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22.04.2020
Online debate: Is adapting to climate change (really) our best choice? (Starting April 27th)
Many people believe that adaptation to climate change is inevitable. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone is not enough. But not all scholars and practitioners are convinced, though. Some argue that adaptation is often too oriented on technical solutions, failing to address the real causes of vulnerability: marginalization, exclusion, racism, colonialism, and other injustices. An emphasis on adaptation helps to "depoliticize" risk reduction. Adaptation measures often lead to gentrification and displacement, and rarely benefit the poor and marginalized. Critics also lament that the "adaptation capacity" concept contributes to a neoliberal conception of risk reduction. Finally, sharing responsibility for climate response with individuals and communities (that are, or must become "adaptable") dilutes the accountability of political and economic elites regarding pollution, disaster risk creation, and environmental degradation.
And you, what do you think? Join the debate by sharing your thoughts and voting on the motion at https://oddebates.com/
Deborah Harford and Silja Klepp, two internationally recognized experts on the effects of climate change and adaptation, will defend each viewpoint over ten days:
Opening remarks – April 27
Rebuttal remarks – May 4
Closing remarks – May 8
The three best comments by students will be awarded prizes of up to $1000.
Organized by Œuvre Durable (The Canadian Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Reconstruction Research Alliance) and i-Rec (Information and Research for Reconstruction). With the support of the Intersectional Flood Network of Quebec (RIISQ).
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21.04.2020
A Critical Approach to Climate Change Adaptation is now available in paperback
Due to the great success of the book, Silja Klepp's and Libertad Chavez-Rodriguez'
"A Critical approach to Climate Change Adaptation" has now been published in paperback.
You can now purchase it here, using the discount code ADC20 for an extra 30% off.
This edited volume brings together critical research on climate change adaptation discourses,
policies, and practices from a multi-disciplinary perspective.
Introduction (open access): Klepp, S. und L. Chavez-Rodriguez (2018):
Governing climate change: the power of adaptation discourses, policies, and practices.
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18.03.2020
IMPORTANT: EnJust 2020 Workshop in Freiburg postponed
It is with great disappointment that we need to inform you that this year’s International EnJust 2020 Workshop in Freiburg will not take place.
The situation with COVID-19 has changed dramatically over the past weeks, across Europe and the world. To ensure the safety of participants and avoid further uncertainty about travel bookings, the EnJust 2020 team and the EnJust Network coordinators have jointly decided to postpone the May 2020 event.
This is a huge disappointment to all involved. After months of preparatory work, we were very much looking forward to an exciting conference program, with lots of highly topical and thought-provoking contributions. Given the severity of the corona virus outbreak, however, we don’t see any other option than cancelling the event.
Our plan is to postpone the workshop by one year, so make sure to already reserve 19th to 21st May 2021 in your diaries! Those of you whose abstracts were accepted for this year’s workshop will be first in line to present the contributions next year instead. We will be in touch with you later this year with further details on this process and hope that many, if not most, of this year’s presenters will be able to join us in Freiburg in May 2021.
If you have already paid your registration fees, these will be reimbursed to you. We will contact you in the coming weeks in this regard.
If you need an official letter for insurance purposes stating that the event was cancelled by the organisers, please send an e-mail request to: enjust2020@geographie.uni-freiburg.de
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any other questions regarding the changed plans.
Stay well and safe and preserve some of your excitement about the workshop for 2021! We look forward to seeing you in Freiburg next year.
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28.01.2020
Sustainability requirements for natural rubber under the microscope
In the case study Deconstructing sustainable rubber production: contesting narratives in rural Sumatra, Fenna Otten, Jonas Hein, Hannah Bondy and Heiko Faust challenge the claims of large corporations.
The growing demand for natural rubber is increasingly threatening biodiversity and forest ecosystems. Recently, the French Michelin Group started a cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to establish environmentally and socially sustainable ‘model’ rubber plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia. The framing of Michelin’s tyre production as ‘eco-friendly’ and their purported ‘sustainable’ rubber cultivation contradict with statements by villagers living around Michelin’s plantation in Jambi Province, Sumatra, who are reporting environmental destruction and land tenure conflicts. Conceptually, we build on political ecology and critical human geography perspectives to identify conflicts and ambiguities related to sustainability claims, deforestation and dispossession. Empirically, we draw on qualitative research in a village affected by the plantation. We confront and deconstruct the discursive framing of sustainable rubber production with our empirical findings. We show how the plantation restricts access to land and instead of providing additional income, is actually limiting development opportunities.
