Vulnerable Communities

Environment, Change, and Conflict

The Vulnerable Communities programme brings together  the Environmental Change Institute, the School of Geography, and the Refugee Studies Programme of the University of Oxford to develop the concept of vulnerability and to advance understanding of the interaction between humanitarian concerns and environmental change.

The broad aim of the programme is to reduce the number and impact of emerging crises on the world’s vulnerable peoples through advancing understanding among key policy-makers, operational and relief organisations on the interaction between humanitarian concerns, environmental change, and conflict. The Vulnerable Communities programme is committed to:

• Integrated research linking humanitarian concerns, environmental change and development policy
• Building capacity among institutions in developing countries
• Applying knowledge to humanitarian, development, and global change policy

Focus for collaborative research

The Vulnerable Communities programme focuses on three interrelated areas: Climate, livelihoods and food security; Conflict, migration and natural resources; Long-term socio-environmental change and vulnerability.  Specific research examples include:

• Making use of seasonal forecasting of crop yields;
• Climate change in vulnerable societies;
• Environmental contributions to refugees, complex emergencies, forced migration and conflicts associated to natural resources;
• Understanding famine monitoring technologies, their use and utility, in Africa;
• Long term socio-environmental change and vulnerability;
• Integrated assessment of large scale developments in vulnerable ecosystems.

Oxford's research network

Publications and meetings

Case studies

Links

Contact us

Vulnerable Communitie programme - ECI

1a Mansfield road, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK

Tel: +44.(0)1865.281.185 - Fax: +44.(0)1865.281.181

E-mail: tom.downing@ecu.ox.ac.uk