Maxine Burkett
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
United States
Feb 12, 2019
Maxine Burkett is Professor of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and the co-founder of the Institute for Climate and Peace. Her work focuses on the law and policy of climate change, particularly as it relates to concepts of resilience, peace, and climate justice. Growing up in Kingston, Jamaica, and moving to Queens, NY early on in her life, her interests and drive have been shaped by coming from an island community that is rich in culture and resilience. She went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Williams College and Exeter College, Oxford University, and her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. She is currently a Global Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where she is working with the Environmental Change and Security Program researching and presenting on climate law and island resilience. Maxine’s leadership has been recognized by a number of awards; for example, she was named to Pacific Business News’ “40 Under 40” in 2016 and Hawaii Business Magazine’s “20 for the Next 20” in 2017. She has published extensively on topics of climate migration, relocation, resilience, climate justice, and peacebuilding.
She has most recently co-founded the Institute for Climate and Peace, which launched in mid-2018. The Institute was born out of conversations with Maya Soetoro-ng, a scholar and former Director of the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, about how conflict could be an opportunity for transformation of relationships to build peace effectively. Their work at the Institute brings together transformative and positive peace education and solidarity work with policy for resilience in the face of climate change. Maxine’s work with the Institute innovatively aims to reframe the discussion around climate change to focus not on secure borders or national security threats primarily and exclusively, but on how positive peacebuilding can arise from the uncertainty of climate change. Her work is focused on three different levels: education, collaboration, and policy transformation, each aimed at diverse stakeholders. Maxine’s wide-ranging policy and legal experience has led her to see how policy must create a space for the transformative ideas developed in the education and collaboration stages to come to life. She explains, “There are a lot of great ideas that come out of great collaboration, but then they are confronted at the county, state, and federal levels with environmental roadblocks. It’s crucial to create a policy space that facilitates the solutions that come out of the other stages.” ICP’s projects focus specifically on how to create solutions that are climate resilient and advocate for positive peace and transformative justice practices in both community partnerships and policy approaches.
For Maxine, recognizing human interconnectedness with nature is crucial for successful negotiation and peacebuilding. She expresses concern about taking the human experience out of the context of the natural environment, noting, “When we recognize ourselves as a part of nature, we recognize the need to negotiate between ourselves. The human relationship is critical and as an expression of a natural process, trust needs to be at the base of that. Balance is in many ways the definition of peace.” In recognition of the connection between humans and nature, she is deeply committed to engaging with, rather than accepting, the future and encouraging a focus on resilience and justice for communities facing climatically uncertain futures.
Maxine sees the Association as providing an opportunity to learn and cooperate with others in the field. She explains, “Networks are so critical for the natural world. These networks provide better contexts and partnerships. Networks like the Association also provide for experimentation. Knowing that other people are out there doing the same work is important to show that it’s possible and build strength in numbers, as well as inspire people to try new things.” She also sees the possibility for Hawaiʻi, as an island state with unique resources and diversity, to provide important insights for other island nations and help to contribute to present and future possibilities and policy for climate justice and resilience.