This document provides an overview of an online PhD course titled "From Local to Global: Political Ecology, Natural Resource Conflicts and Environmental Peacebuilding". The course is divided into three modules that cover key concepts in environmental governance at different scales, the political dimensions of environmental governance, and applying theory to case studies of natural resource conflicts. The first session introduces foundational concepts like different understandings of the environment, global and local environmental governance, political ecology, and environmental politics. Political ecology examines the political dynamics surrounding environmental issues and emphasizes local power dynamics and conflicts over common-pool resources.

1. Welcome to this PhD course !
From Local to Global: Political
Ecology, Natural Resource
Conflicts and Environmental
Peacebuilding

2. Who Are You ?
• Where are you from ?
• Discipline ?
• University ?
• Why are you interested in this course ?
• What are your expectations ?

3. 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

4. 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

5. Module 1
Scales in Environmental Governance
Session 1: Understanding key concepts
Dr. Joshka
Wessels

6. Key concepts
• What is the environment ?
• What is environmental governance ?
• What is global and local governance ?
• What is environmental politics ?
• What is political ecology ?

7. 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

8. 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

10. What is political ecology vs
environmental politics ?
Write down your definition of both concepts (10 mins)
What are differences and similarities ?

11. 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)

12. Environmental Politics
– Not one definition of environmentalism: a wide variety
of discursive fields and frames
– Competing notions on what drives environmental
degradation

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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).

16. 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).

17. 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)

18. What’s wrong with?
“Man and the environment”