ANNOUNCEMENT: MAIDS-International virtual conference on “New research in international development, human rights, and international relations at a time of disruption"

Our affiliate taught program, MA in International Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (MAIDS-Chula), is organizing an international virtual conference on “New research in international development, human rights, and international relations at a time of disruption” , which will be held on 27 July 2020.

The challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 has brought widespread harm across societies in Asia and globally. Amidst acts of solidarity, the pandemic has placed into intense focus the consequences of inequality, the resilience of social welfare systems, and the responsibilities of governments as well as society at large. It has also led to a critical scrutiny of the current economic system together with the relationship between people and nature. Thus, this ‘time of disruption’ has intersected with existing issues in international development, human rights and international relations.

For more information, please visit the conference webpage here.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PAPER: International Conference on Creative Tourism and Development

International Conference on Creative Tourism and Development

Creativity & Connectivity & Sustainability in ASEAN

6-7 February 2020, Chaloem Rajakumari 60, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Session 1, Panel 1: Creative Tourism for Sustainable Development in the Thai-Myanmar Andaman Sea

Thursday, 6 February 2020, 11:00-12:30, 7th Floor

Chair: Naruemon Thabchumpon

Discussant: Albert Salamanca International Conference Agenda

• Contestation and Coproduction of Local Knowledges: Transdisciplinary Research for Creative Tourism Development in Thai-Myanmar Andaman Sea by Naruemon Thabchumpon

• The Boom of Cross-Border Tourism in Ranong-Kaw Thaung: A Concern on Mass Tourism and Potential for Creative Tourism Development by Wipawadee Panyangnoi

• Potentials of Agro-tourism Development in Rural Area of Thailand and Lesson-Learnt for Border Connectivity: Community Leaderships’ Perspectives by Aungkana Kamonpetch

• An authentic artisanal fishing experience? : A case of community-based fishing tourism in Prachuap Khiri Khan by Nithis Thammasaengadipha

• Creative Tourism Destination Management: A case of Sustainable Community-based Tourism Plan in Ranong Province by Orapan Pratomlek
  

Abstract for  Creative Tourism Destination Management: A case of sustainable Community-based Tourism Plan in Ranong Province

by Orapan Pratomlek*

Tourism management under the vision of “Stability, Prosperity and Sustainable” it’s a significant challenge for the community in effort to truly create sustainable creative tourism. The community have been intensifying to develop tourism activity by using community identity, local livelihood and culture with the aims to add value of existing resources but at the same time having to consider the stability in the quality of life as well as raise up the potential that generate income for community members. The Community Department Office, Ministry of Interior attempts to introduce “OTOP Inno-Life Tourism-Based Community” to promote tourism and encourage community to adopt tourism framework set into their plans. Ranong has applied the tourism framework proposed into action by trying to comply with existing community-based tourism plan. A raise of question is how it can be led to sustainable and creative tourism. Does it have a strong cooperation between government agency and community to involve in tourism activities plan or is simply that tourists are interested in coming to experience from their own travel? This paper aims to study the community tourism strategic planning by implementing OTOP Inno-life Tourism-Based Community proposed by government agency. 

Key Words: OTOP Inno-life Tourism-Based Community, Creative tourism, Community tourism and activity plan

*Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development Studies, Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Chulalongkorn University (csds.chulalongkorn@gmail..com)

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Change and Resistance - Future Directions of Southeast Asia [Taipei, 5-7 December 2019]

SEASIA Biennial Conference 2019

Change and Resistance: Future Directions of Southeast Asia

5-7 December 2019, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

Panel 8.4: Social Movements and Political Participation in Southeast Asia

Friday, 6 December 2019, 10:50-12:20, Room 904 (9th Floor)

Chair: Chia-Chien Chang (National Chengchi University)

Panelists:

• Social Movement and Political Participation: Fortification of Identity in Malaysia's Bersih Movement by Lim Hui Ying (Doshisha University)

