Philippe Le Billon

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Philippe Le Billon
Alma materOxford University University Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne
AwardsFulbright Research Chair, UC Berkeley; IAS Scholar, Princeton; International Geneva Award
Scientific career
Fieldspolitical ecology, development studies, geopolitics

Philippe Le Billon is a researcher known for his work in political ecology and on the political economy of war. A Fulbright Research Chair at UC Berkeley [1] and Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, [2] Le Billon is a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) with the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. [3] He earned an MBA at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris and a doctorate at the University of Oxford. [4] Prior to joining UBC he collaborated with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Contents

Contributions

Working on the environment-development-security nexus, he is the (co)author of about one hundred refereed articles and several books, [5] including on conflict diamonds, [6] corruption in armed conflicts, [7] environmental defenders, [8] extractive industries, [9] fish crimes, [10] fossil fuel phase-out initiatives [11] (e.g. fossil fuel cuts database with Nicolas Gaulin), [12] and the political economy of natural disasters and armed conflicts. [13]

Le Billon served on the editorial board of Political Geography and Environment and Security, [14] the scientific advisory board of Swisspeace, [15] and the founding board of Environmental Peacebuilding Association. [16] His academic research in published in journals such as African Affairs, Annals of the AAG, Antipode, Climate Policy, Geopolitics, Global Environmental Change, Political Geography, Review of International Political Economy, and Science Advances. [17] Some of his research also appeared in AP, CBC, [18] CCTV, Christian Science Monitor, [19] The Globe and Mail, Die Zeit, [20] The Guardian, [21] Financial Times, [22] and The Washington Post. [23] He regularly writes for Policy Options [24] and The Conversation, [25] and collaborates with international and non-governmental organizations. [26]

Notable works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmentalist</span> Someone who supports the goals of the environmental movement

An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities". An environmentalist is engaged in or believes in the philosophy of environmentalism or one of the related philosophies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fossil fuel</span> Fuel formed over millions of years from dead plants and animals

A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material such as coal, oil, and natural gas, formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. Fossil fuels may be burned to provide heat for use directly, to power engines, or to generate electricity. Some fossil fuels are refined into derivatives such as kerosene, gasoline and propane before burning. The origin of fossil fuels is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing organic molecules created by photosynthesis. The conversion from these materials to high-carbon fossil fuels typically require a geological process of millions of years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blood diamond</span> Diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance conflict

Blood diamonds are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a warlord's activity. The term is used to highlight the negative consequences of the diamond trade in certain areas, or to label an individual diamond as having come from such an area. Diamonds mined during the 20th–21st century civil wars in Angola, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau have been given the label. The term conflict resource refers to analogous situations involving other natural resources. Blood diamonds can also be smuggled by organized crime syndicates so that they could be sold on the black market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exploitation of natural resources</span> Use of natural resources for economic growth

The exploitation or destruction of natural resources is the use of natural resources for economic growth, sometimes with a negative connotation of accompanying environmental degradation. Environmental degradation can result from depletion of natural resources, this would be accompanied by negative effects to the economic growth of the effected areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War economy</span> Actions taken by a state to mobilize its economy for war production

A war economy or wartime economy is the set of contingencies undertaken by a modern state to mobilize its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to sustain the violence." Some measures taken include the increasing of Taylor rates as well as the introduction of resource allocation programs. Approaches to the reconfiguration of the economy differ from country to country.

The resource curse, also known as the paradox of plenty or the poverty paradox, is the phenomenon of countries with an abundance of natural resources having less economic growth, less democracy, or worse development outcomes than countries with fewer natural resources. There are many theories and much academic debate about the reasons for and exceptions to the adverse outcomes. Most experts believe the resource curse is not universal or inevitable but affects certain types of countries or regions under certain conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of climate change</span> Interaction of societies and governments with modern climate change

The politics of climate change results from different perspectives on how to respond to climate change. Global warming is driven largely by the emissions of greenhouse gases due to human economic activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels, certain industries like cement and steel production, and land use for agriculture and forestry. Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have provided the main source of energy for economic and technological development. The centrality of fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive industries has resulted in much resistance to climate friendly policy, despite widespread scientific consensus that such policy is necessary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fossil fuels lobby</span> Lobbying supporting the fossil fuels industry

The fossil fuels lobby includes paid representatives of corporations involved in the fossil fuel industry, as well as related industries like chemicals, plastics, aviation and other transportation. Because of their wealth and the importance of energy, transport and chemical industries to local, national and international economies, these lobbies have the capacity and money to attempt to have outsized influence governmental policy. In particular, the lobbies have been known to obstruct policy related to environmental protection, environmental health and climate action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate justice</span> Term linking the climate crisis with environmental and social justice

