Dates and Times
20 September 2022
18:00 - 19:30
Event for
Location
Address: ZOOM
Organiser
Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance
Enquiry
Sahana Sehgal
Event about:
Democratising Sustainability Transformations
Experts on democracy and sustainability share their insights, from both research and practice perspectives
About this event
Despite the urgency and scale of global environmental threats, many democratic states are struggling to act swiftly on problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss. At the same time, the resurgence of authoritarianism in many countries – often with an anti-environmental streak – is seen by many as threatening progress towards sustainability.
In this webinar, a panel of researchers and practitioners will discuss prospects and pitfalls for democratising sustainability transformations in light of current developments in global politics. The session builds on findings from a recent review of research on the nexus between democracy and sustainability published in the Earth System Governance journal.
The panel will commence with an overview of the article by Jonathan Pickering (University of Canberra) and a critical commentary by Julia Tschersich (Utrecht University), followed by reflections from two practitioners: Melani Gunathilaka (Climate Action Now Sri Lanka) and Rafael Jimenez Aybar (Westminster Foundation for Democracy).
The panel will be moderated by Wendy Conway-Lamb (CDDGG, University of Canberra)
The webinar is co-convened by the Earth System Governance Project’s Working Group on Democracy and the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra, and forms part of each network’s regular speaker/seminar series.
Additional Information
Panellists
Jonathan Pickering is an Assistant Professor in the Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society at the University of Canberra. From 2015-19, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance. His research focuses on democracy and justice in global environmental governance. He is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Earth System Governance Project and an outgoing co-convener of the Project’s Working Group on Democracy.
Julia Tschersich is Junior Assistant Professor of Transformative Governance and Democracy at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University. Her research focuses on the governance of social-ecological transformations and ecological democracy, in particular the role of community-based, bottom-up forms of democracy in driving processes of transformation.
Melani Gunathilaka has worked with local communities, social enterprises and businesses that aims for social and environmental sustainability since 2013. She is the co-founder of Climate Action Now Sri Lanka and is also an extinction rebellion member who joined the People's Struggle in Sri Lanka as an independent citizen.
Rafael Jimenez Aybar is an Environmental Democracy Adviser at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. Over the last 15 years he has worked supporting parliamentarians worldwide to advance environmental governance through capacity-building interventions, in collaboration with partners such as the LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources. Rafa holds an MA in European Integration and Development from the Free University of Brussels and a MA in International Relations from the University Paris XI.
UC acknowledges the Ngunnawal people, traditional custodians of the lands where Bruce campus is situated. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of Canberra and the region. We also acknowledge all other First Nations Peoples on whose lands we gather.