial staff. He studied political science, sociology, history and economics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main. Subsequently, he concluded his studies with a Master in International Politics and Security Studies at the University of Bradford.

Miko Maekawa holds an MSc in Environment and Development from the University of East Anglia, UK. She is a staff member of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She has worked in the UNDP — China office as Programme Officer (2000-2003), Bureau of Management of UNDP HQ as Planning Specialist (2003-2005), and UNDP Rwanda office as Assistant Resident Representative heading the Environment unit (2005-2007). During her assignment in Rwanda, she served as the Co-chair of Environment and Land Use Management Sub-sector Working Group supporting the Government Chair to formulate Rwanda’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).

Dr. Simon J A Mason, environmental scientist, mediator SDM, is Senior researcher in the “Mediation Support Project” at the Center for Security Studies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). Presently he supports the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in its mediation and facilitation activities through tailor-made workshops, research and process support. His research areas include: mediation methodology, the link between environment, mediation and conflict prevention, and the link between religion and mediation. He has written about the Swiss mediation experiences in Sudan; Confidence building measures on the Korean Peninsula; water conflicts and cooperation in the Nile Basin, and UN conflict prevention related to the environment. He co-organized a series of dialogue workshops between Egyptians, Ethiopians and Sudanese on cooperation in the Eastern Nile Basin. He has contributed to training workshops on conflict, negotiation and mediation at Addis Ababa University, Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources, Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatc Studies (MEDAC, Malta), and the Peace Mediation Course of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Richard A. Matthew (BA McGill; PhD Princeton) is Associate Professor of International and Environmental Politics in the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Science at the University of California at Irvine, and founding Director of the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs (www.cusa.uci.edu). His field-based research focuses on international relations in the developing world, especially South Asia and East Africa, and he has published widely on transnational security threats including climate change, infectious disease, terrorism and landmines. Dr. Matthew has worked closely with major U.S. corporations, the United Nations, numerous international non-profit organizations and a variety of U.S. government departments and agencies. In addition to his positions at UCI, he is also the Senior Fellow for Security at the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Geneva, a member of the United Nations Expert Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding, and a member of the World Conservation Union’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. Dr. Matthew has received Certificates of Recognition for his research and service activities from the U.S. Congress, the California State Legislature and the City of Los Angeles.

Brianna Menke is a 2009 Candidate for a Masters of Environmental Management, with a concentration in economics and policy, at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. She currently serves as the Special Projects Editor for the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum where she is developing the annual fall Symposium. She is also working as a research associate for a joint project by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and Defenders of Wildlife on Red Wolf Recovery in the Southeastern U.S. Ms. Menke received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies with a minor in Environmental Systems and Society from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has conducted research and policy work for the Environmental Law Institute, the California Senate Committee on Environmental Quality, the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, and the Australian Consulate in Los Angeles.

Naori Miyazawa worked as the head of office with United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Tokyo from 2004 to 2008. From 2001 to 2005 in East Timor, she worked with various institutions, including international NGOs, managing a post-conflict reconstruction and recovery, development and environmental projects. Experiences in East Timor include lectureship at the national university in the field of environmental studies. Prior to the tenure in East Timor, with the Environment and Sustainable Development Programme of the United Nations University, she researched environmental governance issues in East Asia, published in several articles. She is a Ph.D. Candidate in International Studies, University of Tokyo, and obtained her Master’s degree in Environment and Development from the University of London.

Mikiyasu Nakayama is Head and Professor of the Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences at the University of Tokyo. Professor Nakayama’s research subjects include: application of satellite remote sensing data for environmental monitoring of lake basin; use of Geographical Information System (GIS) for environmental management of river and lake basins; environmental impact assessment methodologies applicable for involuntary resettlement due to dam construction; and involvement of international organizations in management of international water bodies. He holds a PhD, MSc, and BA (all in Agricultural Engineering) from the University of Tokyo.

