Sad news for our community

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Kate ONeill

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Jun 1, 2026, 5:16:19 PM (9 days ago) Jun 1
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Dear friends and colleagues,

I am so sad to write that our beloved community member and fellow scholar Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega has passed away. Raul was known to many of us as a source of endless energy, a dedicated scholar who worked on the intersection of environment and development, and a kind and generous mentor, through his work as a public scholar and guide to the business of being writers. He was an active member of the GEP-ed and ISA-Environmental Studies Association. He was a dear friend to many and a loving and supportive son, brother and uncle in his family.

The news came from FLACSO, Mexico City, where he worked, see this twitter announcement


For more on Raul, see https://www.raulpacheco.org/

To the best of my knowledge, he died as the result of a car accident.

I don’t have quite the capacity to write more. Kim Marion Suiseeya will make sure there is a memorial event on the program for ISA next Spring in Atlanta, details will be forthcoming. 

My best,

Kate

***************************************
Kate O'Neill
Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management,
Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Rausser College of Natural Resources
University of California at Berkeley

Todd Eisenstadt

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Jun 1, 2026, 5:45:18 PM (9 days ago) Jun 1
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Raul was an excellent colleague and generous soul.  He will be missed.

 

That is bad news indeed, but I appreciate knowing to take a moment to reflect on his kindness and his contributions.

 

Todd Eisenstadt

 

From: 'Kate ONeill' via gep-ed <gep...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2026 5:16 PM
To: Gep-Ed <gep...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [gep-ed] Sad news for our community

 

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Eve Bratman

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Jun 1, 2026, 7:44:37 PM (9 days ago) Jun 1
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What a tremendous loss - and a real shock.  I will always remember Raul’s warm smile, his Consistently thoughtful comments, and his constant generosity with fondness. He was an impactful scholar in our community, too. 

Thanks for sharing the news, Kate. 
Take care, everyone. 
Eve

Leah Stokes

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Jun 1, 2026, 8:17:49 PM (9 days ago) Jun 1
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What profoundly sad news. Thank you for sharing and so sorry for the loss to our community.

All the best,

Leah

— 

Leah Stokes
Anton Vonk Associate Professor
Department of Political Science | Bren School of Environmental Science & Management | Environmental Studies Department
University of California, Santa Barbara
leahstokes.com | 2035initiative.com


To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/CAM73X6Gui6kzUxuDKg2zhQAEhiTv9cTmp%3DdG%3DhZKqjJA%3DOkxvg%40mail.gmail.com.

Cristina Inoue

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Jun 2, 2026, 5:41:14 AM (8 days ago) Jun 2
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Oh, such a terrible loss, I am in shock. We have been working together in the last period on gep teaching, always insightful, constructive and generous.

Thank you for sharing, Kate.

Let's always remember him and I hope we can honor his memory in our panels.

Cristina

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/CAMZGX2cYfaVLAu6MooMOCmfAvrsy6wRoh8BcbwJFT%3DJ3DbT2Yw%40mail.gmail.com.


--
Cristina Y. A. Inoue
Associate Professor
Environmental Governance and Politics
Department of Geography, Planning and Environment | Nijmegen School of Management | Radboud University 
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3696-252X
Senior Researcher
Center for Global Studies
Instituto de Relações Internacionais
Universidade de Brasília
CV Lattes

Publicações recentes / Recently published: 

Recently published

Articles

Gonçalves, V. K., Ribeiro, T. L., Inoue, C. Y. A., & Lins, J. (2024). Indigenous climate finance and the worlding of International Relations: climate justice in motion. International Relations, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00471178241269764

Cristina Yumie Aoki Inoue, Thais Lemos Ribeiro, Veronica Korber Gonçalves, Larissa Basso & Paula Franco Moreira (2023) Indigenous and traditional communities’ ways of knowing and being in planetary justice, Environmental Politics, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2023.2293437

 

Books and chapters

BARROS-PLATIAU, A. F. ; PRANTL, J. ; INOUE, C. Y. A. ; PEREIRA, J. C. ; RIBEIRO, T.L. ; VIOLA, E. . Building Capabilities for Earth System Governance. 1. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024. v. 1. 100p .

