Hanna Laako
Senior Researcher
Yliopistotutkija
Researcher, Docent in Social and Public Policy, Doctor in Political Science
Politics/International Relations, Forests/Conservation, Geopolitics/Borderlands, Women’s Rights, Indigenous Peoples/Postcolonialism, Regions/Latin America.
Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
hanna.1.laako@uef.fi | +358 50 325 2061
Currently research on the Mesoamerican Maya Forest 2019-2024, funded by the Mexican CONACYT (2019-2020) and the Finnish Kone Foundation (2020-2024).
Previous research: Conservation Politics in the Transboundary Usumacinta River Basin (2017-2019), Mexican and Latin American Midwiferies (2014-2016), Mexican Southern Borderlands (2012-2014), Decolonization and the Zapatista Movement (2006-2011).
Member of the Mexican National System of Researchers, level 1 (CONACYT-SNI 2019-2021).
Previous affiliations: El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR, Mexico), Centro del Cambio Global y la Sustentabilidad (CCGS, Mexico) and Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS, Mexico).
Research groups
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Global Development 01.01.2020 -
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Responsive Natural Resources Governance Research … 01.01.2012 -
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Researchers’ Network of Environmental Culture 01.08.2008 - 31.07.2030
Projects
Political Forests - the Maya Forest
The Guardians of the Maya Forest
Transboundary Conservation is a strategy that promotes biodiversity conservation along and across borders. Such is the case of Maya Forest, created by conservationists and scientists to safeguard biodiversity in the rainforest borderlands of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, and inherited from the ancient Mayans. Currently composed of heritage sites and biosphere reserves, the Maya Forest contains many paradoxes and challenges. Yet, it reinforces nature states and builds subtle environmental international relations. Read the discussion articles in the Versus-online magazine.
Transboundary conservation politics in the spotlight of an International Relations scholar
During her years in Mexico, Senior Researcher Hanna Laako took a large leap in the multidisciplinary research of global politics. Empirical and fieldwork-based research is slowly gaining relevance in International Relations. Read the interview by Sari Eskelinen.
Different Routes: In Kalimantan and MesoAmerica, nature needs protection without leaving people behind
Somewhere far away, biodiversity is dwindling and rainforests are being cut down. Nature conservation is a hot topic of conversation, but people who live in the midst of environmental disputes are often overlooked in such debates. Science journalist Mikko Pelttari asked researchers of sparsely populated border regions how we could better understand areas with the most to protect and the most to lose. Read the project-interview by Mikko Pelttari in the Kone Foundation Different Routes-series.
Publications
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Policy Brief 2023: Globally Responsible, Locally Responsive
Mustalahti, Irmeli; Erkkilä, Antti; Tokola, Nina; Laako, Hanna; Dobrynin, Denis; Mustonen, Anna; Herdieckerhoff, Ida; Pekkonen, Minna; Weckroth, Mikko; Ramdani, Rijal; Purnomo, Eko Priyo; Lwoga, Edda Tandi; Tumaini, Ubaldus J; Maro, Aristarik H; Ngaka, Willy; Greenwood, Stephen; McLain, Rebecca; Klenk, Nicole; Stratton, Noelle Gadfly; Agustiyara. 2023. . . Itä-Suomen yliopisto -
Politiikkasuositus 2023: Globaalisti vastuullista, paikallisesti vuorovaikutteista
Mustalahti, Irmeli; Erkkilä, Antti; Tokola, Nina; Laako, Hanna; Dobrynin, Denis; Mustonen, Anna; Herdieckerhoff, Ida; Pekkonen, Minna; Weckroth, Mikko; Ramdani, Rijal; Purnomo, Eko Priyo; Lwoga, Edda Tandi; Tumaini, Ubaldus J; Maro, Aristarik H; Ngaka, Willy; Greenwood, Stephen; McLain, Rebecca; Klenk, Nicole; Stratton, Noelle Gadfly; Agustiyara. 2023. . . Itä-Suomen yliopisto -
Between colonising waters and extracting forest fronts: Entangled eco-frontiers in the Usumacinta River Basin
Laako, Hanna; Kauffer, Edith. 2022. Political geography. 96: -
Erämaiden omimisesta häilyviin metsänreunakohtaamisiin: Selva Maya ekologisena rajamaana ja -vyöhykkeenä
Laako, Hanna. 2022. Alue ja ympäristö. 51: 65-85 -
La construcción de un eco-frente en la región fronteriza de la Selva Maya
Laako, Hanna; Ramos Muñoz, Dora; Pliego Alvarado, Esmeralda; Marquez, Beula. 2022. Estudios fronterizos. 23: -
Transboundary conservation and nature states in the Maya Forest: International Relations, challenged
Laako, Hanna; Pliego Alvarado, Esmeralda; Ramos Muñoz, Dora; Marquez, Beula. 2022. Globalizations. 19: 1288-1310 -
Conservation in the Frontier: Negotiating Ownerships of Nature at the Southern Mexican Border
Laako, Hanna; Kauffer, Edith. 2021. Journal of Latin American geography. 20: 40-69 -
Midwives in Mexico: Situated Politics, Politically Situated
Laako, Hanna; Sánchez-Ramírez, Georgina. 2021. Social Science Perspectives on Childbirth and Reproduction. . Routledge