Sandra S. Nichols is a staff attorney at the Environmental Law Institute where she focuses on protecting water resources and biodiversity, on climate adaptation, and on improving environmental governance in the U.S. and internationally. She also works on capacity-building programs for public officials, judges, and citizens. Ms. Nichols is also an adjunct professor at Troy University, where she teaches environmental ethics; environmental law; and environmental economics. As a staff attorney with WildLaw, in Montgomery, Alabama, she represented citizens’ groups on issues including national forests, water, endangered species, pollution, resource extraction, environmental justice, and land use. Nichols served as an Urban Environmental Management Volunteer in the Peace Corps in Côte d’Ivoire. She holds a bachelors degree in Earth and Environmental Science from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Yuri Oki holds a M.A. in International Relations from the University of Tokyo. Conducted a Survey on peace-building in Mindanao, Philippines; Seeing Ethnologic Attributes as a Conflict Prevention Lens as her Master’s dissertation. Her general interest lies in the dynamics of post-conflict development, conflict prevention and peace-building. Land tenure and land resource management under the comprehensive scheme of peace-building is her current focus.

Cymie Payne is Director of the Global Commons Project and Associate Director of the California Center for Environmental Law and Policy at University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she also teaches Climate Change Law & Policy, International Environmental Law, and International Tribunals and the Environment. At the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1999 to 2005, she was responsible for an international team of lawyers and technical experts assessing damage to the environment and public health from conflict in the Persian Gulf. This program resulted in landmark decisions on war reparations for environmental damage. Payne previously practiced environmental and natural resource law as an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of the Interior and in the environmental department of the law firm Goodwin Procter in Boston. Payne’s current research interests include the design of climate policy and international environmental governance. She holds a M.A. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a J.D. from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Johannes Refisch holds a Diploma degree in animal ecology. He has held several scientific positions at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, the Natural Museum in Munich, Germany, the University of Basel, Switzerland, and the University of Alaska, USA. Mr. Refisch also acted as the Co-Director of the Tai Monkey Project in Ivory Coast coordinating ecological and conservation—oriented research. The results of his study led to his PhD in 2001 as well as recognition in the form of a Research Conservation Award from WWF and the Centre Suisse in the same year. Johannes gained natural resource management (NRM) experiencein conflict and post-conflict countries throughout his project work in the Côte d´Ivoire/Liberia border area and the larger Virunga Landscape, the border area between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda. He came first to the Virunga region in the early 90’s when he worked as a volunteer for GTZ. He later worked as a programme manager for the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a coalition of African Wildlife Foundation, Fauna and Flora International and WWF, which has been facilitating a transboundary dialogue in the Virungas for more than 10 years. Since 2006, Johannes Refisch has been working as a project manager for the UNEP and UNESCO partnership on great apes (GRASP). He has a wide experience in natural resource management and has assisted GTZ, IGCP, WWF and UNEP in designing, supervising and implementing NRM projects.

Tina Sanio has a Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology and a Juridicum in International Law from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. Additional she has a degree as Peace and Conflict Consultant from the Academy for Conflict Transformation in the Civil Peace Forum, Bonn, Germany. Tina has research and field experience in Nepal (Maoist Revolution plus Local Peace Building through Community Forestry User Groups), Thailand (Conflict Management over Natural Resources) and Mongolia (Conflict over Land) and is currently working on different conflict transformation issues and planned interventions.

Yacouba Savadogo is the Environmental Law Legal Officer at the Ministry of Environment and Life in Burkina Faso, and is assigned the position of National Coordinator of the PADELIA project in Burkina (Partnership for the Development of Environmental Laws and Institutions in Africa). This project is funded by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). From 2004-2006, Yacouba taught environmental law at the National School of Environment, Waters and Forests of Burkina Faso. He has written several articles and papers on environmental law, sustainable development, and governance, and has also conducted studies in those fields. Formerly a legal intern of the Legal Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Mr. Savadogo is an independent expert accredited at the Executive Secretariat of the UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification). Mr. Savadogo is also the Coordinator of the Environmental Law Specialists Network of francophone Africa. Yavadogo has a master’s degree in Environmental Law from the University of Limoges (France) and a degree in International Environmental Law from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR-Geneva). He is currently preparing a doctorate thesis in environmental law at the Institute of Environmental Law, Jean Moulin University Law School in Lyon (France).

