Saleem Ali

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Saleem H. Ali is a Pakistani-American scholar who is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Natural Resources, and on the adjunct faculty of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. His research has focused on the causes and consequences of environmental conflicts and on how ecological factors can promote peace. He also is a current member of the visiting faculty for the United Nations University for Peace (Costa Rica), where he teaches a course on Indigenous Environment and Development Conflicts. Much of his empirical research has focused on environmental conflicts in the mineral sector. In the spring of 2005, he received a two-year grant from the Tiffany Foundation to embark on a comparative study of the environmental and social impact of gemstone mining in Madagascar, Brazil and Myanmar / Burma.

Dr. Ali is also a member of the expert advisory group on environmental conflicts for the United Nations Environment Programme with a specific interest in transboundary conservation zones or "peace parks." As part of this effort, he is a member of the IUCN Taskforce on Transboundary Conservation. He has also been involved in promoting environmental education in madrasahs and using techniques from environmental planning to study the rise of these institutions in his ethnic homeland of Pakistan, under a grant from the United States Institute of Peace.

Prior to embarking on an academic career, Dr. Ali worked as an environmental health and safety professional at General Electric. He also served as a consultant for the Environmental Protection Agency, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Health Canada. Yet others of his projects included a mining impact prospectus for the Crow Nation and research assistance to Cultural Survival.

A professional mediator, he has also conducted workshops on consensus-building for private and public interests. In addition to that, he has been involved in conducting peer reviews of research publications for the World Bank, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Woodrow Wilson Center, Yale University Press, the Natural Resources Forum, and several scholarly journals.

His past research appointments and internships include field work at the Centre for Rainforest Studies in Queensland, a Baker Foundation Research Fellowship at Harvard Business School, and a parliamentary internship at the British House of Commons. He has taught courses on environmental planning, conflict resolution, industrial ecology, research methods and technical writing. Professor Ali earned a doctorate in environmental planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master's degree (M.E.S.) in environmental law and policy from Yale University, and a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Tufts University.