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)

IN THE NEWS: 'Powering Up Sustainable Energy for Asia'

IN THE NEWS

By Sam Geall [Chatham House, 11 March 2019]

Asia’s cryosphere, the vast stores of frozen water in the high mountains that feed the rivers on which some 1.3 billion people depend, is warming far faster than average, an expert assessment warned recently, adding that two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers could disappear by the end of the century.

This and other warning signs make clear the need for a sustainable energy transition in Asia, not only given the urgency of mitigating climate change, but also because renewable energy technologies can help to provide cheap and reliable energy to areas where grid-based provision is unreliable or otherwise prohibited by geography or high costs.

A green transformation, if done right, can address poverty reduction goals and improve health and environmental quality. But achieving this requires rethinking many assumptions about the current system that generates and distributes electricity, and its interconnections with a genuinely sustainable society.

Read more at this link here.

This article was produced from the forum we co-organized with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. and Chatham House on “Powering up Sustainable Development for Asia: The Future of Global and Regional Investment in Asia’s Energy Sector”, which was held in Chulalongkorn University, 25 January 2019. For more information about this forum, please visit the link here.

UPCOMING RESEARCH FORUM: "Powering up Sustainable Development for Asia: The Future of Global and Regional Investment in Asia’s Energy Sector" [Bangkok, 25 January 2019]

09.00 - 17.00, Friday, 25th January at Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Kasem Utthayanin Building (อาคารเกษม อุทยานิน), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organized by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V., Chatham House, and Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Renewable energy technologies not only help to mitigate climate change by substituting for carbon-emitting fossil fuels, but also can expand energy security by avoiding exposure to the volatility of fossil fuel markets. Renewables can also help provide cheap and reliable energy to areas where grid-based provision is unreliable or otherwise prohibited by geography or high costs. The increased efficiency and renewable nature of such energy can improve energy availability, energy security and economic resilience.

Last year saw the second highest level of investment in global clean energy, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), at US$333.5 billion, despite falling technology costs. Globally, the solar sector in China dominated, with a total of $132.6 billion of investments – leading to over 50 GW of additional solar capacity. In regional terms Asia, largely China, continued to dominate the global landscape. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), Chinese sustainable energy investment oversees has doubled in the last three years and now stands at $44 billion. 

The importance of the accelerated deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency is also reflected in UN Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, and it is a central goal for many countries in Asia. It is also increasingly an important focus for, and aspects of, countries’ and institutions investments in Asia.

China has put emphasis on the green ‘Belt and Road’ and 'South-South environmental cooperation', for example. In Myanmar, a Chinese government partnership with a Beijing-based environmental NGO pledged to provide US$2.9 million worth of solar panels and clean cook stoves. Leading Japanese companies are also looking overseas for opportunities in the renewable energy sector, including in India. Aid programs from a range of countries, including the US, Japan and Korea are also seeking to support sustainable energy transition.

Civil society groups and communities are also calling for – and working directly towards – an energy transformation across the region, including promoting decentralized electricity generation, energy efficiency, demand side management, and more participatory power planning processes. Countries across Asia also have a great deal of their own experience to draw on in promoting renewable energy that serves the needs of the poor.

The workshop aims to:

• Assess the role of clean energy in Asia’s goal to develop sustainable energy that serves the needs of the poor;

• Consider the place of renewables in overseas aid and investments strategies in Asia, including in China’s Belt and Road Initiative;

• Address whether learning across different regional contexts on the implementation of cost-effective, reliable clean energy might bring benefits for clean energy development.

• Create a network of interested experts who can develop further research proposal(s) and collaboration on these topics.

 Key outcomes of the events will be:

• Sharing lessons on how clean energy enhances both energy security and climate change mitigation;

• Enhanced understanding of the importance of Asian, and in particular Chinese, sustainable energy investment in the global market;

• Examining how and where Asian countries can draw on both good and bad experiences of their own and other countries’ energy and development policy with regard to sustainable energy that serves the needs of the poor; and,

• Develop plans for the creation of a network with an understanding of the opportunities for common research and activities.

