Lunch Lecture: Wars on a warming planet: are climate change and armed conflict linked?

We are pleased to welcome Dr Marie Schellens, an environmental researcher at the peacebuilding organisation PAX (NL) and a part-time lecturer at the University Centre of the Westfjords, as our next lunch lecture speaker. She will tell us about the environmental costs of war and the links between conflict, climate, and peacebuilding.

Unfortunately, we are seeing a resurgence in the number of wars and their victims in recent years. Simultaneously, we are experiencing a “triple planetary crisis” (as the UN likes to call it): (1) pollution, (2) the loss of nature, and (3) the climate crisis are exceeding scientifically established safety standards worldwide and taking their collective toll on our ecosystems, society, and economy.

These two distinct global challenges, namely the environment and conflict, are increasingly being mentioned in one go. But what exactly is going on? Does climate change lead to more war? What are the consequences of war for the environment, and by extension, for the health and livelihoods of those left behind in war zones? How much greenhouse gases are emitted by war? Is our green energy transition leading to a rush for conflict minerals?

This lunch lecture highlights the various ways in which climate change, pollution, and war reinforce each other, but also how environmental and climate action are increasingly integrated into peacebuilding and how cooperation around shared resources, nature, and climate can foster trust and reconciliation

Marie Schellens, geospatial/environmental analyst at peace organization PAX (NL), monitors war-related environmental damage with satellite data in collaboration with civil society organisations from conflict-affected countries. She builds the evidence -base towards stronger international norms and policies on environment, climate and conflict and supports the integration of environmental initiatives in peace work. She holds a PhD on the role of natural resources in conflicts from the University of Stockholm and worked for several years at the Conflicts and Disasters Branch of the UN Environment Program.

The presentation will take place in the cafeteria at the University Centre of the Westfjords and will start at 12:10

The lunch lecture will be held in english