Tobias Ide (scholar) explained

Tobias Ide is a German-Australian political scientist and geographer. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Murdoch University in Perth^[1] and Specially Appointed Professor of Peace and Sustainability at Hiroshima University.^[2] Ide is well known for his research on climate security and environmental peacebuilding.^[3] He also consults decision makers, for instance at the United Nations, World Bank, and NATO.^[4]

Research

Ide has worked extensively on the impacts of climate change and conflict risks. In several studies, he showed that climate-related disasters increase the risk of protests, armed conflict onset, and civil war escalation. However, he argues that this does not happen always and automatically, but only if certain context factors are present. These include the political exclusion of ethnic groups, low levels of development, a weakening of the government, and unsuitable government responses to the disaster.^{[5] [6] [7]} He finds similar patterns when analysing conflicts about renewable resources.^[8] In his 2023 book Catastrophes, Confrontations, and Constraints, Ide argues that disasters can also lead to temporary reductions in conflict intensity by weakening the conflict parties. Such time periods provide windows of opportunity for aid delivery and conflict resolution.^[9]

Furthermore, Ide has conducted widely cited research on environmental peacebuilding. He demonstrated that water and conservation cooperation between states can support already existing reconciliation efforts, drawing on examples like the Lempa River and the Virunga National Park.^[10] He also argues that environmental cooperation contributes to peacebuilding within countries by improving the environmental situation, increasing trust and understanding, and building shared institutions. Such efforts can contribute to local and everyday peace if relevant institutions support the efforts and there is widespread agreement on the nature and urgency of environmental problems.^[11]

Ide has coined the concept of the “dark side of environmental peacebuilding”,^[12] by which he refers to six potential adverse effects of environmental peacebuilding efforts:

• depoliticization (of underlying conflict drivers),
• (unvoluntary) displacement of people (e.g., by cooperative dam projects),
• discrimination of certain groups,
• deterioration into conflict (due to grievances about the efforts),
• delegitimization of the state (if NGOs and international actors perform more successful environmental management), and
• degradation of the environment (e.g., cooperative resource exploitation).^[12]

These adverse effects are often unintended and avoidable. In 2022, he received the Enhancing the Environmental Peacebuilding Knowledge Base Award for this work.^[13]

Career

Ide was born in 1985. He studied Political Science and Media and Communication Studies at the University of Leipzig (2005–2012). Afterwards, he went on to receive a PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Hamburg (2015) and his habilitation in Political Science from the Technical University of Braunschweig (2019). After his PhD, he worked at the Georg Eckert Institute and at the University of Melbourne. He was also a visiting researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the American University in Washington, DC.^{[1] [14] [15]}

Impact and awards

Media and decision makers have drawn on Ide's research. He was worked with the World Bank (Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction),^[16] the United Nations (UN Economic and Social Council),^[17] NATO, the European Union,^[4] and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,^[18] among others. Ide's work featured in many news articles, including in the Atlantic,^[19] CTV News, de Volkskrant,^[20] Publico,^[21] Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF),^[22] Courthouse News Service,^[23] as well as in podcasts like Policy, Guns & Money,^[24] POLIS180^[25] and New Books in World Affairs.^[26]

Ide received several awards for his research. These include:

• the 2023 Emerging Peace Studies Scholar Award of the International Studies Association,^[27]
• the 2023 International Science Prize for Peace and Ecology in the Anthropocene (awarded by the Foundation),^{[14] [28] [29]}
• the 2022 Enhancing the Environmental Peacebuilding Knowledge Base Award (awarded by the Environmental Peacebuilding Association.^{[13] [30]}

Ide is a director of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association^[30] and editor of the journal Environment and Security.^[31] His work has been cited 2,828 times according to GoogleScholar (June 2024).^[3]

