A survey on Latin-American perspectives
after Rio+20
International Graduate Conference
22nd-25th November 2012
KlimaCampus / Hamburg, Germany
KlimaCampus / Hamburg, Germany
The effects of climate
change are especially problematic for developing countries, since the global capitalist economic growth is precisely
based upon the depletion of natural
resources. Developing countries thus face the paradox of expanding their national
economies, while at the same time finding global sustainable
solutions.
Social movements worldwide
have expressed their disappointment at governments
for their failure as decision makers of strategies
against climate change. Environmentally-oriented political
parties mobilize only small sections of society and just a limited number
of internationally binding institutional reforms have been implemented for the
protection of natural resources
and biodiversity. After RIO +20 the political process is still characterized by
a lack of cooperative and effective responses.
Through the discussion of critical
theoretical approaches, empirical cases, and grassroots
proposals, this conference aims to analyse
the challenges posed by civil
society groups for the effective participation of peoples in designing sustainable
development solutions. Civic mobilization takes a variety of different forms. It includes the
actions carried out by citizens, political parties, governments, indigenous
communities, but also international
social movements and irregular migrants.
We invite theoretical and
comparative papers problematizing the relationship between sustainability and empowerment. We are looking for presentations
from graduate students and PhD candidates currently working on this subject, or
in a subject, which may be related to it in a broader sense, such as an
analysis on a case study showing the relationship between climate change and
empowerment. We are interested in papers focused
on actual experiences of civil societies that, in their process of
coping with the consequences of environmental degradation, have managed to
shape alternative sustainable development strategies. Papers dealing with postcolonial, feminists and
indigenous critiques and alternatives are particular welcome. There are neither methodological nor disciplinary
boundaries. Papers from
different disciplines can be submitted.
The organizing committee would like
to welcome papers addressing the following topics: (i) Does climate change and the quest for sustainable development bring along civil disobedience?
(ii) How do
social groups and movements have been shaped
by climate change and the need for sustainability? Have
they been empowered or rather weakened by
environmental degradation? (iii) What is the
political economy of the environmental social movements’ agendas? How feasible
are these alternative agendas to be translated into the policy process? (v) Which kind of alternative mechanisms of political and scientific global cooperation may counteract the effects
of climate change from a sustainable perspective?
The conference puts an emphasis
on the Latin American continent, because
Latin America - especially the Andean countries - has
become in recent years an avant-gardist region in the formulation of civil responses to sustainability
issues, as for example the “water war” in Bolivia or the Ecuadorian Yasuní-Initiative show. There have been also
some innovative elements within both the Brazilian Forests’ management policies
and Costa Rica’s carbon markets. Nevertheless, experiences on other regions
are, based on their creativity, also welcome.
Our keynote speakers are Gian Carlo
Delgado PhD. (UNAM) – author of several books dealing with the relationship among
political ecology, imperialism and climate change – and Juanita Castaño. M.A. (UNEP)
– former member of the UN Secretary-General’s
advisory board on water and sanitation and former Chief of the UNEP in New York, who was present at the Rio +20 conference.
If you are interested in
participating at this conference, we will be happy to hear from you. Please
send us until the 15th of October 2012 a short abstract (no more
than 600 words) and a short bio-note (including your institutional affiliation
and the year of your doctoral thesis you are currently crossing) to: Tania.Mancheno@gmail.com.
Languages of the conference are
German and English. A publication of selected papers is at the Working
Paper Series of the Klima Campus is envisaged.
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