• The “People Power” People Power Monument of the Philippines by Gil D. Turingan (University of the Philippines Diliman)

• Liberal Democracy and Civil Society: The Co-Production of Education Services by John Mark Hernandez Villanueva (Mapua University Manila)

• The Hybrid Public Sphere in Myanmar and Implications for Civil Society  by Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University)

• Activist Lawyering in an Emerging Democracy: the Case of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation by Timothy Sinclair Mann (University of Melbourne)

• Articulating a Broken Polity Social Movement and Political Party's Role in Organizing Cleavages by Zahra Amalia Syarifah (The University of Chicago)

For more information about the conference, please visit this link here.

Abstract for The Hybrid Public Sphere in Myanmar and Implications for Civil Society

by Carl Middleton*, Tay Zar Myo Win

Myanmar was under a military junta government for almost six decades, during which time the state heavily controlled the population’s access to information through maintaining an ‘authoritarian public sphere,’ including via severe control over civil society and independent mass media. In 2010, Myanmar held elections that, although highly flawed, resulted in a semi-civilian government. Whilst the military maintained considerable influence, a degree of electoral competition and civil, political and media freedoms were introduced, all within the constraints of the 2008 constitution. This melding of liberal and illiberal elements within an electoral system is best understood as a hybrid regime (Diamond, 2002). In this paper, we analyze the emergence of a ‘hybrid public sphere’ in Myanmar since 2010 that maintains some elements of the previous authoritarian control of the production and circulation of critical discourse, combined with more liberal elements that reflect recently gained civil, political and media freedoms and a greater role for civil society, journalists, and interaction via social media. The paper develops its analysis first through an assessment of the political transition at the national level, and then in a case study in subnational politics in Dawei City with a focus on local planning of electricity supply. We argue that for Myanmar to shift from a procedural to substantive form of democracy, independent civil society require strategies that link (and deepen) recently gained formal freedoms to ensuring the accountability of state and powerful non-state actors via the creation and maintenance of a substantive public sphere.

*Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com)

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PAPER: How East Asian regionalism connects ecologies and societies through global commodity-commons chains

7TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY IN EAST ASIA (ISESEA)

Social Actions to Climate Change and Energy Transition in East Asia: Toward A Sustainable Planet

26-28 October 2019, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul, Korea

Session 4.3: Commons and Sustainability Transition (2)

Sunday, 27 October 2019, 10:50 AM ~ 12:20 PM, Room 305, moderated by Carl Middleton

Speakers:

• The Conservation of SATOYAMA and Reforming of Commons: the Actors and Activities of Producing Firewood, Takahashi Satoka (Tohoku University)

• Sustainable Development through the Lens of Historical Environmental Conservation: From the Case of Urban Regeneration in Daegu, Korea, Rie Matsui (Atomi University)

• How East Asian Regionalism Connects Ecologies and Societies through Global Commodity-commons Chains, Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University); Takeshi Ito (Sophia University)

For more information about the conference, please visit this link here.

Abstract for How East Asian regionalism connects ecologies and societies through global commodity-commons chains

by Carl Middleton* and Takeshi Ito**

East Asia has a long history of regionalism, at least since the 16th Century. The age of economic modernization since the mid-19th Century profoundly transformed the region economically, socially, and ecologically. Japan rapidly industrialized since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, which was a precursor to Japan’s imperial expansion, and latter reconstruction after World War II. Thailand, meanwhile, at first was a commodity exporter, but since the 1950s industrialized initially with a focus on domestic markets, and later for export. Over this period, Thailand and Japan deepened their political and economic relations, perhaps most profoundly since the 1980s when the Plaza Accord catalyzed large flows of investment from Japan into Thailand leading to rapid industrialization.