Selected publications

• Ide, Tobias (2023): Catastrophes, confrontations, and constraints: how disasters shape the dynamics of armed conflicts. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Ide, Tobias (2023): Rise or recede? How climate disasters affect armed conflict intensity. International Security 47(4), pp. 50–78.
• Ide, Tobias, McKenzie F. Johnson, Jon Barnett, Florian Krampe, Philippe Le Billon, Lucile Maertens, Nina von Uexkull and Irene Vélez-Torres (2023): The future of environmental peace and conflict research. Environmental Politics 32(6), pp. 1077–1103.
• Ide, Tobias and Patrick A. Mello (2022): QCA in International Relations: a review of strengths, pitfalls, and empirical applications. International Studies Review 24(1), p. viac008.
• Ge, Quansheng, Mengmeng Hao, Fangyu Ding, Dong Jiang, Jürgen Scheffran, David Helman and Tobias Ide (2022): Modelling armed conflict risk under climate change with machine learning and time-series data. Nature Communications 13(1), p. 2839.
• Ide, Tobias (2021): COVID-19 and armed conflict. World Development 140(1), p. 105355.
• Ide, Tobias, Carl Bruch, Alexander Carius, Ken Conca, Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Richard Matthew and Erica Weinthal (2021): The past and future(s) of environmental peacebuilding. International Affairs 97(1), pp. 1–16.
• Ide, Tobias, Juan Miguel Rodriguez Lopez, Christiane Fröhlich and Jürgen Scheffran (2021): Pathways to water conflict during drought in the MENA region. Journal of Peace Research 58(3), pp. 568–582.
• Ide, Tobias, Lisa Palmer and Jon Barnett (2021): Environmental peacebuilding from below: customary approaches in Timor-Leste. International Affairs 97(1), pp. 103–118.
• Ide, Tobias (2020): The dark side of environmental peacebuilding. World Development 127(1), p. 104777.
• Ide, Tobias, Michael Brzoska, Jonathan F. Donges and Carl-Friedrich Schleussner (2020): Multi-method evidence for when and how climate-related disasters contribute to armed conflict risk. Global Environmental Change 62(1), p. 102063.
• Ide, Tobias and Amit Tubi (2020): Education and environmental peacebuilding: insights from three projects in Israel and Palestine. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 110(1), pp. 1–17.
• Wiederkehr, Charlotte, Tobias Ide, Ralf Seppelt and Kathleen Hermans (2022): It's all about politics: migration and resource conflicts in the global south. World Development 157(1), p. 105938.
• Ide, Tobias (2019): The impact of environmental cooperation on peacemaking: definitions, mechanisms and empirical evidence. International Studies Review 21(3), pp. 327–346.
• Ide, Tobias (2018): Does environmental peacemaking between states work? Insights on cooperative environmental agreements and reconciliation in international rivalries. Journal of Peace Research 55(3), pp. 351–365.
• Ide, Tobias and Adrien Detges (2018): International water cooperation and environmental peacemaking. Global Environmental Politics 18(4), pp. 63–84.
• Ide, Tobias (2018): Climate war in the Middle East? Drought, the Syrian civil war and the state of climate-conflict research. Current Climate Change Reports 4(4), pp. 347–354.
• Adams, Courtland, Tobias Ide, Jon Barnett and Adrien Detges (2018): Sampling bias in climate-conflict research. Nature Climate Change 8(3), pp. 200–203.
• Ide, Tobias (2017): Research methods for exploring the links between climate change and conflict. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change 8(3), pp. 1–14.
• Ide, Tobias (2017): Space, discourse and environmental peacebuilding. Third World Quarterly 38(3), pp. 544–562.
• Ide, Tobias and Christiane Fröhlich (2015): Socio-environmental cooperation and conflict? A discursive understanding and its application to the case of Israel/Palestine. Earth System Dynamics 6(2), pp. 659–671.
• Ide, Tobias (2015): Why do conflicts over scarce renewable resources turn violent? A qualitative comparative analysis. Global Environmental Change 33(1), pp. 61–70.
• Ide, Tobias, Janpeter Schilling, Jasmin S. A. Link, Jürgen Scheffran, Grace Ngaruiya and Thomas Weinzierl (2014): On exposure, vulnerability and violence: spatial distribution of risk factors for climate change and violent conflict across Kenya and Uganda. Political Geography 43(1), pp. 68–81.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Research Portal . 2024-06-03 . researchportal.murdoch.edu.au.
2. Web site: Cross-Appointed Faculty Members (Specially Appointed Professors/Associate Professors) . 2024-06-03 . Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability . en-US.
