We hope you will join us for our next meeting of the Environment-Security Cross-Cutting Initiative on "Conservation and Peacebuilding". The meeting will be held on Monday, March 10th from 12:00pm - 2:00 pm.

We will be joined by guest, Dr. Saleem Ali, who will explore the findings of his most recent edited volume, Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution(MIT Press, September, 2007)

PLEASE RSVP to Jen Mulvey at jmulvey@ciesin.columbia.edu or 845-365-8988 by March 7, so we can order the right amount of food.

Event Description:

Saleem will be discussing his recent work on transboundary conservation zones and their role in peacebuilding and international cooperation.

We would also like to discuss the case study of the Virunga National Park by Patricia Kameri-Mbote from the University of Nairobi published
by UNEP and the Woodrow Wilson Center.  Please focus on pages 13-42. In addition, on February 28th, 2008, the governments of Rwanda, Congo,
and Uganda launched a strategic 10-year Transboundary Strategic Plan for the Central Albertine Rift Protected Area Network.

Please see "Environmental Conflict and Cooperation in the African Great Lakes Region: A Case Study of the Virungas"

Saleem H. Ali Bio:

Associate Professor of Environmental  Studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Natural  Resources, and  on the adjunct faculty of Brown  University's   Watson Institute for International StudiesFor the 2007-2008 academic year, he is  also serving as the Associate Dean for Graduate Education in Natural  Resources at the University of Vermont. His research focuses on the  causes and  consequences of environmental conflicts and how ecological factors can  promote  peace. He is also on the visting faculty for the United Nations mandated University for Peace(Costa  Rica), where he teaches a course on Indigenous Environment and  Development Conflicts. Much of his empirical research has focused on  environmental  conflicts in  the mineral sector and he is the author of  Mining, the Environment and Indigenous Development Conflicts (published the University  of Arizona Press,  fall 2003). His most recent edited volume isPeace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution(MIT Press, September, 2007),  which has received cover endorsements from E.O.  Wilson, George Schaller and Achim Steiner, and a foreword by Julia  Marton-Lefevre.

Dr.  Ali is also a member  of the expert advisory group on  environmental conflicts for the United Nations Environment Programme  with a  specific interest in transboundary conservation zones. As part of this  effort, he is a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and the IUCN Taskforce on Transboundary Conservation. He has also been involved  in promoting environmental education in  madrassahs (Islamic religious schools) and using techniques from  environmental  planning to study the rise of these institutions in his ethnic homeland  -- Pakistan,  under a grant from the United States Institute of Peace.

 Some  of his current research on environmental health perception in mining  areas and social resposibility in the mining sector is supported by the  Tiffany &Co. Foundation .
 

Prior  to embarking on an academic career, Dr. Ali has worked  as an environmental health and safety professional atGeneral Electric  (based at GE headquarters in Fairfield,  CT, and at silicone resin  manufacturing sites in New  York). He has served  as a consultant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceand Health Canada  as an Associate at the Boston-based consulting firm Industrial Economics Inc.   Pro bono projects include a mining impact prospectus for the Crowe  Tribe of Montana  and research assistance to Cultural Survival (an indigenous rights NGO).
 

He is  also a professional mediator and has conducted workshops on  consenus-building for private and public interests, as well as peer  review of research publications for the World Bank, the , The  Woodrow Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
, the Journal of Environmental Management, the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, the Natural Resources Forum  and Yale University Press.
    
 Research appointments include a Public Policy Fellowship at Griffith University in Brisbane,  Australia, a Baker Foundation Research Fellowshipat Harvard Business  School and a parliamentary internship at the U.K. House of Commons. Teaching  experience includes courses on environmental planning, conflict  resolution,  industrial ecology, research methods and technical writing. Professor  Ali  received his doctorate in Environmental Planning from the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an  M.E.S. in environmental law and policy from Yale  University, and his  Bachelors in  Chemistry from Tufts University (summa  cum laude).