Päivi Lujala Paivi.Lujala(at)oulu.no

I am a Professor in Geography, with a background in both human geography and economics, at the Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, Finland. 

My research focuses on two broad topics: i) management of valuable natural resources in the Global South and ii) adaptation to environmental change. I would like to figure out what impacts people’s and decision-makers' beliefs, attitudes, and behavior regarding natural resource management, and how better resource management can be supported through citizen engagement, transparency, and accountability. Although I am experienced in using secondary statistical data and qualitative sources, I am most excited when I get the opportunity to gather primary data through surveys, field experiments, lab-in-the-field experiments, and survey experiments with my colleagues in Bangladesh, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Norway, and other places.

I am an editor of the Environment and Security journal and an editorial committee member of the Journal of Peace Research and Wisdom Letters. I am active in the Environmental Peacebuilding Association (treasurer and member of the Board of Directors) and CitRes network (Citizen Engagement, Transparency and Transnational Natural Resource Governance). I currently lead the TraReMa project (Transparency in High-Value Natural Resource Management), funded by the Research Council of Finland.

I am currently a visiting scholar at the Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
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You can download my CV here. ​
Recent publications
  • Bezabih, Mintewab, Sosina Bezu, Tigabu Getahun, Ivar Kolstad, Päivi Lujala and Arne Wiig 2025. Intergroup Interaction and Attitudes to Migrants. Journal of Politics volume 87(1): 115-127. Download. 
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa Nanang Kurniawan, Päivi Lujala, Primi Putri, Sabrina Scherzer and Indah Wardhani 2025. The right to benefit: Using videos to encourage citizen involvement in resource revenue management. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (in press). Repliaction data
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa, Ishmael Edjekumhene, Päivi Lujala and Sabrina Scherzer 2025. “You need to have this information!”: Using videos to increase demand for accountability on public revenue management. World Development 186: 106813. Open access; Replication data
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa, Päivi Lujala, Primi Putri, Sabrina Scherzer and Indah Wardhani 2025. When petroleum revenue transparency policy meets citizen engagement reality: Survey evidence from Indonesia. Ecological Economics 230: 108529. Open access; Replication data
  • Swain, Ashok, Carl Bruch, Tobias Ide, Päivi Lujala, Richard Matthew, Erika Weinthal and Tom Deligiannis 2025. The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement—Implications for global climate governance and security. Environment and Security 3(1): 3-7. Open access
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa, Deanna Karapetyan and Päivi Lujala 2024. Opportunities and risks of small-scale and artisanal gold mining for local communities: Survey evidence from Ghana. Extractive Industries and Society 17: 101403. Open access; Replication data
  • Putri, Primi and Päivi Lujala 2023. Assessing the Transformative Potential of Extractive Sector Transparency Initiatives: Evidence from Local Oil Revenue Management in Indonesia. Journal of Development Studies 59(12): 1787-1806. Open access 
  • Kolstad, Ivar, Azreem Karim, Päivi Lujala and Arne Wiig 2023. Expert adoption of composite indices: a randomized experiment on migrant resettlement decisions in Bangladesh. Natural Hazards 119:  261–297. Download (journal); Free access (University of Oulu repository)
  • Wiig, Arne, Minjah Mahmud, Ivar Kolstad, Päivi Lujala and Sosina Bezu 2023. Digging in? Migration preferences in communities affected by climate change — evidence from Bangladesh. Regional Environmental Change 23: 96. Download (journal); Free access (University of Oulu repository)
  • Brunnschweiler, Christa and Päivi Lujala 2023. Contribution to the Dictionary of Ecological Economics (eds. Brent M. Haddad and Barry D. Solomon). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Entries: Accountability, Transparency.
  • Kurniawan, Nanang, Päivi Lujala and Ståle A. Rye 2023. Negotiating inclusion and exclusion in artisanal oil extraction: The case of two villages in East Java, Indonesia. In Beyond Binaries of Exclusion and Inclusion in Natural Resource Extraction, Stephanie Postar, Negar Elodie Behzadi and Nina Nikola Doering (eds). London: Rowman & Littlefield. pp 245- 258. 
  • Swain, Ashok, Carl Bruch, Tobias Ide, Päivi Lujala, Richard Matthew and Erika Weinthal 2023. Environment and security in the 21st century. Environment and Security 1(1-2): 3-9. Open access
  • Kolstad Ivar, Sosina Bezu, Päivi Lujala, Minhaj Mahmud and Arne Wiig 2023. Does Changing the Narrative Improve Host Community Attitudes Toward Climate Migrants? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh. International Migration Review 57(1), 68-94. Download (journal), Free access (University of Oulu repository)
  • ​Lujala, Päivi, Philippe Le Billon and Nicolas Gaulin 2022. Determinants of Fossil Fuel Production Cuts and Implications for an International Supply-Side Agreement. Global Environmental Politics 22 (4): 95–128. Download (journal), Free access (University of Oulu repository); Replication data
  • Lujala, Päivi, Ashley Hooper and Maureen J. Purcell 2022. The Environmental Spoils of War. In Routledge Handbook of Environmental Security, Richard Matthew Evgenia Nizkorodov and Crystal Murphy (eds.). New York: Routledge. Pp 115-127.  
  • Kolstad, Ivar, Päivi Lujala and Arne Wiig 2022. Internal climate migration in a new era of scarcity. CMI Insight 2022:02. Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute. Open access
  • ​Le Billon, Philippe, Nicolas Gaulin and Päivi Lujala 2022. COP27: Which countries will push to end fossil fuel production? And which won’t? The Conversation. 6 November.  
  • Le Billon, Philippe, Päivi Lujala and Nicolas Gaulin 2022. Climate negotiations take tentative steps to phase out fossil fuel production. Policy Options January 11. 
  • ​Kasimba, Sam A. and Päivi Lujala 2022. Community based participatory governance platforms and sharing of mining benefits: evidence from Ghana. Community Development Journal 57(4): 635–654. Open access
  • Walelign, Solomon and Päivi Lujala 2022. A place-based framework for assessing resettlement capacity in the context of displacement induced by climate change. World Development 151(March): 105777. Open access 
  • Kurniawan, Nanang Indra, Päivi Lujala, Ståle Angen Rye and Diana Vela-Almeida 2022. The role of local participation in the governance of natural resource extraction. Extractive Industries and Society 9: 101029. Open access
  • Kolstad, Ivar, Päivi Lujala and Arne Wiig 2022. For lite klimamigrasjon? [Too little climate migration?] Adresseavisen, 24. april 2022. Read