Manami Sekiguchi is a graduate student of the Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences at the University of Tokyo. Her interest lies in rural development in Cambodia, particularly in the establishment of farmers’ organizations such as agricultural cooperatives and water users’ associations. She has also researched on land resource management in Cambodia, especially on how the dysfunction of a land ownership system would affect land conflicts among people.

Stephen Stec has straddled the worlds of international development assistance and academia for over 15 years. His accomplishments have been recognized in the fields of comparative and international environmental and sustainable development law, human rights and the environment, and environmental security. He has established two successful environmental law programs, first with ABA/CEELI and then with the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), where he currently directs projects involving, inter alia: support to the development of multilateral environmental agreements on the regional and sub-regional level; assessment and drafting support for state-of-the-art legislation; multi-level assessments of policy, legal and institutional frameworks; promotion of conflict-reduction tools; protection of citizens’ environmental rights; and promotion of legal professionalism. He also leads REC’s environment and security topic area, and is a member of the Managing Board of the ENVSEC initiative (www.envsec.org). He is a fellow of the Institute for East European Law and Russian Studies at Leiden University (Netherlands), and an Adjunct Professor at Central European University (Hungary). He has authored numerous articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics related to environmental law, sustainable development, and transitional societies, and is co-author of The Aarhus Convention: An Implementation Guide (UN: 2000). He is a member of several bodies and professional societies including the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and ICEL, and serves on the editorial boards of the European Energy and Environmental Law Review and of Green Horizon. In 2007, Mr. Stec was a co-recipient of the Rule of Law Award.

Mikiko Sugiura is Assistant Professor of the Department of Biological and Environment Engineering, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo. Dr. Sugiura’s field-based research focuses on Water Resources Management, especially on how to manage “water scarcity and conflict” when people have too little water during an abnormal dry period or suffer from too much water during floods. She has also contributed to agricultural public reports as an author, and participated in OECD Expert Meeting of water pricing as an expert. She holds a PhD and Master’s degree (both in International Relations), and BA (in Law) from the University of Tokyo.

Mayumi Suzuki holds an MA in Environment, Law and Society from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and a Certification of Advanced Studies of Environmental Diplomacy from the University of Geneve, Switzerland. She currently belongs to the Japan International Cooperation Center and is posted to Japan International Cooperate Agency, where she reviews JICA’s projects from the viewpoint of environmental and social considerations. She was an Adviser at the Permanent Mission of Japan to International Organisations in Geneve, and she participated in intergovernmental negotiation of MEAs as well as in environmental issues including managing post-conflict and natural disaster projects.

Mara Tignino holds a PhD in international relations with a specialization in international law from the Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development in Geneva. She is currently working as a researcher at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva. Before joining the university, she worked as an external consultant at the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. In 2002, Mara earned a Masters degree in international relations with a specialization in international law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development. In 1999, she received a bachelor in Political Science with a specialization in international and European studies from the University LUISS in Rome. In 1998, she obtained the Certificate in European Political Studies at the Institute of Political Studies in Strasbourg. Her publications include articles on water in times of armed conflicts, in the Middle East as well as on the economic aspects of water management.

Yuka Toguchi is a graduate student of the Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Her research subjects include: flood control measures by local population and government, and the management of resource in post-conflict societies. She received her B.A.(2008) from the Nihon University (Department of Civil Engineering, College of Science and Technology). The title of her graduate thesis is, “Analysis of Environmental International Agreement: Comparison of Water and Sanitation with Climate Change.”

