معرفی
Maria Andrea Nardi is a Researcher at Lund University's Department of Human Geography, with cross-affiliations at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) and MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World. Her work centers on environmental change, territorial transformations, and human rights in the Global South, featuring extensive fieldwork in South America and the Middle East.
Her research bridges development geography and political ecology to analyze conflictive dynamics between globalization, armed conflicts, and local livelihoods. Current projects include FORMAS-funded research on Environmental Human Rights Defenders in Colombia and ECOSyria examining ecological restoration under the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria. She emphasizes environmental justice, peacebuilding, and decolonial approaches to conservation.
Recent publications (2024-2025) demonstrate concentrated focus on environmental peacebuilding in conflict zones, particularly Colombia and Northern Uganda. Work reveals how nature functions as both identity and right in peace processes, with strong methodological emphasis on qualitative field analysis and community-centered documentation of extractive conflicts and ecological resistance.
Scientific Recognition
- Peace News Network's Top Articles of 2024 (2025)
- Member of the International Advisory Board (2018)
- Diploma of Honor (2003)
Nardi leads multiple funded projects including DEFEND-BIO (2025-2028) on legal tools for sustainability transformations and the FORMAS Environmental Human Rights Defenders initiative (2023-2027). Her grant portfolio addresses climate-human rights intersections through fieldwork in Colombia, Syria, and Uganda, with emphasis on community-led conservation.
As part of Lund University's Extractivism Research Group and ACCESS network, she collaborates across Global North-South contexts on territories, commons, and environmental governance. Current work focuses on documenting Environmental Human Rights Defenders as change agents amid climate-biodiversity-crisis intersections.