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27.11.2019
Night of the Profs: Prof. Dr. Silja Klepp as a part of the long night of lectures all about the topics of "Fear Power Culture"
At this year's Night of the Profs.Prof. Dr. Silja Klepp
contributed to an extremely diverse program around
the topic "Fear Power Culture": In front of over 400 listeners
and under the title "Dealing with climate change in a different
way is possible! New strategies for climate migrants in
Oceania" she spoke about the different ways of dealing
with the topic of climate change in a global context.
Based on the findings of her research in Oceania,
she shared her knowledge on different adaptation strategies of
climate migrants* with a mixed audience to present
new perspectives on the climate discourse and to broaden the perspective on migration.
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21.11.2019
Public Climate Schools and climate strike
The Students for Future movement calls for a boycottof
the regular teaching activities for the week from
25.11.2019 to 29.11.2019. Instead, discussions, seminars and
lectures on the subject of climate change will take place. Under the
slogan "Public Climate School", the university will be opened up to
all members of society.
The climate strike will end in the demonstrations in light of the Global Day of Climate Action (29.11.2019).
Representatives of the EnJust network will also take part in the events organised by the Public Climate Schools. In Kiel, Florian Dünckmann, Silja Klepp, Konrad Ott, Erik van Doorn and Sören Weißermel will speak on relevant topics.
Detailed programme
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28.10.2019
Call for Papers
POLLEN 2020 Session on Comparative perspective(s) on ontological conflicts in extractivism, conservation and development
Contested Natures: Power, Possibility, Prefiguration
Session organizers: Riccarda Flemmer (GIGA Hamburg), Jonas Hein (University of Kiel)
24-26 June 2020, Brighton
Ontological conflicts are defined as ‘conflicts involving different assumptions about “what exists”’ (Blaser 2013). Accordingly, ontological politics can be understood as struggles over the meaning and existence of different worlds. This kind of politics is especially virulent in conflicts over the extraction of natural resources (e.g. hydrocarbons, fisheries, forest products), over large-scale development projects (e.g. coastal reclamation projects, hydropower) and in the context of protected area implementation superimposing with indigenous people’s territories or peasant community lands. For political ecology, this is a major concern, because these projects are embedded into often unjust and asymmetric (post)colonial power relations.
In the context of participatory decision-making and inclusive planning exercises ontological conflicts become visible. At least in theory actors guiding these processes are forced to bring together western ideas of human-nature relationships and more holistic views which do not make this distinction and focus on spiritual meaning, collective identities and living beings (de la Cadena 2015; Escobar 2015). Participatory decision making and planning were established in international and national legal frameworks as a means to mediate between top-down imposed development projects promoted by the state and the interests of local populations. Most prominent are prior consultation processes and the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for indigenous peoples or participatory land-use planning.
The aim of this panel is to make ontological politics visible and show how ontological conflicts are dealt with. Thereby, the panel will compare different empirical cases as well as methodological and conceptual approaches. We will bring together experiences from different world regions in order to bring them in comparative perspective and enable the identification of lessons learned.
We invite contributions on cases from the Global South and North. If you are interested to join our panel, please send us your abstract (max 250 words) including the title of the paper and your affiliation until 15 November 2019.
Submit to rflemmer[at]gmx.de and hein[at]geographie.uni-kiel.de.