Jessica Troell is an attorney and the Director of the International Water Program at the Environmental Law Institute (ELI). Ms. Troell has extensive experience in water law and policy, with a particular focus on participatory water governance, transboundary water management, adaptation to climate change in the water sector, and water-related conflict management. At ELI, she works with NGOs, governments, the private sector, and universities throughout Africa, Latin America, and Asia to create, implement, and enforce sustainable water laws, policies, and management mechanisms. Prior to joining ELI, Ms. Troell was a law fellow with the Mandela Institute of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco. She has also worked at the International Environmental Law Office of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Defense Counsel. Ms. Troell is the author of several articles and book chapters and a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Jon Unruh is a Professor in the Department of Geography at McGill University. Professor Unruh’s research and policy work over the past 20 years has dealt with post-conflict land tenure in the developing world. His past endeavors have focused on conflict resolution, land policy and law, legal pluralism, approaches to reconciling customary and formal tenure systems, and agriculture in postwar and peace-building scenarios. His research and policy experience includes work in Somalia, Mozambique, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Uganda, Peru, Central America, and Zambia. His work in Mozambique and East Timor built field research into the government’s recovering policy and lawmaking programs. In Sierra Leone and Ethiopia he worked on the connection between post-conflict land tenure and food security. In Uganda, Cameroon, and Zambia he examined the linkages between customary evidence and land claims. And in Somalia he worked on issues of “critical resource tenure” during conflict. He holds a PhD from the University of Arizona (Geography and Regional Development), MS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Environmental Studies – Land Resources), and BA from the University of Kansas-Lawrence (Environmental Studies).

Marta R. Vigevano is a Professor of International Law and International Humanitarian Law in the School of Law at the University of Buenos Aires. Professor Vigevano has a Master’s degree in Defence from the Ministry of Defense’s School of Defense. Vigevano has a Specialization in International Armed Conflicts Law and International Humanitarian Law, focusing on the legal restraints on violence in armed conflict from the National Institute Aeronautical Space of the Argentine Air Force. Professor Vigevano is a researcher as well, and is part of the investigating projects at the University of Buenos Aires about environmental synergies between continental waters and sea waters from customary law to substantive law (focusing on South America and the MERCOSUR) and about the adverse consequences on the environment and hydrological resources derived from the armed conflict in Colombia. Currently, Vigevano is the Academic Secretary of National Defense School of the Ministry of Defense.

Koen Vlassenroot is Professor in Political Science at the University of Ghent, where he also coordinates the Conflict Research Group. Since 1997, he has carried out extensive fieldwork in eastern DR Congo and has done research on natural resources, militia-formation, food security and local institutions. He has published widely in international edited volumes and peer reviewed international journals including Review of African Political Economy, Politique Africaine, African Affairs, Afriche e Orienti, etc. He has also worked with international organizations, including FAO, Novib, MSI, DAI, etc.

Annica Waleij is a senior analyst and project manager at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). Her working field includes environmental information gathering in support of the Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF) intelligence and environmental protection assistance for Swedish Peace Support (PSO) and Crises Management Operations in e.g. Afghanistan, Africa and the Balkans. Furthermore, she works with designing and conducting environmental education and training for military and civilian deploying organizations. Current assignments also include environmental expert support to the United Nations Department of Field Support (UN DFS) and representing Sweden in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Science for Peace and Security Committee’ (SPSC). Waleij holds an MSc in Environmental Chemistry and a BSc in Environmental Health from Umeå University, Sweden.

Christian Webersik is a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science—United Nations University (JSPS-UNU) Postdoctoral Fellow at United Nations University’s Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). Webersik has joined UNU-IAS in November 2007 to research links between drought and political violence. His general research interests are the role of natural resources in armed conflict, climate change and security, natural hazards and development and post-conflict economic recovery. Before joining UNU-IAS, Webersik briefly worked as report writer for UNDP’s Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery. Before that, he worked at the Earth Institute at Columbia University where he was hosted by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). Following his doctorate, he was Assistant Professor of political science at Asmara University, Eritrea. He is holding a D.Phil. from Oxford University in political science where he studied the political economy of war and the role of natural resources in conflict in Somalia. In the past, Webersik worked in a number of conflict situations with UNDP, the UNHCR and UN OCHA. He worked for the UN Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn (UNFCCC). He continues to be interested in understanding how humans interact with their environment, to what extent environmental factors play a role in armed conflict, and the impact of natural hazards, such as tropical storms, on people’s well-being and livelihoods. At UNU-IAS, Webersik is with the Sustainable Development Governance Programme, contributing to the programme’s exploratory research initiative on the intersection of global environmental change and security.

