About

Richard Matthew is a Professor in the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Science at the University of California, Irvine, and the founding Director of the Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation. His research focuses on the environmental dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding, climate change adaptation in conflict and post-conflict societies, and the process of transitioning societies from crisis to sustainability. He has conducted extensive field work in conflict zones across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and his work supports practitioners in conservation and humanitarian communities. Matthew was the lead author of the United Nations policy document 'From Conflict to Peacebuilding: The Role of Natural Resources and the Environment' and has served on 12 UN missions, including leading two missions to Sierra Leone. He is a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Geneva, a senior member of the UN Expert Group on Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding, and a member of the World Conservation Union’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. With over 130 publications, his contributions include numerous books and edited volumes on security, conflict, and environmental issues.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Geography
• Economic growth
• Environmental planning
• Environmental science
• Computer Science
• Environmental resource management
• Natural resource economics
• Ecology
• Biology
• Socioeconomics
• Law
• Business
• Public administration
• Economics
• Environmental ethics
• Engineering ethics
• Cartography
• Psychology
• Engineering
• Demography

Selected publications

• Large and inequitable flood risks in Los Angeles, California

  Nature Sustainability · 2022 · 124 citations

  • Sociology
  • Geography
  • Socioeconomics
  PublisherDOI

• Climate change-accelerated ocean biodiversity loss & associated planetary health impacts

  The Journal of Climate Change and Health · 2022 · 105 citations

  • Environmental resource management
  • Environmental science
  • Environmental planning

  A planetary health perspective views human health as a function of the interdependent relationship between human systems and the natural systems in which we live. The planetary health impacts of climate change induced ocean biodiversity loss are little understood. Based on a systematic literature review, we summarize how climate change-induced ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation affect ocean biodiversity and their resulting planetary health impacts. These impacts on the planets’ natural and human systems include biospheric and human consequences for ecosystem services, food and nutrition security, human livelihoods, biomedical and pharmaceutical research, disaster risk management, and for organisms pathogenic to humans. Understanding the causes and effects of climate change impacts on the ocean and its biodiversity and planetary health is crucial for taking preventive, restorative and sustainable actions to ensure ocean biodiversity and its services. Future courses of action to mitigate climate change-related ocean biodiversity loss to support sound planetary health are discussed.

  DOI

• The past and future(s) of environmental peacebuilding

  International Affairs · 2021 · 172 citations

  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Political Science

  Abstract Environmental peacebuilding is a rapidly growing field of research and practice at the intersection of environment, conflict, peace and security. Focusing on these linkages is crucial in a time when the environment is a core issue of international politics and the number of armed conflicts remains high. This article introduces a special issue with a particular emphasis on environmental opportunities for building and sustaining peace. We first detail the definitions, theoretical assumptions and intellectual background of environmental peacebuilding. The article then provides context for the special issue by briefly reviewing core findings and debates of the first two generations of environmental peacebuilding research. Finally, we identify knowledge gaps that should be addressed in the next generation of research, and to which the articles in this special issue contribute: bottom-up approaches, gender, conflict-sensitive programming, use of big data and frontier technology, and monitoring and evaluation.

  DOI

• Addressing Pluvial Flash Flooding through Community-Based Collaborative Research in Tijuana, Mexico

  Water · 2020 · 27 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Political Science
  • Environmental planning

  Pluvial flash flooding (PFF) is a growing hazard facing cities around the world as a result of rapid urbanization and more intense precipitation from global warming, particularly for low-resourced settings in developing countries. We present collaborative modeling (CM) as an iterative process to meet diverse decision-making needs related to PFF through the co-production of flood hazard models and maps. CM resulted in a set of flood hazard maps accessible through an online viewer that end-users found useful and useable for understanding PFF threats, including debris blockages and barriers to mobility and evacuation. End-users of information included individuals concerned with general flood awareness and preparedness, and involved in infrastructure and emergency management, planning, and policy. CM also showed that rain-on-grid hydrodynamic modeling is needed to depict PFF threats in ways that are intuitive to end-users. These outcomes evidence the importance and transferability of public health rationale for community-based research and principles used here including recognizing community as a unit of identity, building on strengths of the community, and integrating knowledge for the benefit of all partners.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CoPe EAGER: Modeling the Social Ecology of Coastal Flood Risk

  NSF · $300k · 2019–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Brett F. Sanders

  Irvine University

  54 shared

• Amir AghaKouchak

  University of California, Irvine

  37 shared

• Jochen E. Schubert

  University of California, Irvine

  29 shared

• Adam Luke

  25 shared

• George E. Shambaugh

  Georgetown University

  25 shared

• Hamed Moftakhari

  21 shared

• Kristen A. Goodrich

  Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve

  21 shared

• James Orbinski

  Centre for Global Health Research

  20 shared

Education

• PhD, Politics

  Princeton University

  1990

Awards & honors

• Certificates of Recognition from the U.S. Congress, the Cali…
• SGI Liberty Medal
• Human Security Award

Similar researchers at University of California, Irvine

• Simin Liuh-187
• Simona Murgiah-181
• Donald R. Blakeh-144
• Eric Rignoth-143
• Alex B Guentherh-131