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Erika S. Weinthal

John O. Blackburn Distinguished Professor
Environmental Sciences and Policy
Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708-0328
9 Circuit Drive, Environment Hall 4119, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Dr. Weinthal specializes in global environmental politics and environmental security with a particular emphasis on water and energy. Areas of research include (1) global environmental politics and governance, (2) environmental conflict and peacebuilding, (3) the political economy of the resource curse, (4) climate change adaptation, and (5) global energy transitions). Dr. Weinthal is author of State Making and Environmental Cooperation: Linking Domestic Politics and International Politics in Central Asia (MIT Press 2002), which received the 2003 Chadwick Alger Prize and the 2003 Lynton Keith Caldwell Prize. She co-authored Oil is not a Curse (Cambridge University Press 2010) and Water Quality Impacts of the Energy-Water Nexus (Cambridge University Press 2022). She has co-edited Water and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: Shoring Up Peace (2014), The Oxford Handbook on Water Politics and Policy (Oxford University Press 2017) and The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics (2023). She was a founding Vice President of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association. In 2017 she was a recipient of the Women Peacebuilders for Water Award under the auspices of “Fondazione Milano per Expo 2015”. 

Current Appointments & Affiliations


John O. Blackburn Distinguished Professor · 2024 - Present Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment
Professor of Environmental Policy and Public Policy · 2014 - Present Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment
Co-Director of the Duke Human Rights Center at FHI · 2018 - Present John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, University Institutes and Centers
Director of Graduate Studies of the University Program in Environmental Policy · 2023 - Present Nicholas School of the Environment
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy · 2014 - Present Sanford School of Public Policy
Professor of Environmental Policy at Duke Kunshan University · 2022 - Present DKU Faculty
Affiliate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society · 2014 - Present Duke Science & Society, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units
Affiliate of the Duke Center for International Development · 2023 - Present Duke Center for International Development, Sanford School of Public Policy

In the News


Published September 17, 2024
Where Small Steps Make a Difference in Middle East Crisis
Published April 22, 2024
Kristin Zhu Wins Gaither Junior Fellowship
Published March 19, 2024
Duke Awards 32 New Distinguished Professorships for 2024

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Recent Publications


Critical mineral mining in the energy transition: A systematic review of environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities

Journal Article Energy Research and Social Science · October 1, 2024 To address climate change, countries must decarbonize and shift to renewable energy. Renewables like solar and wind are mineral intensive, meaning the world must rapidly scale up mining and processing of critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt. Such a ... Full text Cite

Failing septic systems in Lowndes County, Alabama: citizen participation, science, and community knowledge

Journal Article Local Environment · January 1, 2024 The United Nations has estimated that 2.8 billion individuals across the world will not have access to safely managed sanitation in 2030. In the accounting of global sanitation access, local inequities often are invisible to those counting, especially give ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Duke-DKU Collaboration on Environmental Politics and Justice, Duke Workshop

ConferencePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Global Knowledge Initiative · 2025 - 2026

North Carolina Black Alliance Environmental Justice

Public ServicePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by North Carolina Black Alliance · 2022 - 2023

Targeting Environmental Infrastructures: Water, Energy, and Civilians in the New Middle Eastern Wars

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Gerda Henkel Foundation · 2017 - 2021

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Education, Training & Certifications


Columbia University · 1998 Ph.D.
Columbia University · 1994 M.Phil.
Oberlin College · 1989 B.A.