Wilson Center Experts

Geoffrey D. Dabelko

Director, Environmental Change and Security Program and Coordinator, Global Health Initiative

Environmental Change and Security Program

Contact Information:

geoff.dabelko@wilsoncenter.org

T 202/691-4178 // F 202/691-4001

Expertise:

Environment

;

Biodiversity

;

Climate

;

Environmental Peacebuilding

;

Environmental Security

;

Forests

;

Water

;

Global Health

;

Environmental Health

;

Population

Affiliation:

Adjunct Professor, Monterey Institute of International Studies

Geoffrey D. Dabelko is director of the Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP), a nonpartisan policy forum on environment, population, health, and security issues founded in 1994 at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. He is also an adjunct professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Geoff has held prior positions with the Council on Foreign Relations and Foreign Policy and served as a lecturer at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. For over two decades, he has facilitated dialogue among policymakers, practitioners, journalists, and scholars grappling with complex links among environment, population, development, conflict, and security. His current research focuses on climate change and security, and environmental pathways to confidence-building and peacemaking, with a special emphasis on managing transboundary fresh water resources.

Geoff is co-editor with Ken Conca of Environmental Peacemaking (2002) and Green Planet Blues: Four Decades of Global Environmental Politics (4th edition 2010). He blogs on New Security Beat and is also editor of the annual Environmental Change and Security Program Report. He is a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 5th Assessment, Working Group II, Chapter 12 "Human Security."

He is a member of the UN Environment Programme's Expert Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict, and Peacebuilding, contributing editor to Environment, member of the editorial board of Global Environmental Change, member of the Board, Wilton Park USA Foundation, member of the Board of Experts, Center for Unconventional Security Affairs at the University of California, Irvine, and a member of the advisory board of Screenscope, Inc., and its PBS "Journey to Planet Earth" television series initiative. Geoff was principal investigator for ECSP's "Navigating Peace: Forging New Water Partnerships" initiative.

Geoff received a doctorate in government and politics from the University of Maryland and a bachelor's degree in political science from Duke University. He lives in Greenbelt, Maryland, with his wife and three children.

Education

M.A. and Ph.D., Government and Politics, University of Maryland; A.B., Political Science, Duke University

Honors

Term Member, Council on Foreign Relations; Dissertation fellow with the Institute for the Study of World Politics; fellow at the Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda

Experience

Current: Adjunct professor, Monterey Institute of International Studies; lead author, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 5th Assessment, Working Group II, Chapter 12; member, United Nations Environment Programme's Expert Advisory Group on Environment, Conflict, and Peacebuilding; contributing editor, Environment; editorial board member, Global Environmental Change; principal investigator, Navigating Peace Water Initiative; member, Circle of Blue advisory committee; member, and member of the Board, Wilton Park USA Foundation.
Past: Lecturer, Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service; visiting researcher at the International Peace and Research Institute, Oslo; co-vice chair, Science Committee of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP); project associate, Council on Foreign Relations; editorial assistant, Foreign Policy.

Major Publications

Ken Conca and Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Eds. 2010. Green Planet Blues: Four Decades of Global Environmental Politics. (Boulder, CO: Westview).
Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2009. "Avoid Hyperbole, Oversimplificiation when Climate and Security Meet" Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (August 24).
Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2009. "Planning for Climate Change: The Security Community's Precautionary Principle" Climatic Change Vol 96 (1): 13.
Kent Hughes Butts and Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2009. "One Way to Boost US-China Military Cooperation" Christian Science Monitor (April 21).
Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2008. "An Uncommon Peace: Environment, Development, and the Global Security Agenda." Environment Vol. 50 (3): 32-45.
Karin Bencala and Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2008. "Water Wars: Obscuring Opportunities." Journal of International Affairs Vol. 61 (2): 21-33.
Coleen Vogel, Susanne C. Moser, Roger E. Kasperson, and Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2007. "Linking Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience Science to Practice: Players, Pathways and Partnerships." Global Environmental Change (17): 349–364.
Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2005. "Speaking their Language: How to Communicate Better with Policymakers and Opinion Shapers – and Why Academics Should Bother in the First Place" International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law, and Economics 5:4 (December): 381-386.
Aaron T. Wolf, Annika Kramer, Alexander Carius and Geoffrey D. Dabelko "Managing Water Conflict and Cooperation", State of the World 2005: Redefining Global Security (Norton, 2005): 80-95.
Ken Conca, Alexander Carius, and Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2005. "Building Peace Through Environmental Cooperation," with Ken Conca and Alexander Carius, State of the World 2005: Redefining Global Security (Norton): 144-155.
Alexander Carius and Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2004. "Institutionalizing Responses to Environment, Conflict, and Cooperation," Understanding Environment, Conflict, and Cooperation (Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme): 21-33.
Ken Conca and Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Eds. 2004. Green Planet Blues: Global Environmental Politics From Stockholm to Johannesburg, 3rd Ed, (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Ed. Environmental Change and Security Program Report (annual journal).
Ken Conca and Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 2002. Environmental Peacemaking, (Washington and Baltimore: Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Johns Hopkins University Press).
Geoffrey D. Dabelko. 1999. "The Environmental Factor," The Wilson Quarterly, 23:4 (Autumn,): 14-19.

Related Content for this Expert

What Would It Take To Help People and the Planet?

Feb 01, 2012

We must ask whether investments to protect biologically rich areas are effective and sustainable if they don’t respond to the many needs of the people who live there, writes ECSP Director Geoff Dabelko in a column for Momentum magazine. more

Seven Ways Seven Billion People Affect the Planet

Oct 31, 2011

Seven billion people now live on earth, only a dozen years after global population hit six billion. But the seven billion milestone is not about sheer numbers: Demographic trends will significantly impact the planet’s resources and peoples’ security. more

Our Shared Future: Environmental Pathways to Peace

Aug 25, 2011

This report draws from the dialogue and seminar papers shared at a January 2010 meeting co-hosted by the Wilson Center and the Fetzer Institute to explore the affect of globalization on natural resource issues such as water on local, national, and international levels. Examining the effect of environmental peacebuilding on communities, the discussion explored how governments, NGOs, the private sector, and other interested parties can generate positive outcomes while minimizing negative ones. more

Women and Water: Streams of Development

September 23, 2011 // 12:00pm — 1:15pm

Women and water are inextricably linked around the world. Responsibility for fetching and using water commonly rests – quite literally – on the shoulders of women and girls. This burden exacts a high toll across sectors, negatively impacting health, education, economy, agriculture, gender equity, and political stability. more

The Environment and Human Rights: the International Community’s Responses to Emerging Local and Global Challenges

September 14, 2011 // 11:00am — 1:00pm

This event will address the interrelation between environmental damage and human rights, and examine how the international community—and in particular the UN—has approached this issue at a local and global level and discuss possible ways to optimize approaches and processes. more

Harnessing Natural Resources for Peacebuilding: Lessons From U.S. and Japanese Assistance

July 20, 2011 // 8:30am — 5:00pm

This symposium celebrates the development of Harnessing Natural Resources for Peacebuilding: Lessons from U.S. and Japanese Assistance. Several contributors discuss lessons for development and security practitioners on the roles of natural resource management in conflict and peacebuilding; lessons on conflict dynamics and power structures in post-conflict situations; and, development challenges in post-conflict natural resource management programs. more

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