NERPS researchers and collaborators, Dahlia Simangan, Chui Ying Lee, Ayyoob Sharifi, John Lee Candelaria, and Shinji Kaneko published the results of their study of peace and environmental sustainability indices in Earth System Governance.
ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to identify which components of peace are most associated with environmental sustainability. Drawing on the Global Peace Index, Positive Peace Index, and Environmental Performance Index, our study shows that environmental performance (especially regarding air quality, safe sanitation, and safe drinking water) is more closely associated with positive peace (particularly concerning equitable distribution of resources and high levels of human capital) than negative peace (specifically with the degree of militarisation). Our integrative analysis of the indicators also reveals that some low-income countries score high in both negative peace and environmental sustainability, but they often fall short in achieving positive peace outcomes. Therefore, we conclude that positive peace is more conducive to accommodating environmental considerations and the plurality of conditions on which countries achieve and maintain peace and sustainability, which supports the need to integrate environmental indicators in peace indices.
The study was also featured in EurekAlert!, Asia Research News, and Hiroshima University. Below is an excerpt of the news release.
Peace and environmental sustainability — two lofty but vital goals for all countries — are known to be intrinsically related, according to Dahlia Simangan, associate professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hiroshima University. However, researchers still tend to investigate them separately, and, when they are viewed together, it is often with broad strokes, with little examination into the nuances of either peace or environmental sustainability. Parsing out the specifics of these categories could provide insights into what specific elements of peace influence what specific elements of environmental sustainability, and vice versa, which could then better inform policy and decision making.
Photo credit: Dahlia Simangan, Hiroshima University