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19.08.2019
Call for Contributions
International Workshop "Bridging research, policy and activism for environmental justice in times of crises”
University of Freiburg, 27.05.2020 - 29.05.2020
Institute of Environmental Social Sciences and Geography, University of Freiburg + EnJust Network for Environmental Justice
This workshop, collaboratively organized by the Institute of Environmental Social Sciences and Geography at the University of Freiburg and the EnJust Network for Environmental Justice, aims at fostering debate and learning processes about the roles, responsibilities and approaches of the emerging inter- and transdisciplinary environmental justice movement composed of scholars, activists and decision-makers. The workshop will bring together individuals from these groups, who self-identify with the environmental justice movement, in order to critically engage with current research, concrete ideas, practices, and methods for bridging the divides between environmental justice research and practice, between activism and scientific study, and between collective and individual decision-making. It will provide a space to collectively explore and deepen transdisciplinary work and activist-research for a more just and fairer future.
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20.06.2019
Workshop “Narratives and practices of environmental justice”
6. - 8. June 2019, Kiel
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27.05.2019
Workshop: “Narratives and practices of environmental justice”
6. - 8. June 2019, Kiel
The aim of this workshop, organized by the Institute of Geography
at Kiel University, Kiel Marine Science (KMS) and the Enjust Network
for Environmental Justice emerging at Kiel University, is to advance
ongoing debates on environmental and climate justice by focusing on
narratives and associated practices, and to foster networking among
scholars. First, we want to discuss the conceptualization of environmental
justice by academic and non-academic actors in specific environmental
conflicts. Second, we want to gain insights on the interrelations between
narratives legitimizing environmental unjust outcomes and social practices
reproducing them. Third, we are interested in the potential of “designing”
narratives of environmental justice for emancipatory politics.
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13.05.2019
Telling the wood from the trees: Climate change and human rights in forest conservation
Book launch and expert roundtable 18.06.2019
This event presents innovative findings from empirical research on forest
conservation in Indonesia. It launches the recently published book by
Dr. Jonas Hein, “Political Ecology of REDD+ in Indonesia: Agrarian Conflicts
and Forest Carbon” and discusses its insights at the nexus of development
research, international climate governance and human rights. The book
presentation will be followed by an expert roundtable that brings together
representatives from government, development cooperation, civil society
and research to discuss the implications of agrarian conflicts for forest
conservation and the relevance of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC)
for human rights and conservation policy.
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25.04.2019
March for Science 2019 Kiel
Climate Change and Science 03th May 2019 - 20:30 CET
Discussion & Lightshow
Also this year the March for Science takes place in Kiel!
With exciting lectures and a light show, the March for Science will
be opened the evening before. Be there and inform yourself under this year's topic
"Climate change and science" about the current state of research!
As always, there will be plenty of time to ask questions.
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21.11.2018
Publication: Climate Change and Migration Crises in Oceania
Christiane Fröhlich and Silja Klepp
“Climate-induced migration” is often perceived as potentially leading
to political instability and violence, and thus, as critical. Oceania is
considered a prime example for this assumed linear causality, since sea
level rise and other effects of anthropogenic climate change are
threatening to displace large numbers of people in the region. The
policy brief scrutinises this perception by critically engaging with the
securitization of climate-induced migration in the Pacific region, with a
particular interest in who defines what a crisis is, when and where. Its
central claim is that without contextualised knowledge of the relevant
power structures which determine a) who defines what can be
considered a (migration) crisis, b) how human mobility challenges
pre-established ideas of citizenship, belonging and national identity, and c) how climate change figures in these topical fields and political processes, we cannot fully understand the potential effects of climate-induced migration.
Publication: Climate Change and Migration Crises in Oceania
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14.11.2018
Publication: Political Ecology of REDD+ in Indonesia
Agrarian Conflicts and Forest Carbon
Jonas I. Hein, Kiel University, Germany
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of agrarian conflicts
in the context of the implementation of REDD+ (Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) and forest
carbon offsetting in Indonesia, a country facing severe problems
of deforestation. It will interest researchers in forestry, geography,
environmental economics, climate change policies and
South-east Asian studies.
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06.11.2018
Social Transformation through Climate Change Adaptation?
Book Presentation and Panel Discussion
Kiel, Germany, November 1st, 2018 in the location of Hansa48
It has been an interesting and inspiring evening of discussing knowledge production in the realm of climate change. Thanks to all participants!
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15.10.2018
Lecture Series "Umweltgerechtigkeit"
As part of the Geographical Colloquium, winter semester 2018/2019, the lecture series "Environmental Justice" will take place at 16:15 - 17:45 in the lecture hall of Geography (R. 09).