In this paper, with a focus on Japan and Thailand, we outline an environmental and economic history of East Asian regionalism to reveal how rapid economic modernization and social and ecological change are intimately connected and transform each other. We examine how the evolving political economy of East Asian regionalism, including flows of trade, investment, and aid, has reworked ecology-society relations in distant yet connected sites of investment and divestment, and the implications for community vulnerabilities. Our study is based on empirical fieldwork and archival research. In Thailand, our research focuses on industrial estates in Ayutthaya and Map Tha Phut, and peri-urban areas of Bangkok. In Japan, we focus on the watershed surrounding Tokyo, including former and current industrial zones and the Watarase conservation area, as well as Tokyo city itself.

We argue that the continual and connected reworking of ecologies and ecology-society relations in numerous localities in Thailand and Japan is an underappreciated foundation that has underpinned the expansion of capitalism in East Asia, including as it has responded to changing geopolitical, economic, and environmental contexts. We explore these connections through proposing the concept of ‘global commodity-commons chains’ to detail the dynamic ecology-society relations embedded in all global commodity chains. Through this concept we aim to understand the relational processes between Japan and Thailand that have led to the enclosure and recreation of commons, and changes to communities’ economic, social and ecological vulnerabilities in both positive and negative ways.

*Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com)

**Faculty of Liberal Arts and Graduate School of Global Studies, Sophia University (takeshi.ito@sophia.ac.jp)

FULL AGENDA: "Political Ecology in Asia: Plural Knowledge and Contested Development in a More-Than-Human World" [Bangkok, 10-11 October 2019]

Political Ecology in Asia: Plural Knowledge and Contested Development in a More-Than-Human World

Thursday-Friday, 10-11 October 2019, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organized by Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (CSDS); Chula Global Network (CGN); French Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC); French Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD); French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP); IRN-SustainAsia; Patrimoines Locaux, Environnement et Mondialisation (PALOC); POLLEN Political Ecology Network

With the support of Chula Global Network (CGN); The French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS); French Embassy in Bangkok; Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Keynote Speakers:

• “Reflection on Vijñana of Religion: New Animism in the Age of the Anthropocene” - Thanes Wongyannava, Retired Professor, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University

• “The Political Ecology of Climate Change, Uncertainty and Transformation in Marginal Environments” - Lyla Mehta, Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex.

Conference Venue:

• Venue A (Main Plenary, Sessions A): Chumpot-Pantip Conference Room, 4th floor, Prajadhipok-Ramphai Barni Building, Chulalongkorn University

• Venue B (Sessions B): Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Kasem Authayanin Building (Building 3), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

List of Programs:

DAY 1: Thursday, 10 October 2019

08:30-09:00 Registration

09:00-09:30 Welcome Remarks

• Prof. Dr. Pironrong Ramasoota, Vice President for Social Outreach and Global Engagement, Chulalongkorn University

• H.E. Jacques Lapouge, French Ambassador to Thailand

• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ake Tangsupvattana, Dean, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

09:30-10:30 Keynote Speech: “Reflection on Vijñana of Religion: New Animism in the Age of the Anthropocene” by Thanes Wongyannava, Retired Professor, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University

• Chair: Jakkrit Sangkhamanee, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• Stephane Rennesson, CNRS-LESC

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-12:30 Session 1

Session 1A: Particulate matters: The emergence of a political ecology of haze in Asia

Chair: Karine Léger, AirParif.

• “Making an 'Indian' Air Pollution Technoscience” by Rohit Negi, Urban Studies, Ambedkar University (with Prerna Srigyan, University of California-Irvine)

• “Positioning Indonesia’s Oil Palm Smallholders in the Anthropocene Debates” by Rini Yuni Astuti, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore (with Andrew Mc Gregor, Macquary University and David Taylor, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore )

• “How to break the political barrier to act on air pollution control with open information?” by Sarath Guttikunda, urbanemission.info

• “Haze crisis and upland/lowland relationships in Chiang Mai” by Olivier Evrard, French Research Institute for Sustainable Development (with Mary Mostafanezhad, University of Hawai’i at Manoa).

