On 15 December 2023, CSDS and MAIDS-GRID joined the International Migrants Day. The presentation title was “Climate change, agrarian change and conflict: A scoping study on recent migration between Myanmar and Thailand”.
Further details on the program of the launch can be found here.
A recording of the full program can be viewed here.
On December 6, CSDS hosted a book launch and discussion. The book title is “Land into Capital”. Carl Middleton from CSDS is the chapter author of the book.
Commentator:
Dr. Pasuk Phongpaichit is an Emeritus Professor in Political Economy with the Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Thailand, and co-laureate of the Fukuoka Grand Prize, 2017. Professor Pasuk’s publications include: Unequal Thailand (2016); We the People Revolutionize Tax for Equality (2020) and Land Governance in Thailand (forthcoming in 2023).
Moderator:
Dr. Naruemon Thabchumpon is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, and Director of the Asian Research Center for Migration
Book editors/ chapter authors
Dr. Philip Hirsch is an Emeritus Professor in human geography at the University of Sydney and coauthor of Powers of Exclusion: Land Dilemmas in Southeast Asia
Dr. Kevin Woods is a Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu.
Natalia Scurrah is an independent researcher based in Thailand and coauthor of The Mekong: A Sociolegal Approach to River Basin Development.
Chapter author
Dr. Carl Middleton is Director of the Center for Social Development Studies and Deputy Director on the MA and PhD graduate program in International Development Studies in the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.
A recorded video can be found here.
This was a public seminar in person co- organized by the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Chulalongkorn University; Chulalongkorn University UNESCO Chair in Resource Governance and Futures Literacy; and China Dialogue Trust.
Please see the full agenda here.
A recorded vide can be found here.
On November 24, CSDS and RWI collaborated for the hybrid seminar on “Climate Change, Mobility and Human Rights: ‘Slow-onset’ Environmental Change and Displacement in the Mekong Region”.
This full day hybrid public seminar addressed the following questions, with a focus on mainland Southeast Asia.
How are climate change, people’s mobility and human rights connected?
What is the experience on the ground?
Is current law and policy adequate to address emerging vulnerabilities, especially regarding ‘slow onset’ environmental change?
What are the actionable polices and on-the-ground approaches to protect and promote human rights?
What are the implications for ‘loss and damage’ claims and climate justice?
For more information about the event, you can visit the CSDS website here and you can watch the full seminar here.
This event was co- organized by Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Chulalongkorn University; Chulalongkorn University UNESCO Chair in Resource Governance and Futures Literacy; SustainAsia; Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC); Institute of Political Sciences (Sciences Po) Toulouse; and Heinrich Böll Foundation.
Our panelists are:
Dr. Apisom Intralawan, Institute for the Study of Natural Resource Management and Environmental Management, Mae Fah Luang University
Prof. Dr. Catherine Baron, Sciences Po Toulouse
Karen Delfau, PhD candidate at Sciences Po Toulouse
Dr. Anindrya Nastiti, Institut Teknologi Bandung
Phong Huynh, Deputy Project Manager, GRET (Laos)
The panel was moderated by Gabriel Facal, IRASEC Deputy Director.
Please see the full event below.
On Thursday, 2nd June 2022, CSDS co- organized with Chulalongkorn University and the Australia – Mekong Partnership for Environmental Resources and Energy Systems (AMPERES) for report launch and discussion on “Pathways to a Sustainable and Just Transformation of the Mekong Region’s Electricity Sector”.
The event covered the following questions:
Rethinking electricity narratives: How are different electricity options narrated and justified? How do they reflect visions for the electricity transformation? What are the implications for a just electricity transformation in the region?
Rethinking electricity planning: Beyond changes in generation technology, in what ways could/should electricity systems in the region change in the near future? What are the challenges and opportunities to do so? What are the economic, social and environmental implications?
Rethinking scale and design: Why does scale matter in electricity planning and practice? Are different scaled technologies and practices mutually exclusive options? What are the trends and the region and what are the consequences?
Please see the full agenda here. Please view the final report here.
You can watch the full discussion here.
This event was co- hosted by The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University (RCSD); Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute (CUSRI); Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Chulalongkorn University; Center for Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University (CSDS); College of Politics and Governance , Mahasarakham University; Faculty of Science and Social Sciences, Burapha University Sakaeo Campus.