12.11.2018 Dr. Robert Hafner, Universität Innsbruck
Environmental justice revisited. Oder: was man tut, wenn sich gar nichts tut
19.11.2018Prof. Michael Flitner, Universität Bremen
Umweltgerechtigkeit – ein einfacher Plan?
21.01.2019 Prof. Marc Redepenning, Universität Bamber
Geographien raumbezogener Gerechtigkeit. Konturen eines aktuellen Themas
Lecture Series "Umweltgerechtigkeit"
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02.10.2018
Social Transformation through Climate Change Adaptation?
Book Presentation and Panel Discussion
During the last decades climate change adaptation has become a growing necessity
and a much-debated topic worldwide. Especially in the field of North-South relations
and international development adaptation politics and projects are often controversial
and challenge the status quo. On the evening of the 1st of November, we will discuss at
Hansa48 how far these interventions have a transformative potential or if they are just
fortifying the power of elites and deepen inequalities.
We have invited authors of the book “A Critical Approach to Climate Change Adaptation.
Discourses, Policies and Practices” from Mexico, Venezuela and Germany. After a
short presentation of the book by Florian Dünckmann (CAU Kiel) we will open the floor
for a round table discussion with Libertad Chavez-Rodriguez (CIESAS Mexico), Daniel Morchain (Oxfam UK), Sybille Bauriedl (Uni Flensburg) and Jonas Hein (CAU Kiel).
Kiel, Germany, November 1st, 2018
Social Transformation through Climate change Adaptation?
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17.09.2018
Workshop Invitation
Loss & Hope: Contemporary debates in Environmental Anthropology
Diagnoses of environmental loss – i.e. loss of bio-diversity and extinction of species, of
soil and crop nutrients, loss through sea-level rise, the pollution of oceans and waterways,
or the penetration of living forms by industrially produced chemical compounds –
abound and inform much scholarly debate.
This networking meeting for researchers focusing on environmental anthropology takes a
productive tension between such recent diagnoses of loss and persistent hopes in
betterment as starting point to open up our discussions: What does taking loss in relation
to the environment seriously imply for anthropologists and how does this relate to projects
that try to instill hope? To what extent are these undertakings desirable or risky? What
affective attachments to hope or loss prevail in our fields of inquiry?
Tübingen, Germany, October 18th-19th, 2018
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19.07.2018
Call for Papers: International workshop on “Narratives and practices of environmental justice”
The aim of this workshop, organized by the Institute of Geography at Kiel University,
Kiel Marine Science (KMS) and the Enjust Network for Environmental Justice
emerging at Kiel University, is to advance ongoing debates on environmental and
climate justice by focusing on narratives and associated practices, and to foster
networking among scholars.
Kiel, Germany, June 6th to 8th, 2019
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13.07.2018
Call for Papers: Migration and Conflict in a Global Warming Era: A Political Understanding of Climate Change
Special Editor: Prof. S. Klepp
In recent years, we have learnt more about the far-reaching political effects of
anthropogenic climate change, such as climate induced human mobility or
climate-related conflicts. Securitization discourses and anti-migration policies are
gaining strength, while empirical findings have shown that environmental migration
entails mostly South–South movements, internal displacement, and trapped populations.
Conflicts linked to climate change are mostly non-violent, and climate change effects are
inseparable from socio–political and economic dynamics. This Special Issue aims to
draw attention to underrepresented research perspectives and to second order effects
of the political dimensions of climate change.
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13.07.2018
Tropic Ice: A Visual Dialog Between Places Affected by Climate Change
In September, the renowned German photographer Barbara Dobrowski is going to travel to Kiribati in cooperation with the research group Social Dynamics in Coastal and Marine Areas. In Oceania, she is going to complete the work on her project "Tropic Ice - A Visual Dialog between Places Affected by Climate Change".