Erika Weinthal (Ph.D Columbia University) is an Associate Professor of Environmental Policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Her research focuses on water cooperation and conflict, the political economy of the resource curse, and corporate social responsibility in the natural resource sector. Her field experience has centered on the former Soviet Union (Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Russia), the Middle East (Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan), and Southern Europe. She is a member of the UNEP Expert Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding.

Matthew Wilburn completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, England in the Department of Geography. As a researcher in the Political Ecology of Development Research Group, he analyzed a conflict in southern Honduras, Central America from 1973 to 2006. He has lived in multiple countries and worked in over a half dozen. In 1999 he was competitively selected to become a US Presidential Management Fellow under the Clinton Administration and served from 1999 to 2001. Subsequently, he served as the Senior Program Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean within the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA), Oceanic & Atmospheric Research (OAR), Office of International Activities between 2001 - 2007. He has a deep intellectual curiosity in relation to institution building and collaborative approaches to socioeconomic and environmental challenges. He is currently a Postgraduate Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution. In 2008, Matthew established SMW Global Consulting, L.L.C. in Boulder, Colorado. SMW Global Consulting is an environment and development consultancy focused on the Latin America and the Caribbean regions. You may learn more at www.SMWGlobalConsulting.com

John Woods was born in Gorlue, Lofa County, Liberia. He attended the College of Forestry at the University of Liberia, and obtained an Undergraduate Degree at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, USA in 1966. Mr. Woods was awarded a Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Economics at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada in 1970. In 1972, he established the Concession Secretariat in the Ministry of Finance in Liberia, providing technical, research and advisory services to the government on fiscal and legal obligations of concession and concession-like arrangements from the extraction of natural resources (mainly, iron ore, diamonds, gold and timber). Mr. Woods became the Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority one year after it was founded in Liberia. He also headed the Project Department of the Fund for Cooperation and Development of the Economic Community of West Africa States in Lome, Togo. He coordinated the Liberia Forest Initiative in Liberia, and has resumed his position as the Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority in Liberia.

Louise Wrist Sorensen is a Task Manager in the Poverty & Environment Initiative African Team in UNEP’s Division of Regional Cooperation. She has a Master’s Degree in International Development Studies and Geography from Roskilde University Centre, Denmark. Presently she is working on mainstreaming environment in national development policies in low income countries, providing technical advice/design and supervision of programmes. Specificlly, she is engaged in Mozambique and Rwanda. For more details on the PEI, please see http://www.unpei.org/.

Born in Quetta, Pakistan, Mr. Asif Zaidi has been the Operations Manager of UNEP’s Post-conflict and Disaster Management Branch since 2008. For more than four years prior to this, he was UNEP’s Afghanistan Programme Manager. He is qualified as a medical doctor, and holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from Leeds University, UK. He also studied at Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, USA, and Cranfield University School of Management, UK. His work in public health eventually led him to development work in which he has acquired over two decades of experience in international development and environmental management in Iran, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, while working for the Government of Iran, Aga Khan Development Network and IUCN - The World Conservation Union.

Neda Zawahri (Ph.D. University of Virginia) is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Cleveland State University. Her research interest includes an examination of the management of international river disputes, the role of international institutions in facilitating cooperation, environmental security, and the potential for conflict and cooperation between adversaries. Professor Zawahri’s research focuses on the Middle East and South Asia, where she has conducted extensive field research in India, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. She has published widely on the management of the Indus, Euphrates, Tigris, and Yarmouk Rivers.

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