Climate justice is a concept that addresses the just division, fair sharing, and equitable distribution of the burdens of climate change and its mitigation and responsibilities to deal with climate change. It has been described as encompassing "a set of rights and obligations, which corporations, individuals and governments have towards those vulnerable people who will be in a way significantly disproportionately affected by climate change." "Justice", "fairness", and "equity" are not completely identical, but they are in the same family of related terms and are often used interchangeably in negotiations and politics. Applied ethics, research and activism using these terms approach anthropogenic climate change as an ethical, legal and political issue, rather than one that is purely environmental or physical in nature. This is done by relating the causes and effects of climate change to concepts of justice, particularly environmental justice and social justice. Climate justice examines concepts such as equality, human rights, collective rights, and the historical responsibilities for climate change.

A resource war is a type of war caused by conflict over resources. In a resource war, there is typically a nation or group that controls the resource and an aggressor that wishes to seize control over said resource. This power dynamic between nations has been a significant underlying factor in conflicts since the late 19th century. Following the rise of industrialization, the amount of raw materials an industrialized nation uses to sustain its activities is heightened.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental issues</span> Concerns and policies regarding the biophysical environment

Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recover in the present situation, and catastrophic if the ecosystem is projected to certainly collapse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green growth</span> Economic growth that is environmentally sustainable

Green growth is a concept in economic theory and policymaking used to describe paths of economic growth that are environmentally sustainable. It is based on the understanding that as long as economic growth remains a predominant goal, a decoupling of economic growth from resource use and adverse environmental impacts is required. As such, green growth is closely related to the concepts of green economy and low-carbon or sustainable development. A main driver for green growth is the transition towards sustainable energy systems. Advocates of green growth policies argue that well-implemented green policies can create opportunities for employment in sectors such as renewable energy, green agriculture, or sustainable forestry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fossil fuel subsidies</span> Financial support by governments for coal, oil, gas, and electricity generated from them

Fossil fuel subsidies are energy subsidies on fossil fuels. They may be tax breaks on consumption, such as a lower sales tax on natural gas for residential heating; or subsidies on production, such as tax breaks on exploration for oil. Or they may be free or cheap negative externalities; such as air pollution or climate change due to burning gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Some fossil fuel subsidies are via electricity generation, such as subsidies for coal-fired power stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Ekins</span>

Professor Paul Ekins OBE is a British academic in the field of sustainable economics, currently Professor of Resources and Environment Policy at University College London. He was formerly co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre (2004–2014). He is a former member of the Green Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate security</span> Environmental aspect of geopolitics

Climate security is a political and policy framework that looks at the impacts of climate on security. Climate security often refers to the national and international security risks induced, directly or indirectly, by changes in climate patterns. It is a concept that summons the idea that climate-related change amplifies existing risks in society that endangers the security of humans, ecosystems, economy, infrastructure and societies. Climate-related security risks have far-reaching implications for the way the world manages peace and security. Climate actions to adapt and mitigate impacts can also have a negative effect on human security if mishandled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shared Socioeconomic Pathways</span> How the world might change up to the end of the 21st century

Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) are scenarios of projected socioeconomic global changes up to 2100. They are used to derive greenhouse gas emissions scenarios with different climate policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land defender</span> Type of activist

A land defender, land protector, or environmental defender is an activist who works to protect ecosystems and the human right to a safe, healthy environment. Often, defenders are members of Indigenous communities who are protecting property rights of ancestral lands in the face of expropriation, pollution, depletion, or destruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental conflict</span> Social conflict caused by environmental factors

Environmental conflicts or ecological distribution conflicts (EDCs) are social conflicts caused by environmental degradation or by unequal distribution of environmental resources. The Environmental Justice Atlas documented 3,100 environmental conflicts worldwide as of April 2020 and emphasised that many more conflicts remained undocumented. Parties involved in these conflicts include locally affected communities, states, companies and investors, and social or environmental movements; typically environmental defenders are protecting their homelands from resource extraction or hazardous waste disposal. Resource extraction and hazardous waste activities often create resource scarcities, pollute the environment, and degrade the living space for humans and nature, resulting in conflict. A particular case of environmental conflicts are forestry conflicts, or forest conflicts which "are broadly viewed as struggles of varying intensity between interest groups, over values and issues related to forest policy and the use of forest resources". In the last decades, a growing number of these have been identified globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Bakker</span> Canadian academic

Karen Bakker is a Canadian author, researcher, and entrepreneur known for her work on digital transformation, environmental governance, and sustainability. A Rhodes Scholar with a PhD from Oxford, Bakker is a professor at the University of British Columbia. In 2022–2023 she will be on sabbatical leave at Harvard, as a Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Stanford University's Annenberg Fellowship in Communication, Canada's "Top 40 Under 40", and a Trudeau Foundation Fellowship.

