My research interests bring together political geography, political ecology, and war studies. I have focused most of my work on the links between natural resources and armed conflicts, but also examined the political economy of war and reconstruction, the resource curse, corruption, as well as natural disasters and political crises.

Most of my fieldwork has been conducted in South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, but I also have a long-standing interest in Latin America. I tend to use historically grounded fieldwork approaches, occasionally using comparative and large-N quantitative methods.

While remaining targeted at an academic audience, I have also strived to make some of my work policy relevant. I am currently working on the governance of extractive sectors, food security, as well as violence and space.

Pr. Le Billon holds a joint appointment in the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Faculty of Arts.

2025

Satizábal, P., L. M. Saavedra‐Díaz, P. Le Billon, and G. Noriega‐Narváez. 2025. Theatre of Enforcement at Sea: The Global Fight Against ‘Illegal Fishing’ and the Criminalisation of Fisher Peoples and Exploitation of Fish Workers. Journal of Agrarian Change 25(3). Wiley. doi: 10.1111/joac.70009.

2024

Le Billon, P. Illicit financial flows, extractive sectors, and the energy transition: Building state capacity to finance the SDGs. International Development Policy | Revue internationale de politique de développement 17 (online). doi: 10.4000/11q9g.

Deberdt, R., and P. Le Billon. 2024. Green Transition’s Necropolitics: Inequalities, Climate Extractivism, and Carbon Classes. Antipode 56(4). Wiley-Blackwell: 1264–1288. doi: 10.1111/anti.13032.

Oloko, A., L. Teh, P. Le Billon, W. Cheung, S. Harper, and U. R. Sumaila. 2024. Making the case for gender-inclusive fisheries governance, policies and climate adaptation. Discover Oceans 1(1). Springer. doi: 10.1007/s44289-024-00038-1.

Post, E., and P. Le Billon. 2024. The ‘Green War’: Geopolitical Metabolism and Green Extractivisms. Geopolitics 30(2). Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd: 760–800. doi: 10.1080/14650045.2024.2385411.

Robb, D., P. Le Billon, and K. Bakker. 2024. Landscapes of Recarbonization: Carbon Neutrality, Settler Colonialism, and Cumulative Environmental Effects in the Peace River Region, Canada. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 114(9). Taylor & Francis: 1930–1947. doi: 10.1080/24694452.2024.2369599.

Hsiao, E., R. Matthews, P. Le Billon, and G. Saintz. 2024. Planet on the Move: Reimagining Conservation at the Intersection of Migration, Environmental Change, and Conflict. Gland: IUCN.

2023

Ali, S. H. Diallo, P. Kameni, A. B. Le Billon, P. Oromeng, K. Davis, K. F. and E. R. Carr. 2023. In Africa, “climate‐smart” conservation must be coupled with poverty alleviation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120 (44). doi: e2309279120

Alger, J. Le Billon, P. Leinberger, E. and U. R. Sumaila. Online 2023. What would Article 5.1 of the 2022 WTO Ministerial Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies accomplish? Marine Policy 15. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2023.105641

Montecalvo, I. Le Billon, P. Arsenault, C. and M. Schvartzman. 2023. Ocean predators: Squids, Chinese fleets and the geopolitics of high seas fishing. Marine Policy 152. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2023.105584

Bennett, N. J. Lopez De La Lama, R. Le Billon, P. Ertör, I. and E. Morgera. 2023. Ocean defenders and human rights. Frontiers in Marine Science 9. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1089049

Deberdt, R. and P. Le Billon. 2023. Green transition mineral supply risks: Comparing artisanal and deep–sea cobalt mining in a time of climate crisis. The Extractive Industries and Society 14. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2023.101232.

Ide, T. Johnson, M. F. Barnett, J. Krampe, F. Le Billon, P. Maertens, L. Von Uexkull, N. and I. Vélez–Torres. 2023. The Future of Environmental Peace and Conflict Research. Environmental Politics. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2022.2156174

Deberdt, R. and P. Le Billon. 2023. Outer space Mining: Exploring techno-utopianism in a time of climate crisis. Annals of the American Association of Geographers: 1-22. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2023.2201339

Makinde, O. and P. Le Billon. 2023. Artificial intelligence and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative as anti-corruption tools for Canadian extractive companies. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law 41 (1): 27-48. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2022.2087340

Aresnault, C. and P. Le Billon. 2022. Covering crude bargains: The impacts of investigate media reporting on oil deals. The Extractive Industries and Society. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2022.101144

2022

Arsenault, C. and P. Le Billon. 2022. Covering crude bargains: The impacts of investigative media reporting on oil deals. The Extractive Industries and Society. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2022.101144.

