Conflict and Resilience in Natural Resource Management:

Insights from the Unifying Negotiation Framework

Professor Gregg. B. Walker, Oregon State University

Friday, March 7: 12:00 – 2:00 pm

Communication & Journalism Room 119

Overview:Environmental conflict and decision situations are characterized by complexity and controversy.  Participatory strategies that emphasize systems-based collaboration are designed to work through complexity and controversy toward the goal of resilient decisions.   The new "unifying negotiation framework" offers an approach for (1) assessing conflict and decision situations and (2) guiding the development of participation or intervention plan as part of the planning process.  This presentation discusses the nature of environmental conflict and decision situations, the components of the Unifying Negotiation Framework, and applications.  

Gregg B. Walker  is professor of Communication (College of Liberal Arts), adjunct professor in the College of Forestry (Forest Ecosystems and Society department), and adjunct professor in the College of Earth, Oceanic, and Atmospheric Systems (Marine Resource Management and Water Resource Management programs) at Oregon State University.  He also serves as a member of the Environmental Sciences, Public Policy, and Natural Resource Leadership Academy faculties at OSU.  Professor Walker teaches courses in conflict management, bargaining and negotiation, mediation, international negotiation, natural resources decision making, environmental conflict resolution, science communication, and argumentation.  He conducts training programs on collaborative conflict resolution, designs collaborative public participation processes, and facilitates collaborative learning community workshops about natural resource and environmental policy issues. He has authored a numerous articles on environmental communication and conflict resolution, and is co-author (with Steve Daniels) of Working through Environmental Conflict: The Collaborative Learning Approach (2001, Praeger). He was an Eramus Mundus scholar in the Department of Forest and Landscape at the University of Copenhagen. He has served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist in the fields of Peace and Conflict Resolution.  He is an advisor to the National Collaboration Cadre of the USDA-Forest Service and is co-director of the Climate Change Project for Mediators Beyond Borders International.  Professor Walker holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Communication Studies from the University of Kansas, and B.A. and B.S. degrees in Speech Communication, Sociology, and History from the University of Minnesota.

Questions may be directed to Mary Jane Collier, Professor, Communication & Journalism, mjc@unm.edu