This seminar shared recent research on the water policy and practices and its impacts especially on community livelihoods and culture in Thailand, and to contextualize the findings by engaging in discussion with innovative approaches beyond Thailand.
Please see the panel and more information here.
A recording of the full event can be found here.
CSDS collaborated with Chulalongkorn Futures Literacy and Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University for a panel discussion for Chulalongkorn University’s Futures Literacy Week.
The full event panels are:
Panelists;
Prof. Dr. Jin Sato, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo; President, Japan Society for International Development
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mandy Sadan, Director of the Graduate Taught Programmes in Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick
Mr. Hermes Huang, Design Thinking Practitioner, Co-Founder, InsightPact
Moderator;
Dr. Bhanubhatra Jittang, Director, MAIDS-GRID, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
The full event can be found below.
Carl Middleton from CSDS was the moderator for a panel discussion on “A Bridge Over Troubled Water: Anticipating and Reimagining the Future of Rivers in Southeast Asia”. This was a panel for the International Conference of Chulalongkorn University’s Futures Literacy Week. You can find more information about Chulalongkorn’s University Futures Literacy here.
The full panelist for the event are:
Chol Bunnag, Assistant Professor and Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)
Pianporn Deetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director, International Rivers
Saw John Bright, Water Program Manager, Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN)
Raymond Yu Wang, Associate Professor, Center for Social Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology
Tarek Ketelsen, Director General, Australia – Mekong Partnership for Environmental Resources and Energy Systems (AMPERES)
Yong Ming Li, Fellow, East West Center
Moderator
Carl Middleton, Director, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
The full event is below.
CSDS was the co- organizer for a panel discussion on climate change, climate action and climate justice on Chulalongkorn University Futures Literacy week. Co- designers and facilitators shared what they learned and what will be next.
See the full panel below.
Carl Middleton from CSDS was one of the speakers for the online webinar organized by Metropolis Asia-Pacific titled “Report on the UN Climate Change Conference and the Impact of Climate Change on Migration in South East Asia”.
The full panelist for the event are:
Opening remarks: Imelda M. Nicolas, Former Cabinet Secretary, Commission on Filipinos Overseas, Co- convener, Metropolis- Asia
Moderator: Tasneen Sidiqui, University of Dhaka, Banglades
Closing Remarks: Binod Khadria, Former Professor, Jwaharlal Nehru Univ, Indida, Co- convener, Metropolis- Aisa
Speakers: Ouvais Samad, Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), Bonn, Germany Kristin Marie Dadey, Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Manila, Philippines Carl Middleton, Director, Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Chulalaongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
A recording of the event can be found here
Carl Middleton from CSDS was one of the speakers for the online discussion on how biodiversity in the Mekong Basin can be protected, despite its constant evolution, notably through integrated management and community-based approaches.
This event was organized by Agence Française de Développement.
Speakers :
Anoulak Kittikhoun, Chief Strategy and Partnership Officer, Mekong River Commission
Carl Middleton, Director at the Center for Social Development Studies, Chulalungkorn University (TH)
Jake Brunner, Head of IndoBurma Group, IUCN
The full video is below:
Last month, we had a discussion with Professor Ian G. Baird, who is currently a Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses mainly on mainland Southeast Asia, especially Laos, Thailand and northeastern Cambodia. He has written on a range of themes related to rural political ecology in Southeast Asia, and that also relates to development studies, post-colonial studies, and on indigeneity in Southeast Asia. His work has addressed land and rivers in mainland Southeast Asia, including the impacts of large hydropower dams and economic land concessions.
This discussion focused on to Ian’s research on land concessions in Southern Laos and NE Cambodia, which relates to questions over control and access to land, government strategy and planning towards economic land concessions and commodity exports, forms of community resistance, and the role of global commodity markets.
The video was premiered on CSDS Facebook Page. Below are the timestamps of the video, in case you want to jump to specific section/question.
03:35 To what extent have plantations been established in Southern Laos and NE Cambodia, over what time frame, by which actors and for what purposes?
05:50 Why have political ecology researchers paid attention to plantations in Southern Laos and NE Cambodia? What are the main directions of their research and what are the most important findings overall?
08:05 Your work has mainly focused on Southeast Asia – in the body of research that has been done so far, are the issues outlined here shared with other regions or is there something about the plantation in Southeast Asia that is unique to the region?
