GECHS » Globalization

GECHS sessions at the Open Meeting in Bonn, 26-30 April 2009

Kirsten Ulsrud — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:57:16 +0000

GECHS will organize 12 sessions with more than 60 paper presentations in the Open Meeting in Bonn 26-30 April 2009. The meeting will take place at the former German Parliament premises on the United Nations Campus.

This 7th Open Meeting, “Social Challenges of Global Change”, addresses the need to incorporate not only the social aspects of climate change, but also the social aspects of many other environmental changes which happen in our society, such as resource shortages, the destruction of ecosystem services, and new threats to human health.

The GECHS sessions cover important aspects of the social challenges of global change, including how to approach the threats to human security, emerging new vulnerabilities in megacities and its implications for human security, interactions between globalization and global environmental change, limits and barriers to climate adaptation, climate change and conflicts, sustainable adaptation, environmental management and human security for disaster resilient communities, sustainability and adaptive capacity, and reducing water insecurity through stakeholder participation.

An overview over these sessions is presented below. The full program for the conference is available at the Open Meeting website.

Turkish and Spanish editions in the Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace

Kirsten Ulsrud — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:52:14 +0000

Volume III in the Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace is now out in Turkish and Spanish editions. In this reference book on global security thinking, 92 authors from five continents and many disciplines, from science and practice, assess the global reconceptualization of security triggered by the end of the Cold War, globalization and manifold impacts of global environmental change in the early 21st century.

The book addresses the theoretical, philosophical, ethical and religious and spatial context of security and discusses the relationship between security, peace, development and environment. Furthermore, the book reviews the reconceptualization of security in philosophy, international law, economics and political science, the political, military, economic, social and environmental security dimension and the adaptation of the institutional security concepts of the UN, EU and NATO. The book also analyzes the reconceptualization of regional security and alternative security futures and draws conclusions for future research and action.

This book contains revised papers from three workshops at ISA ( Montreal), IPRA ( Sopron) and the Fourth Pan European Conference on International Relations (The Hague) and additional commissioned papers. Here, you can read more about the Spanish edition, and the Turkish edition.

Book award to GECHS book

Kirsten Ulsrud — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:00:34 +0000

The book “Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures”, written by GECHS Associate Robin Leichenko and GECHS Chair Karen O’Brien, has been selected to receive the 2008 AAG Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography. The book explores the connections between two of the most transformative processes of the twenty-first century, namely global environmental change and globalization. In the book, Leichenko and O’Brien present a conceptual framework for analyzing the interactions between these two processes, and they illustrate, through case studies, how these interactions create situations of “double exposure.” Drawing upon prominent recent and current environmental events – Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, recurring droughts in India, and the melting of the Arctic sea ice – the case studies each demonstrate a different pathway of interaction between globalization and environmental change. The double exposure framework not only sheds light on the challenges raised by these processes, but also possibilities for using the interactions to generate positive opportunities for action.

Resilience 2008: conference podcasts and presentations

Kirsten Ulsrud — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:57:30 +0000

Podcasts and presentations are out for the conference RESILIENCE 2008: Resilience, Adaptation and Transformation in Turbulent Times. GECHS chair Karen O’Brien gave the presentation Rethinking social contracts: building resilience in a changing climate. View her presentation on podcast here. This International Science and Policy Conference was organized in Stockholm, Sweden, 14-18 April, and approached society and nature as interdependent social-ecological systems, which are complex adaptive systems. Furthermore, the focus was on cross scale and dynamic interactions that represent new challenges for governance and management in relation to social-ecological systems and ecosystem services. 9 overall themes helped to shed light on the issues, and the overview can be found on the conference website.

New book on double exposures to environmental change and globalization

Kirsten Ulsrud — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:52:23 +0000

In July 2008, Robin Leichenko and GECHS chair Karen O’Brien will launch the book Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures. The book explores the connections between two of the most transformative processes of the twenty-first century, namely global environmental change and globalization. In the book, Leichenko and O’Brien present a conceptual framework for analyzing the interactions between these two processes, and they illustrate, through case studies, how these interactions create situations of “double exposure.” Drawing upon prominent recent and current environmental events – Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, recurring droughts in India, and the melting of the Arctic sea ice – the case studies each demonstrate a different pathway of interaction between globalization and environmental change. The double exposure framework not only sheds light on the challenges raised by these processes, but also possibilities for using the interactions to generate positive opportunities for action. The book can be ordered here.

New book on security, globalisation and environmental change

Kirsten Ulsrud — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:00:47 +0000

Several members of the GECHS scientific steering committee as well as GECHS associates are among the editors and authors of the comprehensive, new volume in the Hexagon series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, which will be published on 6th December 2007. The title of the book is “Globalisation and Environmental Challenges, Reconceptualizing Security in the 21st Century”. Among the authors are GECHS chair Karen O’Brien, GECHS SSC-members John Barnett and Indra de Soysa, as well as GECHS associate Richard Matthew. GECHS associates Hans Günter Brauch and Ursula Oswald-Spring, and GECHS SSC-member Patricia Kameri-Mbote are co-editors. 92 authors from five continents and many disciplines, from science and practice, assess the global reconceptualisation of security triggered by the end of the Cold War, globalisation and manifold impacts of global environmental change in the early 21st century. 75 chapters address the theoretical, philosophical, ethical, religious and spatial context of security.