Call for Papers
Challenges and Possibilities for Environmental
Sustainability
with a focus on Pakistan
27th and 28th February 2019
Department of Environmental Science and Policy,
Lahore School of Economics
Call for Papers
The social metabolism reproducing society in the modern era is upsetting Earth’s natural equilibrium, which until recently, had maintained relative stability for the last roughly 10,000 years. Marking this shift
in the planet’s biogeochemical processes due to
human activities, scientists recently declared the
emergence of a new geological epoch, the ‘Anthropocene’.
This new global shift is characterized by severe
socio-environmental crises, including climate
change, degradation of air, water, soils and
habitats, rapid extraction of finite freshwater and
mineral reserves, deforestation and desertification,
and growing quantities of wastes that cannot easily
be absorbed into the environment. Such processes are
being experienced unevenly across space on a scale
never before witnessed in human history, producing
impacts that are becoming increasingly critical for
our own species as well as others.
Aiming to understand the environmental, social and
economic dimensions of these crises, particularly in
the context of Pakistan, as well as to engage
critically with the contemporary debates regarding
possible ways to safeguard and/or restore
ecologically sustainable systems to the extent
possible, this conference will serve as a site for
grappling with the multiple and complex sources of
these crises, the ecological and social impacts
experienced, and the technological, economic and
policy interventions being attempted at local,
national, and international scales.
Given the multifaceted nature of the ecological
challenges, addressing these problems necessitates
an interdisciplinary approach. Therefore, we invite
submissions by researchers from various academic
fields, affected community members and civil society
activists, as well as local policy-makers and
planners to share their knowledge and experience in
order to enrich the discussion on understanding and
confronting these challenges.
We welcome abstracts on scientific processes, as
well as local or regional case studies regarding
environmental change, ecological and social impacts,
and possible ways forward. While contributions with
an emphasis on Pakistan’s context are encouraged, we
also welcome papers that engage with such processes
at alternative scales. The conference will be
organised along the following areas, with suggested
sub-themes, delineated below:
1.
Ecological Crises: Drivers of Change and
Modeling the Future
-
Arithmetic of ecological change and economic
growth
-
Sources of degradation and depletion
-
Governance, law and policy
-
Projecting water/GHG/nutrient budgets
2.
Social and Ecological Impacts
-
Local cases of ecological impacts
-
Environmental conflict, environmental
justice and public health
-
Uneven development and theorising metabolic
rifts
3.
Tools for Remediation
-
Monitoring and understanding changes in
atmospheric, hydrologic, soil, and oceanic
processes
-
Technological innovations and environmental
applications
-
Policy-making and scales of implementation
for adaptation, resilience and mitigation
strategies
-
Funding mechanisms, including carbon
taxation, divestment/investment, finance and
subsidies
-
Public pressure and social movements
Contributions on related themes will also be
considered.
Interested participants are requested submit abstracts of 200-300 words of their paper to the Department of Environmental Science and Policy by 29th October. Authors will be notified of acceptance of proposal by 30th November and will be expected to submit a working paper to the organisers by 1st February, which will be distributed at the conference and considered for inclusion in an edited volume.
Queries can be directed to
environmentlse@gmail.com
Conference: 27th and 28th February 2019
Register to attend
conference [DEADLINE: 18 February 2019]
Submit an abstract
to be considered as a presenter [DEADLINE: 15th November
2018]
Watch this page for the conference program!
All inquiries may be directed to:
Department of Environmental Science and Policy
Lahore School of Economics
Lahore, Pakistan
+92(0)4236560954 environmentlse@gmail.com