Session 1B: Feminist political ecology in Asia

Chairs: Bernadette P. Resurrección and Kanokwan Manorom

• “Gender professionals in environment and development. Theory and praxis through feminist political ecology” by Bernadette P. Resurrección, Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

• “Feminism Political Ecology and Land broker State in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the Mekong: A case study of Thailand” by Kanokwan Manorom, Mekong Sub-region Social Research Center (MSSRC), Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University

• “Beyond Recognition of Adat Forest: Feminist Political Ecology and Resource Frontier on Customary Forest in Indonesia.” by Siti Maimunah, Marie Sklodowska-Currie Fellow/ WEGO-ITN, University of Passau

• “Towards a Feminist Geopolitical Ecology of Environmental Change, Land Grabs, and Migration” by Sara Vigil, Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute

12:30-13:30 Lunch

13:30-15:00 Session 2

Session 2A: Resource politics and the public sphere

Chair: Naruemon Thabchumpon, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• “Demarcating the public and private in land and environmental governance in the Mekong Region” by Philip Hirsch, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney

• “The hybrid public sphere in Myanmar and implications for civil society” by Tay Zar Myo Win, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• “A Rising Indifference To Law: environmental reporting in the age of Narendra Modi” by M. Rajshekhar, Independent journalist, Delhi.

Session 2B: Asia’s urban political ecologies

Chair: Olivier Chrétien, Head of Department Environmental Impacts Prevention, Paris Municipality

• “Water Management in Bangkok and Uneven Vulnerabilities”by Niramon Serisakul, Urban Design and Development Centre (UddC) / Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Chulalongkorn University

• “Managing the (sinking) City of Jakarta” by Irvan Pulungan, Coastal Committee Member, Governor's Delivery Unit, Jakarta Capital City Government

• “Marginalizing policies: rethinking the modernization of the waste sector in Delhi” by Rémi de Bercegol, Center for Social Sciences and Humanities / French National Center for Scientific Research – CNRS; and Shankare Gowda, Associate to Centre for Policy Research (CPR) New Delhi (by Skype)

• “Governance of seaside tourist resorts areas confronted with environmental challenges in Southeast Asia” by Christine Cabasset, French Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia – IRASEC

15:00-15:30 Coffee break

15:30-17:00 Session 3

Session 3A: Political ecologies of land in Southeast Asia: Beyond the technical-regulatory gaze

Chair: Miles Kenney-Lazar

• “The maize boom in northern Laos: Impacts on land use and access” by Robert Cole, Global Production Networks Centre and Department of Geography, National University of Singapore;and Centre for Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University

• “The Relational Governance of Land: Contested Plantation Concessions in Laos” by Miles Kenney-Lazar, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

• “Migration and women’s land tenure rights and security in the Greater Mekong sub-region” by Soimart Rungmanee, Puey Ungphakorn School of Development Studies, Thammasat University

• “Alternative Land Management in Thailand: a Case study of the Southern Peasants’ Federation of Thailand (SPFT)” by Supatsak Pobsuk, Thailand Programme Officer, Focus on the Global South

Session 3B: People and the biodiversity crisis: reshaping governance and justice in conservation

Chair: Sarah Benabou

• "Indigenous Resurgence, Relational Ontologies, and the Salween Peace Park" by Robert A Farnan, The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Chiang Mai University

• “Putting conservation in local hands? The Khasi Hills Redd+ project” by Sarah Benabou, French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD- Patrimoines locaux, Environnement et Globalisation) and French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)

• “How many tigers are enough? The biopolitics of tiger conservation in India” by Nitin Rai, Ashoka Trust in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore

DAY 2: Friday, 11 October 2019

09:00-10:00 Keynote Speech: “The Political ecology of climate change, uncertainty and transformation in marginal environments” by Lyla Mehta, Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex

• Chair: Bharat Dahiya, Research Center for Integrated Sustainable Development, College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Thammasat University and Urban Youth Academy, Seoul

• Discussant: Prof. Surichai Wungaeo, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Chulalongkorn University

