Human-wildlife conflicts are a global phenomenon of increasing importance. This refers to conflicts that arise between humans and wild animals over shared, limited resources. These are usually based on social tensions between different groups of people and often reflect profound differences of opinion. The most prominent case in Germany probably concerns the wolf. Its return to a cultural landscape densely populated by humans is not without conflict. The aim of the dissertation project is to answer the question of what causes local conflicts between humans and wild animals. Fundamental questions about land use change, the compatibility of wilderness and our cultural landscape and how to deal with natural hazards are addressed.

The PhD project is part of the project "Tug of War: Customary and State Actors in Land Reform and their Impact on Human Security in Post-Conflict Societies"

The dissertation project investigates the ongoing transformation processes in Sierra Leone in the context of the 2022 land reform. It focuses on assessing the impact on the country's social fabric and human security dynamics. Land governance in Sierra Leone is closely intertwined with the authority sphere of customary authorities and remains a sensitive issue in the post-conflict setting. Particular emphasis is placed on the interplay and tensions among customary authorities, the government, and civil society organizations, as well as on the involvement and influence of international donors in shaping the reform process.

In 2023, Christopher Rohles conducted extensive field research in Sierra Leone, including semi-structured interviews with representatives of government institutions, civil society organizations, international donors, customary authorities, and the private sector.

Land reform in post-conflict environments must address a wide range of issues-for example, the coexistence of multiple land tenure systems, legal ambiguity, conflicting claims, and unclear boundaries or access rights. Therefore, access to and control over land often remains a sensitive issue in the aftermath of war and may precipitate tensions between traditional and state institutions over spheres of authority. The success of post-war land reform is usually determined by the development of accountable bureaucratic institutions, transparent land markets and economic development, and less by their de facto impact on the renegotiation of authority or social cohesion in post-conflict contexts.

This project aims to understand whether the unintended consequences of land reform may pose a security risk to or facilitate post-war social cohesion-a key factor for stability and peace. Our research integrates a security perspective with an emphasis on state-customary authority interdependencies, as well as the community and political security which is particularly important in the context of long-term land governance changes and questions of social cohesion. The project will be conducted as an in-depth case study of land reform in Sierra Leone including qualitative data collection during field research through participant observation and interviews with state agents, customary authority representatives, members of civil society organizations, and international organizations. In contrast to rather technical studies on the impacts of land reforms, this project contributes an original perspective to the peacebuilding field and seeks to develop security policy concepts for practitioners and policymakers.

Failure of public administration in natural resource sectors is strongly linked to civil conflict and human insecurity. In recent years, acknowledgment of the security dimension of natural resource management sparked a dramatic increase of reform measures on peacebuilding and development agendas. While the devastating effects of bad natural resource governance on human security are a major motivator for transformative efforts, studies evaluating the success of reform strategies predominantly focus on the administrative macro-level, neglecting their impact on the individual and collective security of populations affected by conflict and resource extraction/destructive exploitation. This research project aims to fill this gap by investigating resource sector reforms through the analytical framework of human security. To this aim, the research project will conduct an in-depth case study of a natural resource sector that is linked to conflict proneness and that has been subject to ambitious reforms: The forest sector in Liberia. Through extensive field research and an exploratory research design, the project aims to shed light on the direct and indirect linkages between resource sector reforms and various dimensions of human security.

Since the late 1950s/early 1960 the thesis of a so-called resource curse (also known as the paradox of plenty) regularly stimulated debates about a conflict-resource-nexus. Generally the term describes the empirical observation that countries with an abundance of natural resources (like fossils and certain minerals) are prone to (violent) conflict, grievances in the extractive industries, less or predatory economic growth, less democracy and limited chances for (sustainable) development than countries with fewer natural resources. In sum, there is still a vivid academic debate about theories and reasons for observed adverse outcomes. Although the resource curse might not be universal or inevitable, most experts believe that wealth of natural resources, the management of natural resource wealth more specifically, affect certain types of countries or regions under certain conditions.

Especially when thinking of former war-economies the management of natural resource wealth is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for peacebuilding processes in these post-conflict societies. While the need for security-sensitive natural resource management is slowly gaining the attention of national and international policy makers, measures aiming to foster good governance in natural resource sectors rarely take into account the impacts of natural resource management on the security and well-being of conflict-affected populations. This research project takes a human security perspective on natural resource governance in post-conflict societies. In a comparative study it investigates two cases of resource sectors strongly linked to violent conflict in the West African region: The diamond markets in Sierra Leone and Liberia have been linked by violent conflict and have since undergone comparable changes in governance. Through analysis and systematic comparison of these two cases, the project will determine how resource sector governance transformation impacts human security on the micro-level of communities affected by conflict and resource extraction.

Forests are one of Liberia's most important resources. In addition to their economic and conservation value, forests are a vital source of food, charcoal and medicines for a large number of people in one of the poorest countries in the world. The history of forest management in Liberia has been rife with unsustainable and unaccountable practices that culminated in the funding of the Liberian civil war through the international trade in tropical timber. This project aims to enhance forest governance in Liberia by supporting communal forest management. Community forestry is a key element of present day forest governance in Liberia. The core idea of community forestry is to empower local communities to manage their forests sustainably and to ensure that they are the primary beneficiaries of the commercial use of their environmental assets. In reality, however, community forestry has been characterized by the consequences of a lack of education, corruption and unequal power relations that prevent communities from effectively protecting and profiting from their natural resources. This project is a collaboration between the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate and the Liberian grassroots organization Foundation for Communities Initiatives. The project aims to enhance the role of women in forest governance bodies. By providing women with a comprehensive education on community forestry and enabling them to take up concrete positions in the management of their forests, the project aims to make community forestry more transparent, equitable and to broaden the scope of its beneficiaries. In addition, the project will help communities affected by large-scale forestry to develop alternative income opportunities to secure their livelihoods.

Natural resources have been intimately tied with social conflict in Liberia. As they continue to play a central role in Liberia's post-war economic strategy the question arises how conflicts surrounding the extraction of natural resources can be mitigated. The country's only national park and its surrounding forest areas represent a micro-cosmos in which the conflicting dynamics of environmental conservation, the protection of local livelihoods and the economic use of natural resource deposits come together. Sapo National Park is among the most unique and most threatened ecosystems worldwide. The 700 square-mile forest is home to numerous protected and endangered species, including the pygmy hippo, forest elephants, the giant pangolin, western chimpanzees, and various rare duikers. International organizations and national agencies have put the need to conserve the park's outstanding biodiversity high on the policy agenda. At the same time, the forest has traditionally provided a livelihood for local populations relying on its resources for meat, charcoal, medicine as well as subsistence income from chainsaw milling, hunting and mining. Though resource extraction within the park is prohibited, several large-scale concessions within the park's vicinity increase the pressure on local populations and wildlife.

This project investigates how Liberia struggles to reconcile the need to preserve its protected forest with the needs of local communities relying on forest resources for their survival.

The project is funded by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Gerda Henkel Foundation and is part of the "Uncovering Security - Emerging Threats" programme, run by the two donor organizations and the Stanley Foundation. The program aims to bring together journalists and academics to collaborate on emerging and underreported security threats.