UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SESSION: "Sustainable Transboundary Governance of the Environmental Commons in Southeast Asia" [Singapore, 1-2 November 2018]

Sustainable Transboundary Governance of the Environmental Commons in Southeast Asia is a workshop organised by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. This multi-disciplinary workshop will explore key issues in sustainable development with particular reference to the ecological commons in Southeast Asia from a transboundary governance perspective.

For more details about the workshop, please visit this link.

Panel 7 - Transborder Governance Frameworks

15:30 - 16.30, November 2, AS8 Level 4, Seminar Room 04-04, National University of Singapore, Singapore

How East Asian Regional Economic Integration Teleconnects and Transforms Wetland Commons and Community Vulnerability in Japan and Thailand

• Carl Middleton, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

• Takeshi Ito, Sophia University, Japan

Global and regional economic integration teleconnect distant places not only economically but also ecologically. Japan is a key exporter of capital and aid provider to Southeast Asia, catalyzing industrialization and new flows of trade and investment. Whilst much emphasis has been placed by governments and transnational corporations on the economic benefits of regionalization, research has also revealed impacts to local environments including enclosure of commons and differentiated changes for communities’ vulnerabilities

For more details on this session, please take a look at the abstract here.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SESSION: Political ecology, water, and the hydrosocial cycle [22 June 2018]

Session organized for the “POLLEN18: Political Ecology, the Green Economy, and Alternative Sustainabilities” conference

8:30-10:00, 22 June 2018, Pilestredet 35, Room 35-PI 556, Oslo Metropolitan University

Presenters:

• “Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t? Mixed methods approaches in understanding the links between poverty and inequality and dam construction” by Lucy Goodman (Cambridge University)
• “How river basins in Thailand and Japan relate: Politicizing virtual water through a hydrosocial lens” by Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University) and Takeshi Ito (Sophia University)
• “Living with floods in a mobile Southeast Asia: A political ecology of vulnerability, migration and environmental change” by Becky Elmhirst (University of Brighton)

Conference details are available here.

UPCOMING CONFERENCE: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies [16-18 February]

CSDS Researchers head to the 2nd International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies

16-18 February 2018, University of Mandalay, Myanmar

On 16 February, Mandalay University in collaboration with Chiang Mai University will host the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies. The three day conference will welcome scholars, researchers, journalists, NGO workers and observers from all over the world to present and debate on all topics surrounding the country of Myanmar/Burma. CSDS researchers will organize a series of panels and paper presentations for the conference, focusing on a variety of topics ranging from the new political and economic landscape of Myanmar, to local livelihoods along the Salween River. Below are the details (and links for individual abstracts) of the three panels being co-organized and led by CSDS, as well as an individual paper that is part of a series of presentations on Chin State.

Local Livelihoods and Change in the Salween Basin (Convener: Carl Middleton)

• Ethnobotanical Study on Plants Growing Along the Thanlwin River in Lashio District, Northern Shan State, Myanmar (Mar May Aye)
• Geographical Analysis on the Impact of Land Cover Changes on Socio-Economic Conditions of Bawlakhe District, Kayah State in Myanmar: A Case Study of Four Villages (Khin Sandar Aye) 
• Gender Inclusion Is Key to Social Justice: A Case Study of Two Villages Downstream of the Proposed Mongton Dam, Shan State (Hnin Wut Yee)
• Assessing Potential Threats to Fisheries and Socio-Economy in the Thanlwin Estuary, Mon State, Myanmar (Cherry Aung)

Thanlwin-Khong-Nu-Salween River in a Cultural and Political Perspective (Convener: Vanessa Lamb)

• Rights and Rites for Water Justice: A Case Study of the Proposed Hatgyi Dam on the Salween River (John Bright)
• What Else Do Floods Do? Climate Change, Beneficial Flooding and Everyday Agricultural Practice in Monsoon Myanmar (Vanessa Lamb)
• Redefining the Rules of Water: Contestation and the Production of Scale in Water Governance in Myanmar (Johanna M. Goetz)
• Which Path to Take?: A Political Economy Analysis of Salween River Pathways in Myanmar (Alec Scott and Carl Middleton)