10:00-10:30 Coffee break

10:30-12:00 Session 4

Session 4A: Industrialization and ecological justice

Chair: Shaun Lin, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

• “How Japan’s Aid and Investment ‘Offshore’ Flood Management to Reduce Flood Risks in Thailand” by Takeshi Ito, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Graduate School of Global Studies, Sophia University

• ”Political Ecology of Thailand’s Marine Plastic Pollution Crisis” by Danny Marks, Department of Asian and International Studies, City University of Hong Kong

• “The failed promise of industrialization and of justice, Coromandel coast” by Senthil Babu, French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)

• “Flash points- Exploring conflict and justice issues in economic zone of Myanmar under BRI investment” by Myint Zaw, Paung Ku

Session 4B: Ontologies of infrastructure

Chair: Jakkrit Sangkhamanee

• “Infrastructure in the Making: The Chao Phraya Dam and the Dance of Agency” by Jakkrit Sangkhamanee, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• “Aggregate Ecologies: On the environmental effects of city surfaces” by Eli Elinoff, Victoria University of Wellington

• “Urban Kaleidoscopes: Chinese Construction, Scale-Making, and the Re-Design of Cambodian Cities” by Casper Bruun Jensen, Independent Researcher

• “Re-defining, Re-imagining and Re-particularising Thailand's Climate Knowledge(s): The case of climate actors and their knowledge infrastructures” by Chaya Vaddhanaphuti, Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University

12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:00-14:30 Session 5

Session 5A: Hydrosocial rivers and their politics

Chair: Kenji Otsuka, Interdisciplinary Studies Center, Institute of Developing Economies

• “Ontological politics of hydrosocial territories in the Salween River basin, Myanmar/Burma” by Carl Middleton (with Johanna Gotz), Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• “Politics of urban riverbank development: the contested Chao Phraya River Promenade project in Bangkok” by Thanawat Bremard, G-EAU (Water Management, Actors, Territories), Montpellier/ IRD (French Research Institute for Development), France

• “Flows, fragments and futures: Rethinking biophysical geopolitics in the Lower Mekong wetlands and Tonle Sap” by Carl Grundy-Warr, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

• “Rewilding the commons: Community Led Restoration in the Penna River Basin” by Siddharth Rao, Adavi Trust, and Timbaktu Collective, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Session 5B: Representations of nature and political engagements

Chair: Frédéric Landy, French Institute of Pondicherry, University of Paris-Nanterre/LAVUE

• “Nature reshaped: Diffracted political engagements for recovering grabbed land in Cambodia” by Frédéric Bourdier, CNRS, UMR DEVSOC, IRD/University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne

• “Politics of water management in the Koshi plain (Nepal and North India) : Modern economics versus extreme environmental factors” by Marie-Amélie Candau, Post-doc, University of Paris Nanterre/LAVUE

• “Nature and Human in Sino-Vietnamese conceptions and practices. Articulations between Asian vernacular ‘analogism’ and Western modern ‘naturalism’ modes of identification” by Christian Culas, CNRS, ART-DEV Institute

14:30-15:00 Coffee break

15:00-ุ16:30 Session 6

Session 6A: Interspecies cohabitations in Asia: Non-human animals and political ecology

Chair: Olivier Evrard

• “Lizards and other Ancestors: wildlife conservation and the moral ecology of Komodo” by Annette Hornbacher, Institute for Ethnology, Heidelberg University

• “Modern Nomadism among Thai Mahouts: a social consequence of human - elephant relations evolution in Thailand’s tourism industry” by Wasan Panyagaew, Sociology and Anthropology Faculty, Chiang Mai University

• “Are some managers of Indian national parks corrupted or analogist? Relationships to nature and wildlife in Hindu India” by Frédéric Landy, French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)/LAVUE

• “The coproduction of ecologies with more than human animals: playing with beetles, birds and fish in Thailand” by Stephane Rennesson, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)/French National Centre for Scientific Research, IRASEC Department

Session 6B: Post-development and systemic alternatives from Asia (round table)

Chair: Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.