09:30 You emphasize in your recent 2019 paper in Journal of Agrarian Change that you would like to draw attention to ‘after the land grab’, in particular for plantation developers. Could you explain why this is significant?
14:15 Follow up: how it relates to commodity prices and what you term ‘resource frontier mentality’?
20:58 How much influence that community activism or civil society activism had in influencing these companies?
25:00 Are there any challenges that are not fixable by these modern agribusinesses when they’re trying to invest in Southern Laos and Northeast Cambodia?
26:28 You conclude that in Southern Laos and NE Cambodia “… plantation development is often fraught with difficulties… ” and that “….. they appear to be frequently constituting “lose-lose-lose” scenarios for villagers, the government and investors.” You also note that some government officials in Laos and Cambodia are themselves becoming less supportive of land concessions. Do you anticipate the decline of the plantation as an approach to development in Southern Laos and Northeast Cambodia?
31:05 Could the analysis that you showed could give insight to ways to transform this thinking of development, if not from mainstream at least to give new ideas about how activist or even government officials might reapproach plantations and development?
34:20 Regarding a political ecology research agenda on plantations and land in Southeast Asia, what would be your suggestions for key priorities?
Further reading: Baird, I. G. (2020). "Problems for the plantations: Challenges for large-scale land concessions in Laos and Cambodia." Journal of Agrarian Change 20(3): 387-407.
Read more of Ian Baird's research here.
On june 7, Carl Middleton from CSDS was invited as one of the speakers for the webinar "Contrasting China's Relationship with South and Southeast Asia: the Belt and Road Initiative, Hydropolitics, and Hydropower."
Carl was speaking on ‘Reworking the Mekong River Regime: The Geopolitics and Hydropolitics of Competing Regionalisms’.
The full panelists of the event are:
Prof Jiejin Zhu, School of International Relations and Public Affairs and center for UN and International Organizations studies at Fudan University
Dr Ruth Gamble, La Trobe University, Melbourne
Dr Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) in the Faculty of Political Science of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Rohan D’Souza, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University
Chair: Prof Lyla Mehta, Institute of Development Studies
For more information about the event, you can visit the organizer’s website here. You can also watch the full panel below:
Earlier this month, we had a discussion with Dr. Helena Varkkey, who is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, University of Malaya. Dr. Helena’s research presently focuses on transboundary pollution in Southeast Asia, including on the role of patronage in agribusiness, especially the oil palm industry, and its link to forest fires and haze in the region.
The video was premiered on CSDS Facebook Page. Below are the timestamps of the video, in case you want to jump to specific section/question.
02:58 Please could you outline what exactly haze is in Southeast Asia, where does it come from, how is it created, who is affected by it and how?
09:48 Could you explain a little bit more on why were the peatlands being drained in the first place, and why did the fires happened?
16:45 Your research has focused on the role of patronage in agribusiness. Please could you explain a little why patronage is an important issue in understanding haze in Southeast Asia.
21:22 A part of your research has focused on the role of transboundary environmental governance mechanisms in addressing haze. These have included the ASEAN’s ‘Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution’ and Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act. Please could you explain about what these mechanisms are and how they were created. From your perspective, how effective have these mechanisms been and why?
27:20 What has been the role of community movements, civil society and researchers in influencing these transboundary environmental governance mechanisms and their enforcement?
32:00 In one of your recent papers you have framed the haze dilemma in Malaysia as a trade off between economic growth and public health. Please could you explain how decisions on this trade off have been arrived at, whose interests and voices are considered, and why
38:20 In terms of prospects for addressing transboundary haze in Southeast Asia, what do you consider to be some of the most promising initiatives at present and why? [By states, by companies, by civil society/ community/ consumers?]
42:55 Regarding a research agenda on transboundary haze in Southeast Asia, what would be your suggestions for key priorities?
Further Reading: Varkkey, H. (2018). The haze problem in Southeast Asia: palm oil and patronage. Routledge. Read more of Dr. Helena’s research here.
On Saturday, 8 May 2021, Carl Middleton from CSDS was invited to the Chulalongkorn University Radio to talk on the series “Unlock The Science” for the tenth episode. Carl talked on the part one, “Its Might and Great Source of Life”, which discussed the vitality of Mekong to people in the region and the rise in commercial use of its resources.