Inoue, C.Y.A., Mendes, V. (2024). Connecting Life on Land (SDG 15) with Planetary Justice in the Amazon. In: Galvao, T.G., de Menezes, H.Z. (eds) The Quest for the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59279-9_13


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Karin Bäckstrand

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Jun 2, 2026, 5:50:16 AM (8 days ago) Jun 2
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Dear all,

Thanks for letting us know Kate - absolutely devastating  news. Raul was a great scholar but most importantly - he was a warm, generous and kind person with a great sense of humour. And yes, let’s honour his memory and what he contributed to as scholar and activist . 

All best

Karin 
---------------------------------------------------
Karin Bäckstrand
Professor in Environmental Social Science
Department of Political Science
Stockholm University
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden
E-mail: karin.ba...@statsvet.su.se
Tel. (office): +46 8 16 15 78 
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2 juni 2026 kl. 11:41 skrev Cristina Inoue <cris...@gmail.com>:



rachel Tiller

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Jun 2, 2026, 12:30:43 PM (8 days ago) Jun 2
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It’s breaking my heart! 
What a sad loss for all of us - so sad!!

Sent from Rachel Tillers iPhone

On 2 Jun 2026, at 10:50, 'Karin Bäckstrand' via gep-ed <gep...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

 Dear all,

Thea Riofrancos

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Jun 2, 2026, 12:46:51 PM (8 days ago) Jun 2
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What a heartbreaking loss. He was always so incredibly generous with his support and uplifting of younger scholars, and so broad-minded and ecumenical. May his memory be a blessing.

Yours,
Thea

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Thea Riofrancos (she/her)

Associate Professor of Political Science, Providence College
Strategic Co-Director, Climate and Community Institute



Michael Schoon

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Jun 2, 2026, 12:58:05 PM (8 days ago) Jun 2
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So sad and so sorry to hear this.  Thanks for sharing.

Best,

Mike Schoon

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/CAKw%3DA8f_%2B0P3S6j2d_j2Ui8Xpkz%3DDUiocvjehkRvzYkttgX-pg%40mail.gmail.com.

Helge Jörgens

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Jun 2, 2026, 1:16:45 PM (8 days ago) Jun 2
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This is so sad. Raúl was a wonderful person and a great scholar. His blog was (and still is) an incredibly valuable resource for PhD students and ongoing scholars. 

Best,

Helge




Helge Jörgens
Research Professor

CIES - Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology 

Department of Political Science and Public Policy

Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon

Email: helge....@iscte-iul.pt
Perfil Ciência-IUL


New Publications:

Jörgens, H.; Rocha Trindade, I. (2026): Policy Ideas, Policy Paradigms and Principles in Search of a Policy. In A. R. Zito, E. Domorenok (Eds.): De Gruyter Handbook of European Union Environmental Policy. Boston: de Gruyter, pp. 37–52.
Jörgens, H.; Ma, S.; Peeters, M.; Tosun, J.; van der Sluis, M. (2025): Varieties of Climate Governance: National Frameworks and Innovations in the EU and OECD. In npj Climate Action 4, 116 (open access).
Jörgens, H.; Ch. Knill and Y. Steinebach (eds.) 2023: Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy. London: Routledge

Jörgens, H.; N. Kolleck and M. Well (eds) (2024): International Public Administrations in Environmental Governance: The Role of Autonomy, Agency, and the Quest for Attention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (open access).


Call for Submissions: npj Climate Action topical collection “New Perspectives on EU Climate Politics using Text-as-Data Methods” (open until 28 October 2026).