• Kyaw Thu, Paung Ku 

• K.J. Joy, Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM) 

• Suphakit Nuntavorakarn, Healthy Public Policy Foundation (HPPF)

• Wora Sukraroek, EarthRights International and Member of Thailand Extraterritorial Obligations Watch Coalition

16:30-17:00 Concluding Remarks

To register for this forum, please e-mail us your name, organisation, and position to Anisa Widyasari (CSDS) at PoliticalEcologyinAsia@gmail.com. Registering participants are requested to pay 400 THB per day for lunch and coffee breaks. Students may join for free.

FULLY BOOKED - REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: "Political Ecology in Asia: Plural Knowledge and Contested Development in a More-Than-Human World" [Bangkok, 10-11 October 2019]

Political Ecology in Asia: Plural Knowledge and Contested Development in a More-Than-Human World

Thursday-Friday, 10-11 October 2019, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organized by Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS); Chula Global Network (CGN); Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC); French Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD); French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP); IRN-SustainAsia; POLLEN Political Ecology Network

Keynote Speakers:

• “Reflection on Vijñana of Religion: New Animism in the Age of the Anthropocene” - Thanes Wongyannava, Retired Professor, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University

• “The Political Ecology of Climate Change, Uncertainty and Transformation in Marginal Environments” - Lyla Mehta, Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex.

Panel topics include:

• Resource politics and the public sphere;

• Particulate matters: the emergence of a political ecology of haze in Asia;

• Hydrosocial rivers and their politics;

• Ontologies of infrastructure;

• Post-development and systemic alternatives from Asia;

• People and the biodiversity crisis: reshaping governance and justice in conservation;

• Industrialization and ecological justice;

• Asia’s urban political ecologies;

• Feminist political ecology in Asia;

• Interspecies cohabitations in Asia: non-human animals and political ecology;

• Representations of nature and political engagements;

• Political ecologies of land in Southeast Asia: Beyond the technical-regulatory gaze.

To register for this forum, please e-mail us your name, organisation, and position to Anisa Widyasari (CSDS) at PoliticalEcologyinAsia@gmail.com. Registering participants are requested to pay 400 THB per day for lunch and coffee breaks. Students may join for free.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: "XVIIth Global Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons" [Lima, 1-4 July 2019]

The XVII Biennial IASC Conference, entitled ‘In Defense of the Commons: Challenges, Innovation, and Action’ will be held at the Catholic University of Lima, Peru on July 1-4, 2019. For more details about the conference, please visit this link.

Panel 3B - Hybrid governance of transboundary environmental commons in Southeast Asia

10:30 - 12.00, July 2, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru

Chair: David Taylor

• Marcel Bandur (National University of Singapore): Hybrid Governance of Transboundary Forest Commons in the Rohingya Crisis

• David Taylor (National University of Singapore): SR15, NET and the possible implications for biomass governance at low latitudes

• Rini Astuti (National University of Singapore): Assembling Commercial ForestPeatland Commons in Indonesia

• Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University): The Lancang-Mekong River as a transboundary hybrid commons: Competing collective actions and ethical principles

For more details on Carl's presentation, please take a look at the abstract here.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: "Political Ecology in Asia: Plural Knowledge and Contested Development in a More-Than-Human World" [Bangkok, 10-11 October 2019]

Thursday-Friday, 10-11 October 2019, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organized by Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS); Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC); French Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD); French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP); IRN-SustainAsia; POLLEN Political Ecology Network

Panel topics include:

• Resource politics and the public sphere;

• Hydrosocial rivers and their politics;

• Post-development and systemic alternatives from Asia;

• Ontologies of infrastructure;

• Industrialization and ecological justice;

• Particulate matters: the emergence of a political ecology of haze in Asia;

• Asia’s urban political ecologies;

• Human Rights and the Environment in Asia;

• People and the biodiversity crisis: reshaping governance and justice in conservation?;

• Representations of nature and political engagements;

• Interspecies cohabitations in Asia: non-human animals and political ecology.