Unlock The Science is a 30-minute weekly audio program that leads listeners to the most relevant fields of science, research and study in Thailand and other countries that affect our daily life and environment. The episode talked about the Mekong River, which runs over 4,900 kms through the heartland of ancient civilizations, nurturing unique and complex ecosystems, and feeding more than 60 million people in six Asian countries. Believed to be the habitat of Naga, the giant horn snake, the river is revered by people along its course, and is considered as the birth place of life. Mekong countries are the world’s key rice producers, and Mekong River possesses the highest fish biodiversity, second only to the Amazon River. The riches of Mekong River do not provide sustenance to people along the river only, but they are also attracting many big transnational corporations to invest in large-scale development projects in exploiting the river’s bountiful resources. Discussing the significance and geopolitics of Mekong River in this episode are Premrudee Daoroung, founder and coordinator of Project SEVANA South-East Asia, and Dr. Carl Middleton, director of Center for Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University.
You can listen to the radio on the link below:
On Thursday, 29 April 2021, Carl Middleton from CSDS was invited to be one of the speakers for Asian Studies Center at Michigan State University’s Spring 2021 Webinar Series: The Mekong, China, & SE Asian Transitions Series. Carl was one of the speakers for Panel 4: “Mekong Dams: Debates and the Politics of Evidence”.
The full panelists of the event are:
Brian Eyler, Stimson Center, Washington D.C.
Carl Middleton, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
Nguyễn Hương Thủy Phan, Graduate Institute - Geneva, Switzerland
Pon Souvannaseng, Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts
Apichai Sunchindah, Independent Development Specialist, Bangkok
Moderator: Wisa Wisesjindawat-Fink, Michigan State University
You can watch the full panel below:
Photograph taken from SEA-Junction Facebook Group on the link here.
On Monday, 16th March 2020, Carl Middleton from Center for Social Development Studies, was one of the speakers for the opening talk of SEA Junction’s “Mekong is Blue and Dried” photo exhibition, which will be held from 16 – 28 March 2021 at Corner Space, 1st Floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC). The exhibition is born out of concern for the environmental degradation of the Mekong River.
Other speakers on the talk include:
Anthony Zola, Independent Researcher
Premrudee Daoroung, Lao Dam Investment Monitor
Laure Siegel, Freelance Journalist
The talk was moderated by Rosalia Sciortino from SEA Junction.
You can watch the video of the event below.
Virtual Panel (c) Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace
On Thursday, 6th August 2020, Carl Middleton from Center for Social Development Studies, was invited by the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP) to speak on a virtual conference on "Sustainable Development and the Future of the Mekong".
Carl was one of the speakers on Panel IV, discussing “Human Security Issues in the Mekong Context: Agriculture, Energy, Water and Environment”. The panel discussed various topics on rising energy demand, food and water security as well as environment have become increasingly salient in recent years and interact directly both at present and in future with the sustainability of the Mekong.
Carl’s presentation was on ”Water data democratization in the Mekong-Lancang basin”, and the presentation is available to download here.
You can watch the video of the event below.
On 21 May 2019, the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) hosted a book launch for "The Water-Food-Energy Nexus: Power, Politics, and Justice". The book launch event discussed the topics related to the book's themes, inviting two panelists who are the authors of the book.
Carl Middleton from Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University and Dipak Gyawali from Nepal Academy of Science and Technology introduced the book, positioning it vis a vis of the global hegemonic nexus narratives - if nexus thinking is to attain poverty reduction goals, it needs to pay more attention to whose food, water, and energy is secured, clarifying by which means the needs of the marginalised will be prioritised.
They draw on insights from “dynamic sustainability” to show how in nexus approaches often “static” thinking rather than “dynamic” thinking prevails. Overall, in the book, the authors follow a pathways approach, seeking to broaden out the inputs to planning processes and appraisal methods, and open up the outputs to decision making and policy to recognise the different pathways to sustainability around the nexus.
The discussion was joined by Kasira Cheeppensook from Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, as Chair, as well as Dr. Takeshi Ito from Graduate Program in Global Studies, Sophia University and Dr. Supawan Visetnoi from Chulalongkorn University School of Agricultural Resources (CUSAR) as discussants.
The shared presentations from this discussion can be accessed here. The discussion was broadcast on Facebook Live and can be viewed at the above link.
*Report written by Anisa Widyasari, Communications Coordinator at CSDS
