People load crops onto a trailer behind a tractor

Political Ecology

Projects

DSI: FORest CiTizenship for disaster rEsilence: learning from COVID-19 (FORTE)
01/04/2022 → 30/04/2025
Research

‘Glocalising’ transboundary water governance: Knowledge, Scale and Practices.
01/02/2021 → 31/12/2021
Research

Illegal trade & sustainable use of medicinal orchids in Nepal
01/10/2020 → 31/12/2022
Research

RESBEN: Unlocking resilient benefits from African water resources
01/10/2020 → 31/12/2023
Research

Unlocking resilient benefits from African water resources
01/04/2020 → 28/12/2023
Research

Supporting Local Officers and Politicians to Implement Rapid Climate Action
01/01/2020 → 31/12/2020
Research

Governing Nepal’s water resources through Environmental Impact Assessments
15/12/2019 → 15/12/2021
Research

ACTUATE : Accelerating the adoption of circular sanitation demonstration systems for improved health outcomes
01/10/2019 → 31/12/2021
Research

GCRF Hub: Living Deltas
13/02/2019 → 30/09/2024
Research

Blue Seas Thinking: A Comparative Approach to Understanding Deep-Sea Mining Politics in the UK and Japan
01/01/2019 → 31/10/2019
Research

Wildlife in Indonesia, Loss, Damage, & Sanctions (WILDS)
01/10/2018 → 31/03/2021
Research

RECIRCULATE : GCRF: Driving eco-innovation in Africa:capacity-building for a safe circular water economy
01/10/2017 → 31/12/2021
Research

RECIRCULATE : GCRF: Driving eco-innovation in Africa:capacity-building for a safe circular water economy
01/10/2017 → 31/03/2022
Research

Assessing the Mitigation Deterrence Effects of GGRs
01/08/2017 → 30/04/2020
Research

Observatoire socio-économique du projet Koniambo
01/02/2017 → 01/11/2019
Other

The Last 100metres : Safeguarding potable water provisioning to urban informal settlements
01/12/2016 → 30/11/2018
Research

ODYSSEA: Observatory of the Dynamics of Interactions Between Societies and Environment in the Amazon
01/01/2016 → 31/12/2019
Research

Amazonian Cities and Extreme Hydro-Climatic Events: Research to Reduce Vulnerability and Build Resilience
01/01/2015 → 30/09/2016
Research

Predicting urban food insecurity under climate change in Brazilian Amazonia
01/01/2014 → 31/12/2017
Research

Low Carbon Innovation in China - Prospects, Politics and Practice
01/12/2013 → 31/05/2017
Research

Research Activity

Political ecology looks at the relationships between culture, politics and nature. The Political Ecology group is a distinct and vibrant cluster of researchers and students. We offer critical perspectives and research on human-environmental issues, particularly the implications of social and environmental relationships and change in the Global South.

We use a combination of approaches and methodologies, working across academic several disciplines. Our group examines how valuable resources, and the benefits that derive from them, are unequally accessed and shared, giving rise to inequalities, conflict, and policy responses. The group's research in rural and urban contexts have included work on mining and extractive industries; livelihoods and moral economies; the politics of land, water, and ‘green’ grabbing; the relationship between climate change and existing social inequalities; fishing and marine ecosystems; forest policy; sustainable transport; poverty and service delivery; and the political economy of global environmental change. We also address the workings of international development, trade (legal and illegal), agri-food systems, and biodiversity conservation.

We work nationally and internationally with a host of academic, government, civil society and private sector partners – including those in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and South America. We use qualitative and quantitative methods in our research, some of which are co-designed and co-produced with the societies where we work, to support social and environmental justice and sharing of knowledge.

We are a dynamic, diverse and interdisciplinary research group and engage with other clusters of expertise across the University, including:

We also work very closely with members of the Critical Geographies research group, and other groups in LEC, especially the cross-cutting global challenge cluster, Tropical Futures. We are a central node in the international POLLEN network of political ecologists.

Our teaching spans undergraduate degree programmes in Ecology and Conservation and several taught and research Master's degrees including Environment and Development and Sustainable Water Management, and a PhD Programme. We contribute to a number of field-based modules including Amazonia and Paris. Here at Lancaster University, we have also launched MA Political Ecology postgraduate degree: the UK’s first Master’s in Political Ecology.

Conversations in Political Ecology

In this seminar series, ‘Conversations in Political Ecology’, speakers from different backgrounds engage in dialogue around a number of contemporary political ecology approaches and applications. Watch the session videos from the series on YouTube: Conversations in Political Ecology.

Research Highlights