Agusdinata, D.B. Liu, W. Sulistyo, S. Le Billon, P. and J. Wegner. 2022. Evaluating sustainability impacts of critical mineral extractions: Integration of life cycle sustainability assessment and SDGs frameworks. Journal of Industrial Ecology. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13317

Bennet, N.J. Le Billon, P. Belhabib, D. and P. Satizábal. 2022. Local marine stewardship and ocean defenders. Nature Ocean Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183–022–00002–6

Belhabib, D. and P. Le Billon. 2022. Fish crimes in the global ocean. Science Advances 8 (12). doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj1927

—. Adjacency and vessel domestication as enablers of fish crimes. Frontiers in Marine Science 9. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.936174

Da, S. and P. Le Billon. 2022. Sand mining: Stopping the grind of unregulated supply chains. Extractive Industries and Society 10. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2022.101070

Deberdt, R. and P. Le Billon. 2022. The Green Transition in context–Cobalt responsible sourcing for battery manufacturing. Society & Natural Resources 35 (7): 784-803. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2022.2049410

2021

Le Billon, P. 2021. Crisis conservation and green extraction: biodiversity offsets as spaces of double exception. Journal of Political Ecology 28(1): 864-888. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.2991

Le Billon, P. Lujala, P. Singh, D. Culbert, V. and B. Kristoffersen, 2021. Fossil fuels, climate change, and the COVID-19 crisis: pathways for a just and green post-pandemic recovery. Climate Policy 21(3): 1347-1356. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2021.1965524

Le Billon, P. Lujala, P. and S. A. Rustad. 2021. Transparency in Environmental and Resource Governance: Theories of Change for the EITI. Global Environmental Politics 21 (3): 124–146. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00610

Andrew, N. Bennett, N. J. Le Billon, P. Greene, S. J. Cisneros-Montemayor, A. M. Amongin, S. Gray, and U. R. Sumaila. 2021. Oil, fisheries and coastal communities: A review of impacts on the environment, livelihoods, space and governance. Energy Research and Social Science 75: 1-15. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102009

Bille Larsen, P. Le Billon, P. Menton, M. Aylwin, J. Balsiger, J. Boyd, D. Forst, M. Lambrick, F. Santos, C. Storey, H. and S. Wilding.. 2021. Understanding and responding to the environmental human rights defenders crisis: The case for conservation action. Conservation Letters 14(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12777

Deberdt, R. Le Billon, P. 2021. Conflict minerals and battery materials supply chains: A mapping review of responsible sourcing initiatives. Extractive Industries and Society 8 (4). doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2021.100935

Prause, L. Le Billon, P. 2021. Struggles for land: Comparing resistance movements against agro-industrial and mining investment projects. Journal of Peasant Studies 48 (5): 1100-1123. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1762181

Satizábal, P. Le Billon, P. Delhabib, D. Saavedra-Díaz, L. M. Figueroa, I. Noriega, G. and N. J. Bennett. 2021. Ethical considerations for research on small‐scale fisheries and blue crimes. Fish and Fisheries 22 (6): 1160-1166. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12590

Spijkers, J. Merrie, A. Wabnitz, C. Osborne, M. Mobjörk, M. Bodin, Ö. Selig, E. R. Le Billon, P. Hendrix, C. S. Singh, G. G. Keys, P. W. and T. F. Morrison. 2021. Exploring the future of fishery conflict through narrative scenarios. One Earth 4(3): 386-396. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.02.004

Menton, M. and P. Le Billon. 2021. Environmental defenders: Deadly struggled for life and territory. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003127222

Ramos, A. Le Billon, P. Seagle, C. Madzwamuse, M. Walker Painemilla, K. Petriv, I. and L. Jauregui. 2021. Policy Matters, Special Issue 22, Volumes I, II, III. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.

2020

Le Billon, P. and P. Lujala. 2020. Environmental and land defenders: Global patterns and determinants of repression. Global Environmental Change 65. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102163

Belhabib, D. Le Billon, P. and D. J. Wrathall. 2020. Narco‐Fish: Global fisheries and drug trafficking. Fish and Fisheries 2020 (21): 992–1007. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12483

Le Billon, P. Suji, M. Baniya, J. Limbu, B. Paudel, D. Rankin, K. Rawal, N. and Shneiderman, S. 2020. Disaster Financialization: Earthquakes, Cashflows and Shifting Household Economies in Nepal. Development and Change 51(4): 939-969 . doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12603

Sharp, K. Zerriffi, H. and Le Billon, P. 2020. Land scarcity, resettlement and food security: Assessing the effect of voluntary resettlement on diet quality in Malawi. Food Security 12: 191–205. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-019-00979-y

Belhabib, D. and Le Billon, P. 2020. Illegal Fishing as a Trans-National Crime. Frontiers in Marine Science 7 (162): 1-3. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00162

Le Billon, P. Roa-Garcia, M. C. and A. R. LÓPEZ-Granada. 2020. Territorial peace and gold mining in Colombia: local peacebuilding, bottom-up development and the defence of territories. Conflict, Security & Development 20(3): 303-333. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2020.1741937

Gaulin, N. and P. Le Billon. 2020. Climate change and fossil fuel production cuts:assessing global supply-side constraints and policy implications. Climate Policy 20 (8): 888-901. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1725409

Paudel, D. Rankin, K. and P. Le Billon. 2020. Lucrative Disaster: Financialization, Accumulation and Postearthquake Reconstruction in Nepal. Economic Geography 96(2): 137-160. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2020.1722635