------ Original Message ------
From "'Kate ONeill' via gep-ed" <gep...@googlegroups.com>
Date 01.06.2026 22:16:03
Subject [gep-ed] Sad news for our community
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Paul Wapner

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Jun 2, 2026, 1:32:55 PM (8 days ago) Jun 2
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Wow, so sad to learn this.  Raul had a sparkling zest for life and cared deeply for and thrived within the GEP community.  This is a huge loss. 

 

All best,

Paul

 

 

Paul Wapner

Professor Emeritus

Global Environmental Politics

School of International Service

American University

 

 

From: Gepers <gep...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Helge Jörgens <microfou...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "microfou...@gmail.com" <microfou...@gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 11:18 AM
To: "kmon...@berkeley.edu" <kmon...@berkeley.edu>, Gepers <gep...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [gep-ed] Sad news for our community

 

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Alastair T Iles

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Jun 2, 2026, 2:21:36 PM (8 days ago) Jun 2
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Likewise, I'm feeling stunned by the incredibly sad news about Raul. As others in this thread have noted, he was exceptionally generous and committed to supporting his fellow scholars and the academic and other communities he was part of. He was one of the most engaged people I've known and his blog will hopefully live on as a wonderful resource for everyone. 

Alastair

Alastair Iles
Professor of Sustainability Transitions
Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management
University of California, Berkeley
Editor-in-chief, Sustainability Transitions domain, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene
Office: 128A Giannini Hall (mailing: 130 Mulford Hall)
Berkeley CA 94720

UC Berkeley sits on the territory of xučyun, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people, the successors of the sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County.


Yixian Sun

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Jun 3, 2026, 6:20:50 PM (7 days ago) Jun 3
to il...@berkeley.edu, Gep-Ed, Yixian Sun
Dear Kate and all,

I've been in shock since yesterday and keep thinking about Raul.

Raul was among the first speakers to present at our Bath Earth System Governance seminar series in October 2022. I was hoping he could visit us again during this year's Earth System Governance conference. His widome, passion and generosity will be missed by everyone who has met him. It would be nice if we can also organise a small memorial at our ESG conference in September. I'll be happy to discuss this idea further. 

Best,

Yixian
----
Dr Yixian Sun FHEA
Professor of Sustainability Governance
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow
Department of Social and Policy Sciences
University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom 

Elizabeth De Santo

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Jun 6, 2026, 9:47:35 PM (4 days ago) Jun 6
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Thank you for letting us know, Kate, that's really terrible news and a tremendous loss for our community. 

I would be happy to contribute to a memorial fund to help support young researchers in his name, if his family/friends and/or ISA would be interested in doing something like that. I'm sure others would want to contribute too, he touched so many people all over the world...

All the best,
Elizabeth
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Elizabeth M. De Santo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Chair, Department of Earth and Environment
Office hour appointments: Click here

Benjamin William Cashore

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Jun 7, 2026, 2:52:32 AM (3 days ago) Jun 7
to yixia...@graduateinstitute.ch, il...@berkeley.edu, Gep-Ed, Yixian Sun

That is a really nice idea Yixian.

 

Like all of you I have such fond memories of Raul – a kind, caring and compassionate citizen scholar.

 

Such a tragedy and loss

 

Ben

 

 

From: 'Yixian Sun' via gep-ed <gep...@googlegroups.com>
Reply to: "yixia...@graduateinstitute.ch" <yixia...@graduateinstitute.ch>
Date: Wednesday, 3 June 2026 at 11:21 PM
To: "il...@berkeley.edu" <il...@berkeley.edu>
Cc: Gep-Ed <gep...@googlegroups.com>, Yixian Sun <ys2...@bath.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [gep-ed] Sad news for our community

 

 

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Liliana Andonova

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Jun 7, 2026, 12:05:44 PM (3 days ago) Jun 7
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This is such a sad news, thank you for sharing Kate. Raul will be remember for his kindness and generosity as a colleague and a great scholar. A memorial related to an upcoming conference would be most fitting.

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