Launching a new academic research network on conflict and the environment

Towards recognition of environmental monitoring and assessment in relation to armed conflicts as a discrete discipline.

On 12th December, a new research community the ‘Conflict and Environment Academic Network (CEAN)’ was launched at the 2023 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. In this post, Eoghan Darbyshire explains why the network is needed and what it hopes to achieve.

Introduction

Over the decade, there have been an increasing number of academic studies considering the environmental dimensions of armed conflicts and military activities.¹ This welcome increase in publications means that the environment is slowly moving away from being the “silent victim of war”, a process that is being accelerated by other factors, including rising societal awareness and concern over the environment, and widely covered conflicts like Ukraine and Gaza. Recent research papers have ranged from forest loss in Colombia, to halting ecosystem restoration in Tigray, environmental exposure in refugee settlements, land abandonment in Syria, and to the detection of craters in Ukraine.

Time series shows increase from 20 publicatins per year in 2013, to 90 in 2022. — Figure 1: Academic publications on Web of Science using constrained keyword searches of the top dozen on-topic journals. These searches will not capture all relevant studies, but capture the general trend. Note 2023 is an artificially low count, as many papers that have been published or are in the in-process of being published by year-end are not yet indexed in Web of Science. We plan to capture all publications within the scope of the network and analyse these for research gaps, as well as participation, colonial, and perspective biases.

In spite of this progress, barriers remain before research in this space can truly flourish. In general, the majority of studies occur within geographic or discipline specific silos. At best this can mean there are inefficiencies like duplications; at worst it means that valuable context is missing, or connections between factors are not made. Furthermore, significant grants for long duration investigations remain rare. Often studies are more ad-hoc, based on researchers’ particular interests. In essence, the study of the environment in relation to armed conflicts is not viewed or recognised as a discrete discipline – a core aim of CEAN is to try to change this perception.

Why a new network?

We believe that an interdisciplinary network is necessary for making enduring connections between researchers, to break silos and to simulate different ways of thinking. In turn generating new collaborations for future research projects and groups. Some academics may be naturally inquisitive towards conflicts, but shy away from pursuing research because of perceived reputational or career risks – CEAN can help remove some of these barriers and nurture those new into the field.

We also believe that CEAN can help extend the readership and the impact of research outputs and beyond. It can become a place where academics can interact with other actors in the space, where such help is needed. For example with NGOs, the media, international organisations, think tanks, or even governments. A researcher might have valuable information and insights, but not know the best people or organisations to approach – the network aims to help with this, and catalyse pathways to impact. The community may also be able to collaborate to provide rapid responses to emerging crises, or help combat the increasing environmental disinformation and greenwashing in this space.

Longer term, if the study of the environment in relation to armed conflicts begins to be viewed as a standalone discipline, this will help move the environment up the policy agenda, and may result in increased research funding.

What is the scope?

Studying the environment encompasses a huge diversity of disciplines and we are open to everything from air quality to zoology. And from all forms of monitoring, be it satellite remote sensing, citizen science, routine monitoring, in-situ measurement campaigns, or more novel data techniques like social media scraping or supply chain tracing.

Armed conflicts at all scales generate immediate and reverberating consequences for the environment. Thus the scope of our interests extend in time and space. From monitoring wars in near-real time, to considering the reverberating effects from historic conflicts. The network is open to all engaged in research globally, though primarily at those in or facing academia. In particular, CEAN welcomes members from conflict-affected areas and/or under-represented communities, as well as early career researchers.

A word cloud presenting the potential scope of the new network's research interests.

There are many excellent existing communities and networks that fall under the umbrella of the total environment, and the intent of CEAN is to enhance rather than impinge on their work. For example, we will engage with the likes of the Decentralised Damage Mapping Group (DDMG), the Environmental PeaceBuilding Association (EnPAX), or in-house groups like the King’s College London’s Environmental Security Research Group.

How will it work?

As the network is new, its exact nature remains dynamic, and still to be shaped by its members.

Initially, we will communicate through: quarterly online meetings; a more regular email digest including events, publications, jobs and funding opportunities; and a LinkedIn group to provide space for more detailed open discussion. The central webpage for the network will be updated with recent publications, our member directory and upcoming events.

The format of our online meetings is expected to be:

A science presentation from a member on interesting ongoing work.
Discussion on agenda points circulated in advance and suggested by the network.
Open discussion.

The meetings will be open, inclusive, with rotating chairs, and undertaken to set rules of participation.

The network is hosted by CEOBS and we feel this works for a number of reasons. We have experience acting as a research catalyst, and we occupy a space where we can make connections between research and action. CEOBS has had past success with similar working groups. We also believe that it reduces conflicts of interest surrounding academic funding, and it can also make use of our media connections. At present, this activity is unfunded and we would welcome conversations with potential funders or donors.

Who is involved and how to join

The network was conceived in the run-up to the 2023 AGU Fall Meeting by the conveners of an oral and poster session entitled ‘Advances in Earth Observation and Monitoring Environmental Impacts of Armed Conflicts’. Those at these sessions – convening, chairing, presenting, watching – were the first members of CEAN.

Members of the network can see who else is involved and their contact details in our members directory.

Become a member

If you would like to be involved, at whatever level of engagement, membership is free, and you can find the application form here.

Eoghan Darbyshire is CEOBS’ Senior Researcher. Rob Watson, CEOBS’ Junior Researcher, helped compile the Web of Science time-series and 2023 literature review.

To generate the time-series below, we conducted the following key-word search and chose the top dozen relevant journals – this was done to remove the many false-positive results, and was suitable for the purposes of quickly generating a time-series to show a trend. Key word search: (((armed NEAR/2 (conflict)) OR ” war “) AND (environment OR water OR vegetation OR climate OR emissions OR pollut* OR contamina* OR “remote sensing” OR soil OR fire* OR toxic* OR ecosystem OR “land use” OR “waste”)). The search can be replicated at this link.