ECW Speaker Workshop: Climate Change and the Politics of Land

This talk is part of the Fall 2022 Environmental Change Workshop Series. More information, program and readings: https://www.kasasustainability.org/environmental-change-workshop

About the talk: Ideas for solutions for climate change are increasingly getting into the politics of land, whether this is from the mainstream camp such as notions of nature-based solutions or net zero emissions, or from alternative grassroots movements such as agroecology.

The mainstream ideas of land-based climate change mitigation and adaptation calls for ‘land tenure security’ as important accompanying policy measure. But the general condition of the politics of land worldwide is marked by extreme inequality, and current political trends tend to show ongoing polarization resulting in further dispossession and displacement of ordinary working people. The struggles for climate justice and agrarian justice therefore have become more entwined.

How do we make sense of all this in terms of academic research and political activist work? Critical reflections and discussion about these issues are what the online seminar hopes to accomplish.

About the speaker: Saturnino "Jun" M. Borras, Jr. is a Fellow at the Transnational Institute and a top cited scholar-activist in his field for his extensive work on food, climate change, rural movements, labour and migration, and geopolitics. He is a Professor at the International Institute for Social Studies at Erasmus University of Rotterdam and is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Peasant Studies.

Attendees will have a chance to ask questions, start discussions and interact with Prof. Borras after the presentation.