Environmental historians from Asia, America, Africa, and Europe attended a conference titled “Standing on a Cliff: War and Peace in Environmental History” held in Beijing on May 16 - 19, 2024, at Renmin University of China and at Peking University. The conference explored a previously neglected side of environmental history, namely the socio-ecological factors and impact of wars and peace treaties. Examples included trench warfare during the First World War, nuclear bomb testing during the Cold War. and chemical weapons use during the Vietnam War. Following three productive days at the conference, the participants also took part in a special outing to see the Great Wall of China.

JKU historian Ernst Langthaler attended the conference and also held a presentation titled “Interrupted Acceleration: Austria's Natural Resources Between Productivist Mobilization and Conservationist Protest in the German Wartime Economy, 1938-1945”. Discussions with Chinese colleagues focused on current trends in economic, social and environmental history. The participants agreed to work more closely in the future. A misunderstanding that the country of origin was "Australia" was also dispelled: "There are no kangaroos in Austria!"