More information on the project
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14.05.2018
Publication: A Critical Approach to Climate Change Adaptation
This edited volume brings together critical research on climate change
adaptation discourses, policies, and practices from a multidisciplinary
perspective. Drawing on examples from countries including Colombia,
Mexico, Canada, Germany, Russia, Tanzania, Indonesia, and the Pacific
Islands, the chapters describe how adaptation measures are interpreted,
transformed,and implemented at grassroots level and how these measures
are changing or interfering with power relations, legal pluralism and local
(ecological) knowledge. As a whole, the book challenges established
perspectives of climate change adaptation by taking into account issues
of cultural diversity, environmental justice and human rights, as well as
feminist or intersectional approaches. This innovative approach allows for
analyses of the new configurations of knowledge and power that are evolving
in the name of climate change adaptation.
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05.02.2018
Call for Papers: World Social Science Forum
We would like to draw your attention to the following call for papers for our session OP4-01 Transformation in coastal zones: Coping with global change at the World Social Sciences Forum 2018 in Fukuoka, Japan, 25-28 September 2018.
In this panel, we aim to critically explore the assumptions, triggers, catalysts and motivations for transformation in the contexts of coastal realms. We ask whether the concept of transformation is adequate to cope with the complexities of global social and environmental change and innovation, with aspirations for sustainable development set by the 2030 Agenda, but also with issues of power and representation across scale and social positioning as they manifest in coastal areas.
For more details about the session see: http://www.wssf2018.org/session-parallel-02-list.html#a_p4
Abstracts may be submitted through the conference website via: http://www.wssf2018.org/call-for-papers.html
Submission deadline for papers is 17 March 2017.
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05.02.2018
Invitation: Workshop on marine social science in Mai 2018
Dear researcher doing marine social sciences in Germany,
The strategy group of social sciences and humanities of the Consortium of German Marine Research is aiming to network, connect and organize social sciences researchers interested in the coastal and marine realm. Following a more strategic meeting on the 24th of May (which you are welcome to attend; it is in German), we want to organize a workshop focusing on concrete research on the 25th of May. The Marine Coastal Cultures network (MCC) that hosted the „Coastal and Marine Epistemologies Roundtable“ in Hamburg last year will organize a thematic session as part of the workshop agenda.
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29.01.2017
Co-Author Prof. Dr. Silja Klepp: World Ocean Review 5 - Coasts, A Vital Habitat Under Pressure
The fifth World Ocean Review (WOR) explores the
coastal habitat and the diverse expectations upon
this habitat. It provides a glimpse into millions of
years of history, elucidates the theory of continental
drift and discusses the many ways in which coasts
have changed. It also illustrates how the diverse
ecosystem services rendered by the coasts are
being subjected to increasing pressure, and profiles
measures that will be necessary in the future to
respond effectively to the threats from both climate
change and natural disasters.
Presentation: World Ocean Review 5 - Coasts, A Vital Habitat Under Pressure: (left to right) Karsten Schwanke, Ingbert Liebing, Prof. Dr. Silja Klepp, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Bathmann, Nikolaus Gelpke, Monika Breuch-Moritz, Prof. Dr. Martin Visbeck, Dr. Tim Jennerjahn und Prof. em. Dr. Karsten Reise. © Jan Windszus / maribus
Prof. Dr. Silja Klepp with meteorologist and TV host Karsten Schwanke © Jan Windszus / maribus
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29.09.2017
New initiative of Kiel Marine Science invited to submit a full proposal to the German Excellence Strategy
After two successful applications in 2006 and 2012, Kiel marine researchers today (September 29) have cleared the first hurdle to submitting a new large-scale research proposal within the framework of the German Excellence Strategy. The new research project "Future Ocean Sustainability" is thus one of the positively assessed applications in the pre-selection.
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17.07
Shout out! Solidarity with refugees, rescuers and Italy
The situation in the Mediterranean Sea and Libya
has once more brutalized. Sea rescue conditions are
becoming increasingly difficult. The EU contributes to
this escalation.
Shout out! We demand:
Ceasing cooperation of the EU with Lybian units
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13.06
28.06.2017: Presentation of the Study Project: EU Border Regimes in the Mediterranean
Poster
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13.06
20.06.2017: Prof. Dr. Silja Klepp: Climate Change and Migration in the South Pacific Region
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