3. Web site: Tobias Ide . 2024-06-03 . scholar.google.com.
4. Web site: Ide . Tobias . 2024-05-31 . Tobias Ide, Author at Peace News Network . 2024-06-03 . Peace News Network . en-US.
5. Ide . Tobias . 2023 . Rise or Recede? How Climate Disasters Affect Armed Conflict Intensity . International Security . 47 . 4 . 50–78 . 10.1162/isec_a_00459 . 0162-2889. free .
6. Ide . Tobias . Brzoska . Michael . Donges . Jonathan F. . Schleussner . Carl-Friedrich . 2020-05-01 . Multi-method evidence for when and how climate-related disasters contribute to armed conflict risk . Global Environmental Change . 62 . 102063 . 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102063 . 2020GEC....6202063I . 0959-3780.
7. Ide . Tobias . Lopez . Miguel Rodriguez . Fröhlich . Christiane . Scheffran . Jürgen . 3 May 2021 . Pathways to water conflict during drought in the MENA region . Journal of Peace Research . en . 58 . 3 . 568–582 . 10.1177/0022343320910777 . 0022-3433. 11343/252107 . free .
8. Ide . Tobias . 2015-07-01 . Why do conflicts over scarce renewable resources turn violent? A qualitative comparative analysis . Global Environmental Change . 33 . 61–70 . 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.04.008 . 2015GEC....33...61I . 0959-3780. free .
9. Book: Ide, Tobias . Catastrophes, Confrontations, and Constraints: How Disasters Shape the Dynamics of Armed Conflicts . 6 June 2023 . MIT Press . 9780262545556 . 6 June 2023 . 10.7551/mitpress/14970.001.0001.
10. Ide . Tobias . 3 May 2018 . Does environmental peacemaking between states work? Insights on cooperative environmental agreements and reconciliation in international rivalries . Journal of Peace Research . en . 55 . 3 . 351–365 . 10.1177/0022343317750216 . 0022-3433.
11. Ide . Tobias . 2018-03-23 . The Impact of Environmental Cooperation on Peacemaking: Definitions, Mechanisms, and Empirical Evidence . International Studies Review . 21 . 3 . 327–346 . 10.1093/isr/viy014 . 1521-9488.
12. Ide . Tobias . 2020-03-01 . The dark side of environmental peacebuilding . World Development . 127 . 104777 . 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104777 . 0305-750X.
13. Web site: Awards - Environmental Peacebuilding . 2024-06-03 . www.environmentalpeacebuilding.org.
14. Web site: Hans Günter Brauch Foundation . 2024-06-03 . www.hgb-stiftung.org.
15. Web site: Braunschweig . Technische Universität . PD Dr. Tobias Ide . 2024-06-03 . www.tu-braunschweig.de . en.
16. Interview with Dr. Tobias Ide, Author of Catastrophes, Confrontations, and Constraints . 2023-12-12 . GFDRR . 2024-06-03 . YouTube.
17. Web site: UN-ECOSOC . CEPA 22nd session - List of participants . 2024-06-03.
18. Web site: 2024-02-27 . When Adapting to Climate Change and Preventing Mass Atrocities Go Together - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . 2024-06-03 . www.ushmm.org . en-US.
19. Web site: Meyer . Robinson . 2018-02-12 . Does Climate Change Cause More War? . 2024-06-03 . The Atlantic . en.
20. Web site: Keulemans . Maarten . 2018-02-12 . Rol klimaatverandering in oorlogen wordt overschat: 'Wetenschappelijke tunnelvisie' . 2024-06-03 . . nl.
21. Web site: Serafim . Teresa . 2018-02-27 . Até que ponto as alterações climáticas causam conflitos? . 2024-06-03 . PÚBLICO . pt.
22. Web site: 2018-03-20 . Klimawandel - Der Klimawandel führt zu Konflikten: eine steile These . 2024-06-03 . Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) . de.
23. Web site: Solis . Nathan . 2 April 2020 . Climate-Related Disasters Boost Risk of Conflict in Vulnerable Countries . 2024-06-03.
24. Web site: 12 May 2023 . Policy, Guns & Money Podcast May 2023 . Australian Strategic Policy Institute . 2024-06-03.
25. Web site: ClimateConflict: Episode 1 – Tobias Ide – Polis180 . 2024-06-03 . de-DE.
26. Web site: Tobias Ide, "Catastrophes, Confrontations, and Constraints: How Disasters Shape the Dynamics of Armed Conflicts" (MIT Press, 2023) . 2024-06-03 . New Books Network . en.
27. Web site: PEACE Emerging Scholar Award . 2024-06-03 . www.isanet.org.
28. Web site: Hans Günter Brauch Foundation home. hgb-stiftung.org. 2024-06-03.
29. Web site: ISA Environmental Studies Section . 15 April 2023 . Spring 2023 newsletter . 2024-06-03.
30. Web site: Welcome to Environmental Peacebuilding Knowledge Platform - Environmental Peacebuilding. www.environmentalpeacebuilding.org. 2024-06-03.
31. Web site: Environment and Security: Sage Journals. 2024-06-03.