Saleem Ali (academic)
| Saleem H. Ali | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
1973 New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A |
| Residence | Vermont, USA; Brisbane, Australia |
| Nationality | American, Pakistani, Australian Permanent Resident |
| Fields | Environmental Studies, Conflict Resolution, and International Relations |
| Institutions |
University of Queensland University of Vermont Brown University Brookings Institution (USA) |
| Alma mater |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Yale University Tufts University |
| Notable awards | Young Global Leader; National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer Award |
Dr. Prof. Saleem H. Ali (born, 1973) is a Pakistani American scholar who is the Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at the University of Queensland Australia. He is also Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Natural Resources, and the founding director of the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security. He is known for his work on environmental conflict resolution, particularly in the extractive industries and was profiled in Forbes magazine in September, 2009 as "The Alchemist." His book "Treasures of the Earth: Need Greed and a Sustainable Future" (Yale University Press, October, 2009) received a cover endorsement by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus for providing a " welcome linkage between environmental behavior and poverty alleviation." In May 2010, he was also chosen by National Geographic as an "emerging explorer" with a profile appearing in the June 2010 issue of National Geographic Magazine. In March 2011, he was also selected by the World Economic Forum as a "Young Global Leader."
Research Work
Dr. Ali's research focuses on the causes and consequences of environmental conflicts and how ecological factors can promote peace. He is also on the adjunct faculty of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies and on 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 September 2007, he was chosen as one of eight "revolutionary minds" by Seed magazine. Dr. Ali has also been a regular commentator for Vermont Public Radio and a columnist for Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper and the Daily Times. He has contributed op-ed pieces also for notable international newspapers such as The International Herald Tribune and The Boston Globe and Foreign Policy.
Dr. Ali is also a member of the World Commission on Protected areas and 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. In much of his research efforts, Dr. Ali involves a multi-media component, often involving his students in making video documentaries of their empirical work. From 2005 to 2008, he received two grants from the Tiffany & Co. Foundation to investigate the environmental and social impact of gemstone and gold mining. Two video documentaries were also produced through this effort and are available for viewing online. He also completed a report on oil and gas pipelines as a source of cooperation that was researched while based at the Brookings Institution research center in Doha, Qatar in 2009. His report on "Ecological Cooperation in South Asia" was launched in Washington at an event hosted by Peter Bergen in January, 2013.
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.
Education
His past research appointments and internships include, 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. He did his secondary shooling at Aitchison College Lahore, Pakistan with primary schooling at the Job. S. Gidley School in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
References
- Mining, the environment, and indigenous development conflicts, Saleem H. Ali, University of Arizona Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8165-2312-2
- Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution, Saleem H. Ali ed. MIT Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-262-51198-8
- Earth Matters: Indigenous People, The Extractive Industries and Corporate Social Responsibility, Ciaran O’Faircheallaigh and Saleem Ali eds. Greenleaf Publications, 2008, ISBN 978-1-906093-16-7
- Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan's Madrassahs, Saleem H. Ali, Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-547672-9
- Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future, Saleem H. Ali, Yale University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-300-14161-0
- Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating More Effective Global Agreements, Lawrence Susskind and Saleem H. Ali, Oxford University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-199-39797-6
- Diplomacy on Ice: Energy and the Environment in the Arctic and Antarctic Rebecca Pincus and Saleem H. Ali eds., Yale University Press, 2015, ISBN 978-0-300-20516-9
External Research Project Links
- National Geographic Profile of Saleem H. Ali
- Forbes Profile of Saleem H. Ali
- Saleem Ali's web site at UVM with links to online articles
- University of Queensland Profile
- Sustainable Pearls Project Web Site
- Links to list of regular Daily Times articles authored by Dr. Ali 2005-2011
- Tropical Gold: Reversal of Fortune in Fiji -- research site and documentary
- Gems and the Environment
- Madrassa Research in Pakistan
- Vermont Mining
- Siachen Peace Park project
- Environmental Conflict Resolution Research Library