There are a limited number of spaces remaining for self-funded participants to join the conference either as a paper presenter or participant. For further information, please contact PoliticalEcologyinAsia@gmail.com.

For the most updated information, you can also visit the conference’s landing page here.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SESSION: "New Regimes of Commodification and State Formation on the Resource Frontier of Southeast Asia" [Helsinki, 17 August 2018]

Session organized for the 4th Annual Conference of the World-Eco­logy Research Net­work in Helsinki, Fin­land

13:00-14:30, 17 August 2018, Fabianinkatu 33, Room 3008, University of Helsinki

Conveners: Anu Lounela, Tuomas Tammisto and Mira Kakonen

Discussant: Carl Middleton

This thematic panel is to examine the interplay between the commodification of nature, value production, and state formation especially in Southeast Asia but possibly also in other regions. Southeast Asian countries are experiencing rapid transformations shaped by new dynamics involving investors from China and from the wealthiest ASEAN countries. The pace of change is fast, with high-tech special economic zones, extractive mining and hydropower enclaves, and large-scale agro-industrial land concessions emerging alongside smallholders or forest-dependent communities whose populations in Southeast Asia still number in tens of millions. New boom and bust cycles of industrial crops like rubber and oil palm are constantly re-shaping the rural landscapes. In the Southeast Asian resource frontiers competition over resources and land is high, the presence of the state is fragmented and uneven, and new property systems and legal arrangements are in the making. This panel aims to explore: How does rapid commodification of natural elements constitute or entangle with various processes of state formation in the frontiers of Southeast Asia? How do different actors and groups compete over different values and meanings of resources and with what effects?

Presenters:

• "New Commodity Regimes in the Making of Frontiers in Indonesia" by Anu Lounela (University of Helsinki)
• "State Formation on the Oil Palm Frontier of Papua New Guinea" by Tuomas Tammisto (University of Helsinki)
• "Interplay of Resoruce-Making and State-Making in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia" by Mira Kakonen (University of Helsinki)
• “Resource Politics in Myanmar/Burma through the Lens of Hydrosocial Territories: Implications for the Peace Negotiation Process" by Johanna Gotz and Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University)

Conference details are available here.

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR: "Conflicts and Resource Politics in Myanmar" [Helsinki, 15 August 2018]

Conflicts and resource politics in Myanmar

Discussion on the complex resource politics and its implications for the peace process in Myanmar

Wednesday 15th August, 10:00-13:30 at Think Corner (Tiedekulma), University of Helsinki, Yliopistonkatu 4, Helsinki, Finland

Organized by: Development Studies, University of Helsinki in collaboration with Felm and Siemenpuu Foundation

Myanmar is experiencing a complicated process of transition towards a civilian government, multi-party democratic elections, and peace negotiations. At the same time, the recent opening of the country has resulted in an accelerating rush for the rich natural resources, including a boom in extractive industrial and agribusiness projects. Most of these resources are located in the ethnic states and many of the grievances of the various ethnic communities are entangled with the questions of access to and control over resources. In this event researchers, NGO representatives and social movement activists discuss the ways that land and other resource rights should be addressed as a part of conflict resolution towards sustainable peace in Myanmar.

The recent political changes in Myanmar has also meant a rush of different international development organisations to the country. Recently Finland too has decided to focus its support in Southeast Asia to Myanmar. The event includes a panel discussion on the Finland’s future role in Myanmar with perspectives from civil society, ministry officials and private sector.

Speakers:

• Carl Middleton, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
• Khu Khu Ju, Land in Our Hands, Transnational Institute
• Kyi Phyo, Mekong Energy and Ecology Network

*This event is a side event of the 4th Annual World-Ecology Research Network Conference that takes place this year in Helsinki (15-18 August).

Event details are available here.