The electric vehicle supply chain comprises the mining and refining of raw materials and the manufacturing processes that produce lithium ion batteries and other components for electric vehicles. The lithium-ion battery supply chain is a major component of the overall EV supply chain, and the battery accounts for 30%-40% of the value of the vehicle. Lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, and manganese are all critical minerals that are necessary for electric vehicle batteries. There is rapidly growing demand for these materials because of growth in the electric vehicle market, which is driven largely by the proposed transition to renewable energy. Securing the supply chain for these materials is a major world economic issue. Recycling and advancement in battery technology are proposed strategies to reduce demand for raw materials. Supply chain issues could create bottlenecks, increase costs of EVs and slow their uptake.

References

  1. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon". live-canada-d8.pantheon.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  2. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon - Scholars | Institute for Advanced Study". www.ias.edu. 2022-02-03. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  3. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon". School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  4. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon". Department of Geography. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  5. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon". scholar.google.ca. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  6. ↑ Le Billon, Philippe (2008-04-15). "Diamond Wars? Conflict Diamonds and Geographies of Resource Wars". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 98 (2): 345–372. doi: 10.1080/00045600801922422 . ISSN   0004-5608. S2CID   218640059.
  7. ↑ Le Billon, Philippe (May 2003). "Buying peace or fuelling war: the role of corruption in armed conflicts". Journal of International Development. 15 (4): 413–426. doi:10.1002/jid.993. ISSN   0954-1748.
  8. ↑ Le Billon, Philippe; Lujala, Päivi (2020-11-01). "Environmental and land defenders: Global patterns and determinants of repression". Global Environmental Change. 65: 102163. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102163. ISSN   0959-3780. S2CID   225119151.
  9. ↑ Gamu, J., Le Billon, P., & Spiegel, S. (2015). Extractive industries and poverty: A review of recent findings and linkage mechanisms. The Extractive Industries and Society, 2(1), 162-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2014.11.001; Conde, M., & Le Billon, P. (2017). Why do some communities resist mining projects while others do not?. The Extractive Industries and Society, 4(3), 681-697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2017.04.009
  10. ↑ Belhabib, Dyhia; Le Billon, Philippe (2022-03-25). "Fish crimes in the global oceans". Science Advances. 8 (12): eabj1927. Bibcode:2022SciA....8J1927B. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abj1927. ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   8942372 . PMID   35319979.
  11. ↑ Gaulin, Nicolas; Le Billon, Philippe (2020-09-13). "Climate change and fossil fuel production cuts: assessing global supply-side constraints and policy implications". Climate Policy. 20 (8): 888–901. doi:10.1080/14693062.2020.1725409. ISSN   1469-3062. S2CID   214511488.
  12. ↑ "Fossil Fuel Cuts Database". www.fossilfuelcuts.org. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  13. ↑ Le Billon, P., & Waizenegger, A. (2007). Peace in the wake of disaster? Secessionist conflicts and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 32(3), 411-427. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5661.2007.00257.x; Le Billon, P., Suji, M., Baniya, J., Limbu, B., Paudel, D., Rankin, K., ... & Shneiderman, S. (2020). Disaster financialization: Earthquakes, cashflows and shifting household economies in Nepal. Development and Change, 51(4), 939-969. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12603
  14. ↑ "Environment and Security". SAGE Publications Inc. 2022-04-13. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  15. ↑ "Team". swisspeace. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  16. ↑ "Environmental Peacebuilding Association Launched to Improve Learning and Action on Environment, Conflict, and Peace | Environmental Law Institute". www.eli.org. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  17. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon". scholar.google.ca. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  18. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon | CBC". CBC News . 2022-06-04. Archived from the original on 2023-01-14.
  19. ↑ "Foreign affairs: 23 new books I wish Obama and Romney would read". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN   0882-7729 . Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  20. ↑ "ZEIT ONLINE | Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl". www.zeit.de. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  21. ↑ "Revealed: oil giants pay billions less tax in Canada than abroad". the Guardian. 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  22. ↑ "The week in energy: Cold climate talks". Financial Times. 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  23. ↑ "Can ISIS overcome the insurgency resource curse?". The Washington Post . 2014-07-02. Archived from the original on 2022-02-05.
  24. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon". Policy Options. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  25. ↑ "Philippe Le Billon". The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  26. ↑ Le Billon, P. (2011). Extractive sectors and illicit financial flows: What role for revenue governance initiatives?. U4 Issue, 2011(13); https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/Policy-Matters-Issue-22-vol3.pdf
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