Development and Transition in Myanmar: Exploring a New Political and Economic Landscape Since 2010 (Convener: Nauremon Thabchumpon)

• Law, Development and Transnationalisation of the State in Myanmar (Wolfram Schaffar)
• Transitional Relation of China and Myanmar: a New Economic Geography Approach to Mandalay-Ruili Road Connection (Nattapon Tantrakoonsap)
• Understanding Myanmar’s Economic Transition Through Policies and Practices (Zaw Aung)
• Economic Development in Myanmar’s Transition to Democracy and the Politics of Changes in Public Sphere and Civil Society Movement (Naruemon Thabchumpon)
• Top Down or Bottom up Development? : The Dawei Road Link Project and the Reconfiguration of Social Relations (And Social Movements) (Carl Middleton, Naruemon Thabchumpon, Fransiskus Adrian Tarmedi, and Surada Chundasutathanakul)

Water Insecurity in Hakha Town, Chin State, Myanmar: Structural Violence and the Production of Water Scarcity (Paper presentation) (Carl Middleton)

For more information about the conference and full schedule, please visit http://burmaconference.com/.

 

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SESSION: Communications Training [22 January 2018]

Communications training (social media and blogging) session organized prior to the “Greening Agri-food Systems, Ensuring Rural Sustainability and Promoting Healthy Socioeconomic Transformation in South-East Asia”

22 January 2017, 16:00-18:00 in Room 1213 (12th Floor) of the Chulalongkorn University School of Agricultural Resources (CUSAR), Wittayakit Bldg., Phyathai Rd., SIAM SQUARE, (same building as British Council), Pathumwan (Soi Chulalongkorn 64)

The Center for Social Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University (CSDS) and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) are proud to announce a special communications training for researchers and academics to kick off the the upcoming Greening Agri-food Systems Conference. 

To engage audience and communicate effectively, your scientific messages need to be concise and clear. It is about making the audience understand why your research matter. It takes real skill to be an effective communicator, skills that must be developed and refined on an on-going basis. It is when scientific messages are communicated effectively across disciplines that science flourishes, and it advances uptake, collaboration and dialogue. Today, social media is one of the most common form for news and information uptake. People turn to Facebook or Twitter, rather than to the daily newspaper. Therefore, it is a great place to share your results and your thought-provoking new ideas.

However, to be part of social media is not only about communicating effectively and getting your voice heard, it is also a platform for interaction and building partnerships. Your audiences, whoever they may be, are there, for you to engage with and learn from. Storytelling is a useful and increasingly important method in which to do this, so this tool will also be a focus of the training, crafted in a way that is specific for researchers and academics.

In this workshop you will understand why social media can be meaningful, get the right tools for using and engaging audiences on social media, with specific focus on Twitter and Facebook, as well as some tips and tricks for writing blogs. We will then get the opportunity to apply what we learnt during the workshop at the following days conference "Greening Agri-food Systems, Ensuring Rural Sustainability and Promoting Healthy Socioeconomic Transformation in South-East Asia."

Please register by sending a request no later than Thursday 18th of January to: Anneli at anneli.sundin@sei-international.org and/or Bobby at rirven@gmail.com

Anneli Sundin has a transdisciplinary background in sustainability science and has worked with science communication for a few years. At SEI she is responsible for providing strategic advice and delivery of professional communication activities relevant for the outreach of specific research projects. Her special competence lies in creating spaces for stakeholder dialogue, using storytelling in science communication, social media, short videos and photography. She has a great interest in topics related to sustainable agriculture and food security.

Bobby Irven has a diverse education background, originally studying Chinese and Political Science during his undergrad, and last year completed his Master’s in International Development, conducting his research in the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh. His passions center around seeking justice for some of society’s most marginalized populations, particularly around the topics of human rights, environmental conservation and recently, topics of climate change. He believes in the practical use of research and academia in affecting and changing policy, and in his current role, strives to spread the Center’s wide range of publications and events throughout the region, impacting those who make decisions at the highest levels.

