Sören Köpke

Universität Kassel · Section of International Agricultural Policy and Environmental Governance

Human-elephant conflict (HEC) in Sri Lanka has escalated over the recent years, with, on average, 300 elephant deaths annually and human casualties of around 90 per year. Employing field-based qualitative methods, this contribution identifies causes and contexts of human-elephant conflict in those parts of the Sri Lankan dry zone most severely affe...

There is a vivid scientific debate on how climate change affects stability, resilience, and conflict dynamics of human societies. Environmental security and collapse theory are theoretical approaches that claim severe negative impacts of climatic disasters on political stability, allegedly through the vector of food insecurity. Yet there is a disco...

Participatory approaches within development programs involving common-pool resources are intended to revive a community’s role in managing these resources. Certainly, to ensure the successful and equitable use of such resources, community participation is essential. However, in many cases, attempts at applying a participatory approach often fail to...

Human–elephant conflict (HEC) is a severe and much-debated issue in Sri Lanka. An average of two hundred animals are intentionally killed, and seventy to eighty human casualties are counted each year. The Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) is an endangered subspecies. The reported elephant mortality rates are high. On the other hand,huma...

This contribution is a critical review of research on the global agri-food system directly or indirectly identified as political ecology (PE). It shows how food, famine and agricultural production were important topics to early proponents of PE, especially with regards to a critique of neo-Malthusian thought. It then traces further developments in...

Wilpattu Forest Complex, comprised of the Wilpattu National Park and adjoining forest areas in north-western Sri Lanka, was at the centre of a dispute over biodiversity conservation, deforestation and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPSs), Muslim minorities at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war – 1983-2009. This paper traces how the...

In rural Sri Lanka, human-wildlife conflict has increasingly become a hindrance to sustainable development in different aspects. In small-scale farming, a number of animal species are ravaging crops, contributing to the socioeconomic insecurity of peasant cultivators. Also, wild animals are threatening the safety of villagers. On the other hand, ef...

The study deals with social–ecological dynamics in irrigated agriculture in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. Paddy cultivation on small-scale farms, the prevalent livelihood strategy in the region, is highly dependent on irrigation. Small village tanks and large-scale irrigation schemes shape agricultural life, together with modernized agrarian technologies i...

The paper highlights the intrinsic connection between resource politics, economic development, and environment-related social conflicts with regards to the BRICS countries. Albeit the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) differ in their political anatomies, they are bound together by a common development model. This broadly defined...

Over the last decade, researchers have increasingly concerned themselves with the interconnection between drought, food insecurity crisis, and armed conflict. Despite continuous efforts using a variety of methodological approaches, the scientific community has not come to a consensus on the issue. Yet, drought and food crises are very urgent challe...

In International Relations, ”Hydropolitics” denotes competing interests of states over trans-boundary water resources such as rivers or aquifers. However, the traditional focus on nation states as the central actors tends to ignore the intrastate dimension of conflicts over waters. Stakeholders on different scales, from small farmers and pastoralis...

Köpke, S., Withanachchi, Sisira., Pathiranage, R, Withanachchi, Chandana., and Ploeger, A. Political Ecology of Irrigation Agriculture in Dry Zone Sri Lanka. XV IWRA World Water Conference, Edinburgh UK, May 25, 2015. The presentation is based on the collaborative research project Institute for Social Sciences, Technische Universität Braunschweig,...

Lack of attention to spatial and temporal cross-scale dynamics and effects could be understood as one of the lacunas in scholarship on river basin management. Within the water-climate-food-energy nexus, an integrated and inclusive approach that recognizes traditional knowledge about and experiences of climate change and water resource management ca...

Climate change is increasingly framed as a security concern. Proponents of the environmental security discourse warn that dwindling water resources, loss of arable land and grazing grounds will cause hunger and conflict. These resource-­‐ related conflicts will arise in the most vulnerable parts of the Global South. However, this discourse is blind...

To “combat against poverty and hunger” highlights the main priorities of the human-centred development discourse. Within this development discourse, rural development invokes a focal spatial scale to certain principles in development agendas. If poverty is not only adjoined to the rural context, the alleviating of rural poverty is the main indicato...