Rolain Borel

Dr. Rolain Borel heads the Department of Natural Resources and Peace at UPEACE. He is the director of the Dual Master Program in Natural Resources and Sustainable development and coordinates a research program on environmental conflicts, the “Conflict and Collaboration in the Management of Natural Resources in Latin America and the Caribbean ”, supported by the ID R C R (Canada) . This program presently includes 16 projects in different countries. Dr. Borel also teaches at the postgraduate level in the field of environmental conflict management and environmental ethics. He maintains a limited number of assignments as consultant for bilateral cooperation agencies on subjects of rural development, social forestry and institutional strengthening and occasionally provides facilitation/mediation services to ongoing dialogue processes.

Dr. Borel has been working for UPEACE for the past 15 years, first as a volunteer, implementing research and training activities in environmental conflict management involving local communities and as an international consultant for bilateral cooperation agencies. Previous to that he has worked for 12 years in international research centres in Africa and Central America in the development of livestock and agroforestry production systems. Born and raised in Switzerland, Dr. Borel was trained as an agronomist, with specializations in livestock farming and pasture agronomy. Married and father of three (and just about to become a grand father), he has made Costa Rica his residence home for the past 23 years.

Education and Qualifications

• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Agronomist
• Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Costa Rica - MSc, Livestock Production
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Doctor of Technical Sciences, Forage Agronomy

Work Experience

• University for Peace, Ciudad Colón, San Jose, Costa Rica. Professor, Natural Resources. Since 1988. Designing and teaching several international short courses in agroforestry and conflict management and their relations to the promotion of peace. Research on socio-environmental conflicts management strategies by local communities and environmental institutions. Director of the Master's program ECOLOGY for PEACE. Since 1999, project leader "Conflict and collaboration in the Management of Natural Resources in Latin America and Caribbean: a small grant programme" (IDRC funded). Since 2001, Director of the Dual MA Program in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (implemented jointly with American University, Washington, D.C.
• CATIE, Costa Rica. Head Agroforestry Program, 1983-1988. Coordinating a research and teaching team of 10 scientists, conducting research in basic and applied problems of tree/crop interactions. Organizing and coordinating postgraduate and international short courses. Head a.i. of the Department of Natural Renewable Resources during 5 months in 1986.
• CATIE, Costa Rica. Forage Agronomist, 1980-1983. Conducting research on native pastures and forage legumes management under grazing, and on forage legume physiology. Teaching at the postgraduate level and advising students.
• ILCA, Ethiopia and Nigeria. Forage Agronomist, 1976-1980. Participating to the design, establishment and evaluation of improved grain-milk production systems in the Ethiopian Highlands. Setting up 2 field stations for the study of small ruminants in Southern Nigeria. Establishing shrub and grass species grazing trials as support to the ongoing farming systems research.

Courses/Subjects Taught

• Environmental conflict management
• Environmental ethics
• Environmental security (in preparation)

Research

• Coordinator, small grant program in "Conflict and Collaboration in Natural Resources Management in Latin America and the Caribbean" (IDRC funded).
• Case studies of transboundary environmental conflicts (in preparation).

Consultancy Work

• Institutional support
• Participatory approaches and environmental conflicts collaborative management
• Monitoring and continuous advisory role: as part of long-term monitoring and advisory teams
• Group facilitation: moderator of several strategic and operational planning meetings, using at times elements of the ZOPP methodology
• Project design and evaluation: Design and evaluation of national programs of natural resources conservation as well as agroforestry and social forestry development projects

Publications

• BOREL R. & DE CAMINO R. 2002. Formación de recursos humanos en el tema de la seguridad ambioental. Revista Forestal Centroamericana. En imprenta.
• BOREL R.. & PANIAGUA, F. 2000. Capacitación en Manejo de Conflictos Ambientales. Experiencias de la Red de Manejo de Conflictos Socioambientales de Mesoamérica, en Costa Rica. In V. López (ed.) Conflictos socioambientales: desafíos y propuestas para la gestión en américa latina. Memoria. FTPP-Redes. Ecudador.
• BOREL, R., GIROT, P. & FONSECA, M. 1999. Conflictos socio-ambientales en América Latina. Un intento de tipología, cartografía y análisis cruzado. Universidad para la Paz & Red Mesoamericana de Manejo Colaborativo de Conflictos Socio-ambientales. San Jose, 67 p.
• BOREL, R. & T. ROBERTSON. 1998. Regional Networking, Research and Training Experiences in Environmental Conflict Management in Mesoamerica: overview and lessons learned. Paper presented at: The Seventh Common Property Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 10-14 June, 1998
• BOREL, R. 1996. Comunidades en conflicto: una fotografía. Desarrollo Agroforestal y Comunidad Campesina.
• IICA-GTZ PROGRAMA DE GENERACION Y TRANSFERENCIA DE TECNOLOGIA. 1992. Tecnología y sostenibilidad de la agricultura en América Latina. Desarrollo de un marco conceptual. Serie Publicaciones Misceláneas. IICA, San Jose, Costa Rica. 136 p.

Responsibilities at UPEACE

• Director, Department of Natural Resources and Peace. Coordinating a research and teaching team of six scientists.