Welcome to this PhD course !

From Local to Global: Political Ecology, Natural Resource

Conflicts and Environmental Peacebuilding

Who Are You ?

• Where are you from ?

• Discipline ?

• University ?

• Why are you interested in this course ?

• What are your expectations ?

Course Overview

• Module 1: Scales in Environmental Governance

– Session 1: Key concepts

– Session 2: Scales in Environmental governance

– Session 3: Bottom-up and Top-down

– Session 4: International politics

• Module 2: Political Dimensions of Environmental Governance

– Session 5: Political Ecology and Human Ecosystems

Course Overview

– Session 6: Interlinkages: Global security, Trade and Environmental Governance

– Session 7: Transnationality and Global Governance of natural resource extraction

• Module 3: Theory and case studies

– Session 8: Political theory and practice

– Session 9: Abiotic natural resources – case

– Session 10: Animal resources - case

– Session 11: Biotic natural resources - case

Module 1Scales in Environmental Governance

Session 1: Understanding key concepts

Dr. Joshka Wessels

Key concepts

• What is the environment ?

• What is environmental governance ?

• What is global and local governance ?

• What is environmental politics ?

• What is political ecology ?

What is the environment?

• Care about the “environment”

• Environmentalists

• There is no “single environment”

• Are humans separate from the “environment” ?

• Which era are we living ?

• The Anthropocene

• Framing and politics

What is global/local environmental governance?

How do we construct space and place ?

•Commodity chains

•Water sheds

•Ecosystems

•CFC-based refrigirators

•Fish populations

•Geological formations

What is political ecology vs environmental politics ?

Write down your definition of both concepts (10 mins)

What are differences and similarities ?

Environmental Politics

• Immense field of study, cross-cutting theme

• Environmental Politics

– The study of political theories and paradigms related to the environment

– Investigating the positioning of parties

– Environmental policy at multiple geopolitical levels(Neil

Carter, 2009)

Environmental Politics

– Not one definition of environmentalism: a wide variety of discursive fields and frames

– Competing notions on what drives environmental degradation

Environmental Politics

Robert Brulle: four standard approaches of understanding environmental politics

1.Changes in political opportunity structure

2.Movement activities

3.Development and promulgation of new cultural beliefs

4.Condition of the natural environment

Handbook of Politics: State and Society in Global Perspective (2010)  AvKevin T. Leicht,J. Craig Jenkins: pp. 385-405

Political Ecology

Term coined by Frank Thone (1935) "Nature Rambling: We Fight for Grass," The Science Newsletter 27, 717, Jan. 5: 14

“Research has sought primarily to understand the political dynamics surrounding material and discursive struggles over the environment in the third world”

Bryant 1998, p. 89.

Political Ecology

• Humans are political animals and the use of natural resources is a political act in which people interact at different levels between which various power relations exist (Dietz, 1996).

• Political ecology calls for a greater emphasis of study on local power dynamics on common-pool resources and the environment (McCay, 2002; Dietz, 1996).

Political Ecology

Political ecology is an area of social research investigating the environmental dimensions to armed and unarmed conflicts. A basic research question in political ecology looks at who plays a role in resource extraction and maintenance in an environment where people interact at different levels between which various power relations exist (Dietz, 1996).

Political Ecology

Political ecology: “the study of the relationships between political, economic and social factors with environmental issues and changes. Political ecology differs from apolitical ecological studies by politicizing environmental issues and phenomena”

(Wikipedia)

What’s wrong with?

“Man and the environment”