 

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SESSION: "Water (in)security and development in Southeast Asia: Inclusions, exclusions and transformations" [23 January]

Session organized for the “Greening Agri-food Systems, Ensuring Rural Sustainability and Promoting Healthy Socioeconomic Transformation in South-East Asia”

13:30-15:00, 23 January 2017, 7th Floor, Chamchuri 10 Building, Chulalongkorn University

Summative Event (23-25 January 2018) marking the 100th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University (CU) at various locations around CU campus, Bangkok, Thailand

Our panel considers conflicts over access to, control over and use of water and natural resources at scales ranging from the interstate to the individual. We consider the implications of deepening market integration into resource use and governance, and how it produces exclusions for some to the benefit of others. We explore the implications of large-scale developments tied to regional economic integration both in Southeast Asia, such as large-scale dams. We also focus on the extension of market relations at a more local scale, and how this entails “intimate” processes of exclusion that contrast with the more high-profile and more overtly violent exclusions.

Presenters:

• "Gender and the Mekong River: Inclusions and Exclusions" by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kanokwan Manorom (Department of Social Science, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University)
• "Intimate Water Exclusion: Processes and Politics of River Enclosure by Fish Cage Aquaculture in Northeast Thailand" by Dr. Soimart Rungmanee (Puay Ungpakorn School of Development Studies, Thammasart University)
• "Rights and Rites: Community water resource governance on the Salween River in Karen State, Burma" by Saw John Bright (Karen Environmental and Social Action Network - KESAN)
• "Water insecurity in Hakha Town, Chin State, Myanmar: Structural violence and the production of water scarcity" by Asst. Prof. Dr. Carl Middleton (Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University)

To register for this event, please click here. Conference details are available here. 

Co-organized by UNESCO, Chulalongkorn University (Various Faculties, Research Centers, Schools and Academic Programs); Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC), Ministry of Education, Thailand; Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI Asia); the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI); Expert Group on Higher Education for Sustainable Agriculture (HESA) and Food Systems in Southeast Asia” housed in Chulalongkorn University, School of Agricultural Resources (CUSAR) and UNESCO Bangkok, under the auspices of the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme.

 

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: “Greening Agri-food Systems, Ensuring Rural Sustainability and Promoting Healthy Socioeconomic Transformation in South-East Asia” [23-25 January 2018]

“Greening Agri-food Systems, Ensuring Rural Sustainability and Promoting Healthy Socioeconomic Transformation in South-East Asia”

Summative Event (23-25 January 2018) marking the 100th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University (CU) at various locations around CU campus, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organized by UNESCO, Chulalongkorn University (Various Faculties, Research Centers, Schools and Academic Programs); Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC), Ministry of Education, Thailand; Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI Asia); the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI); Expert Group on Higher Education for Sustainable Agriculture (HESA) and Food Systems in Southeast Asia” housed in Chulalongkorn University, School of Agricultural Resources (CUSAR) and UNESCO Bangkok, under the auspices of the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme.

The Center for Social Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University (CSDS) is proud to announce its involvement in this multi-disciplinary research initiative, regional conference and policy dialogue contributing to the ASEAN WORK PLAN on EDUCATION (AWPE), 2016-2020.

With the increasingly interconnectedness of global agricultural systems and its related environmental challenges (agrochemical pollution; biodiversity and species loss; climate change and greenhouse gas emissions; deforestation; depleting aquifers; desertification; drinking water contamination; drought; land degradation; soil loss and infertility; and more), current practices and future trends now threaten the future of our population and planet. This conference aims to take a closer look at these challenges and discuss the important science-policy-praxis/implementation issues that have arisen that present further barriers to success in the field. As part of its 100th Anniversary programming, CU is collaborating with OHEC and UNESCO to organize this conference inviting cooperation with various academic institutions and others (government officials or agencies, research organizations, think tanks, educators, farmer groups, NGOs, regional and UN agencies), providing an open, inclusive forum as well as comprehensive programming to meet the needs of the future. The culmination of the conference will result in the publishing of the proceedings with concrete Action Recommendations for strengthening or reforming social and sustainability sciences and agri-food systems education.