Program and List of Panelists:

08.30 - 09.00  Registration

09.00 - 09.15  Welcome remarks 

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

• Dr. Sam Geall, Chatham House

• Dr Peter Hefele, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

09.15 - 10.45  Panel 1: Trends and Emerging Opportunities

Chair: Dr. Carl Middleton, CSDS, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• “Energy Transition Pathways for the 2030 Agenda in Asia and the Pacific” by Hongpeng Liu, Energy Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

• “Energy Trading in Thailand” by David Martin, Power Ledger, Australia/Thailand

• “A Power Sector Vision for the Greater Mekong Region“ by Shannon Siyao Wang, World Wildlife Fund

• “Energy transformation and the role of civil society in Thailand” by Suphakit Nuntavorakarn, Healthy Public Policy Foundation, Thailand

10.45 - 11.15 Tea Break

11.15 - 12.45  Session 2: Aid and investment agendas supporting an energy transition

Chair: Dr. Champa Patel, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House, London

• “How EU development cooperation can support the energy transition” by Jerome Pons, Delegation of the European Union to Thailand

• “Role of business and private actors in the process of low-carbon transformation in China” by Dr. Wei Shen, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, United Kingdom

• ‘'Climate finance and the sustainable energy transition in Asia” by Yossef Zahar, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)/IGES

12.45 - 13.45 Lunch

13.45 - 15.15 Session 3: Enhancing Energy Sector Investments in Asia: Assessment and Inclusive Decision Making

Chair: Ellen Kelly, Department for International Development (DFID), UK

• “Transforming Southeast Asia’s electricity sector through Impact Assessment” by Dr. Decharut Sukkumnoed, Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University

• “Towards Strengthening Environmental and Social Safeguards in Southeast Asia” by Matthew Baird, Asian Research Institute for Environmental Law and Visiting Scholar, Vermont Law School

• “Environmental Assessment in Energy Projects in Myanmar: Civil societies experience and recommendations” by Pyi Pyi Thant, Heinrich Böll Stiftung

15.15 - 15.45 Tea Break

15.45 - 17.15 The Way Ahead: Realizing opportunities for sustainable electricity transformation

Chair: Dr. Jakkrit Sangkhamanee, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• “Hydropower vs other renewables in the Greater Mekong region: Ensuring the resilience of Asian Deltas” by Marc Goichot, World Wildlife Foundation

• “Green Jobs and Energy Transition in Southeast Asia” by Chariya Senpong, Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia

• “Lessons learned from China’s solar boom, and implications for Asia” by Dr. Sam Geall, Chatham House

• “Off-grid solutions in rural Myanmar: Innovation in technology and approach” by Nathalie Risteau, Yoma Mandalay

17.15 - 17.30 Wrap-up and Closing Remarks

• Dr. Champa Patel, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House, London

• Dr. Carl Middleton, CSDS, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

To register for this forum, please e-mail us your name, organisation, and position to  Anisa Widyasari (CSDS) at communications.csds@gmail.com. The seat is limited and registration will be accepted on first come first served basis. 

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR: "Resource Politics and the Public Sphere In Southeast Asia: Deliberation, Accountability and Alternatives" [Bangkok, 13 December 2018]

09.00 - 17.00, Thursday, 13th December at Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Kasem Utthayanin Building (อาคารเกษม อุทยานิน), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organized by the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, the Foundation for Community Educational Media (FCEM), and Heinrich Boell Stiftung (HBS) Southeast Asia Office

In Southeast Asia, access to resources, ranging from land and water, to clean air and energy, are central to livelihoods and wellbeing. The distribution of access to resources reflect state policies and societal values, as well as the inclusiveness and accountability of decision-making processes that link them together and result in their translation into practice. The public sphere is the arena where state policies and societal values interact and are debated, including on potentially contested issues such as access to resources. It includes public venues, and via the mass media and social media.

Civil, political and media freedoms are necessary for a vibrant public sphere, but they are increasingly challenged in Southeast Asia, and in practice accountability occurs only in part. Opportunities to utilize the public sphere for accountability and exploring alternatives vary across Southeast Asia due to diverse political and legal systems. It is important to reflect on the implications of these trends, and explore established and new opportunities to maintain an active public sphere for deliberating public policies and societal values, ensuring accountable decision-making and debating alternative development visions.

This public forum invites civil society, academics, journalists, lawyers, state officials and others to discuss the trends, opportunities and challenges of the public sphere for ensuring fair resource politics in Southeast Asia. Panelists will provide a range of case studies and analysis from across Southeast Asia in relation to resource politics and the public sphere, including: the role of civil society, government and corporations; an evaluation of the opportunities and challenges in local, national and transnational laws and policies; and the role of mass media and social media.

For the presentations and live video feed from this public forum, please click here.

For our blog about this event, please click here.