Global Environmental Justice Conference – 2019 Conference: Emerging Scholars
November 15, 2019

Supported by The Graciela Chichilnisky Environmental Fund
in Honor of Natasha Chichilnisky-Heal

 

In 2019, the inaugural Global Environmental Justice Conference at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, supported by the The Graciela Chichilnisky Environmental Fund in Honor of Natasha Chichilnisky-Heal, will explore pressing topics including extractive industries and human rights, and migration, displacement and adaptation in response to climate change.  This conference honors the intellectual legacy and memory of Natasha Chichilnisky-Heal, a young scholar concerned with natural resource management and global environmental inequities. To produce a rich and stimulating dialogue and foster emerging scholarship, we will be breaking many of the standard norms of academic conferences. In order to more fully explore the relationship of scholarship and the practice of environmental management, we welcome participation from across disciplines; including anthropology, climate science, epidemiology, geography, sociology, history, and others.
 

We will combine a poster session for graduate students and postdocs, with interdisciplinary graduate student and postdoc panels and a keynote speaker.  An award of $2500 will be made to the most provocative and stimulating paper.  There will be multiple panels. Some panel topics are pre-selected; the topics of other panels will be determined based on the submission of abstracts.

Panel 1: Extractive Industries and Human Rights

Extractive industries have produced negative social, economic and environmental consequences for indigenous people around the world. We are seeking submissions that explore one or more of these key issues: customary land rights, governance and transparency, corporate social responsibility, free prior and informed consent and toxic legacies. Submissions on other related topics are also welcome.

Panel 2: Migration, displacement and climate change

Environmental conditions such as flooding or hurricanes can result in temporary or permanent migration/r displacement. Such events and movement patterns are anticipated to increase under a changing climate. This can result in economic, societal, and cultural losses, as well as detriments to health. Some persons are more likely to suffer than others. We are seeking submissions that explore one or more of the following key issues: what personal, family, or community factors are associated with being more likely to experience migration/displacement due to a changing climate; What are the health and other impacts of migration/displacement from environmental conditions; What are the social and cultural implications of these movement patterns? Submissions from other related topics are welcome.

Panel 3: Environmental justice and adaptions to climate change

Resource dependent communities are likely to experience the impacts of climate change more quickly and more severely than others. We are seeking submissions that explore one or more of these key questions: how are resource dependent communities perceiving and responding to the immediate effects of global climate change; how are they adapting their resource management practices; what are the cultural consequences of climate change? Submissions related to other issues of adaptations of climate change are welcome.