In addition to discussion and presentation, the conference will use research papers or technical reports, policy dialogues and practical workshop trainings to enhance the various themes of the three days. This will further supplement the assessment of how multi-disciplinary social and sustainability sciences and education for sustainable agriculture or research can provide good scientific evidence and policy analysis to help facilitate the greening of agri-food systems.

One important sub-focus of the conference will also be to debate and think critically and strategically about the past, current status and future of Agriculture Education, Research andExtension. The conference report will summarize expert recommendations on this theme, which could be used to help design new projects and guide future government education planning investments in the ASEAN region.

To register for this event, please click here.

For more information on the proposed program and full call for papers, please visit http://bangkok.unesco.org/content/2nd-revised-call-papers-and-panel-proposals-greening-agri-food-systems-ensuring-rural.

Please visit the website regularly for updates, but If you have specific questions about Conference administration, registration and logistics please contact or write directly to:

Conference Secretariat
Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute (CUSRI) | Bangkok, Thailand
Email:  chulagrifood2018@gmail.com

For questions regarding submitted abstracts, panel proposals and the academic or technical programs please email: socialsciencesAsean@gmail.com

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SESSION: "Thailand’s Overseas Investment in Southeast Asia and Transnational (In)Justice" [16 July 2017]

Session organized at the 13th International Conference on Thai Studies
"Globalized Thailand?" Connectivity, Conflict, and Conundrums of Thai Studies 

15:15-16:45, 16th July 2017, Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Center

Session convened by the Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Thailand’s companies have become major investors in neighboring countries, including in agribusiness, hydropower, mining and various forms of industry. Thailand’s companies are backed by government policy, and typically financed by Thai commercial banks as well as, sometimes, Thailand’s Export Import Bank (Thai Exim). Thailand’s regional investment has furthermore been facilitated by various regional economic integration programs, including the Asian Development Bank’s Greater Mekong Subregion Program and more recently the ASEAN Economic Community. As one of the major economies of mainland Southeast Asia, Thailand has sought to positioned itself as central to economic regionalization. Given that Thailand itself is embedded within a wider global network of production, its companies’ investment in neighboring countries’ resource extraction and commodity production can also tied to a wider global political economy.

Whilst it seems that investment, commodities, goods and natural resources flow readily across borders, the same cannot be said of access to justice. In this panel, empirical case studies will be presented of Thailand’s cross-border investments that have in the process resulted in environmental and social harms, and in some cases violated human rights. The panel explores the various processes and arenas that have emerged as communities and civil society have sought redress and access to justice. These arenas have included in the national courts of the project host country, but also through various formal and informal cross-border processes that link to Thailand, including via Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission (TNHRC), and in one example a case ruled upon by Thailand’s administrative court. Meanwhile, a report of the TNHRC on the Dawei Special Economic Zone in Myanmar led to a Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommendation in March 2016 that the government should set up a mechanism for the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for Thai companies investing overseas. Thus, a wider array of international norms is also brought into play, reflecting the legal pluralism that nowadays governs cross-border investments. This also brings into focus a question of the extra-territorial obligations of Thailand with regard to the investment of Thai companies.

This panel will critically evaluate Thailand’s investment role in the region through the lens of transnational social and environmental justice. Through empirical case studies on agribusiness, hydropower and special economic zones, the political economy of these investments will be explored in order to understand the production of injustice and human rights violations.  The papers will ask: what are the roles, opportunities and challenges for public interest law, national/ regional human rights institutions, other transnational soft law mechanisms, and civil society to protect and promote human rights on Thailand’s investments?

• Paper 1:  Accountability Beyond the State: Extra territorial obligations in the case of the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Concession, Cambodia by Michelle D’cruz
• Paper 2: Redressing transboundary environmental injustice at the Dawei Special Economic Zone and Roadlink Project by Naruemon Thabchumpon
• Paper 3: Arenas of Water Justice on Transboundary Rivers: Human Rights and Hydropower Dams on the Salween and Mekong Rivers by Carl Middleton

Discussant: Walden Bello.

Chair: Daniel King

Abstracts can be downloaded here (see page 7; session 53). Conference details are available here.