Starting Date: 03-26-2004
Ending Date: 03-28-2004
Ann Arbor, Michigan
United StatesGlobal climate change is already affecting vulnerable communities around the world. Those most adversely affected are disadvantaged communities who have contributed the least to global climate change but will bear the largest burden, and lack resources to either prevent or adapt to climate change. Policies to address this situation are lacking at all levels (local, national, regional, and global), yet some efforts have been made to move towards climate justice. Of note are the Environmental Justice and Global Climate Change Initiative, a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activists that have organized international climate summits and developed the Principles of Climate Justice, and the inclusion of local and indigenous communities and other stakeholders in the US National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, among other studies. On a global level, however, efforts remain divided, and scientists, policy-makers, businesses and community representatives have not collectively embraced the climate justice issue.
We are pleased to announce the upcoming conference, “Just Climate? Pursuing Environmental Justice in the Face of Global Climate Change,” to take place in Ann Arbor, MI from March 26-28, 2004, co-funded by the Environmental Justice and Global Climate Change Student Group (EJCC), the Environmental Justice Initiative (EJI), the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), the Department of Philosphy,and the Marshall Weinberg Foundation. The goal of the conference is to further the dialogue among activists, policy-makers, and academics from diverse communities about how global climate change will affect disadvantaged areas and peoples around the world. We aim to identify barriers to and catalysts of climate justice as well as to envision and promote intersectoral and multidisciplinary experiences that exemplify efforts to achieve climate justice.
We are inviting activists, policy-makers and scholars from communities and Universities around the world to submit paper abstracts and case study summaries for the conference. The first day of the conference will be devoted to defining the issue of climate justice and identifying the main barriers to climate justice. The second day will feature case studies and panels from areas where action towards climate justice has been initiated. On the last day participants will identify opportunities for collaborative research and projects that promote climate justice.
Within this framework, the conference will explore the following broad questions:
1) How do we define climate justice? What are the main barriers towards achieving climate justice?
2) How will global climate change affect disadvantaged communities and how does this vary across regions (locally, nationally and globally)?
3) What efforts are currently being made by communities to either adapt to or mitigate climate change or work towards climate justice? How can other communities learn from these efforts?
4) What policies currently exist, and what policies are needed to protect these communities (locally, nationally and globally)?
5) How can the various stakeholders cooperate in research and policy-making efforts?
The major outcome of the conference will be an edited collection of the presented papers, case studies, and transcribed presentations.
Paper abstracts, case study summaries, and presentation proposals (no longer than 500 words) should be submitted by December 1st , 2003 to ejccproposals@umich.edu
. Please indicate the format in your submission. A multidisciplinary committee will select papers and presentations based on a competitive basis, evaluating quality and relevance and ensuring a balance of diverse perspectives for each presentation type. Notification of selection will be no later than January 10.
Geographical Scope: National Conference |
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