Political Ecology in Asia Dialogue Series

The Center for Social Development Studies is pleased to host the Political Ecology in Asia Dialogue Series. Asia is a region of extremely rapid ecological and social change. The last several decades have witnessed growing economies, intensification of resource extraction and use, and the accelerated expansion of domestic mass consumerism alongside export-orientated manufacture. This has been accompanied by widening social and spatial inequalities within and between urban and rural areas, and the concentration of resource ownership that has resulted in part from large-scale resource enclosures and exclusions.

Asia is also a region that is ethnically diverse, with plural histories, knowledges, values, and livelihoods. Whilst modernization may have been an aspiration for some, there is now a growing awareness of the ecological issues at stake at scales ranging from the local to the global, and political tensions over them. Yet deeply embedded power asymmetries have impeded the types of transformations necessary to address ecological and social injustices, and to move towards reducing vulnerability and a growing sense of precarity.

The objective of the dialogue series is to encourage a rigorous debate through the lens of political ecology on these changes that have and continue to occur in the region. We emphasize both on the analysis of deeply embedded challenges and on the possibilities for transformative ways forward. We also hope that through the dialogue series, new angles on political ecology in Asia will emerge, and there can be (virtual) networking amongst researchers, civil society, public intellectuals and others with an interest in political ecology.

Until it is possible to meet again in person, the Political Ecology in Asia dialogue series will be held virtually via Zoom and Facebook Live. Post-seminar/podcast comments can also be posted (see our comments policy here).

We welcome contribution to the Political Ecology in Asia Dialogue Series. If you would like to co-organize a seminar or be our guest for our dialogue series, please contact Anisa Widyasari for further details (communications.csds@gmail.com).

Dialogue Series

Conference