Wenn Natur ein rares Gut ist, welche Ansätze sind dann erfolgsversprechend um sie zu regulieren? Wie wirkt es sich aus, wenn Handels- und Wirtschaftsprinzipien in internationalen Konventionen verankert werden? Werden Fragen nach Eigentum, Wert und Bepreisung zufriedenstellend gelöst?
Das Unabhängige Institut für Umweltfragen und das Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung laden herzlich zu einem Fachgespräch über ökonomische Instrumente zur Lösung der ökologischen Krise und zur Finanzialisierung der Natur ein. Zu Gast sind die Herausgeberinnen des Buches “Business Interest and the Environmental Crisis”, Kanchi Kohli und Manju Menon vom Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi (Indien).
Wann? 12.05.2017; 10.00 – 12.00 Uhr
Wo? Unabhängiges Institut für Umweltfragen e.V., Greifswalder Str. 4, 10405 Berlin, Vorderhaus, 4. Stock
Um Anmeldung bis zum 05.05. bei Franziska Sperfeld (franziska.sperfeld@ufu.de) wird gebeten.
Die Veranstaltung findet auf Englisch statt.
Programme
10 am Welcome and round of introduction
10:10 Findings of the book “Business interest and the Environmental Crisis” and alternative ways to govern the environmental crisis (Kanchi Kohli and Manju Menon)
11 am Facilitated discussion
12 am Farewell
Hintergrundinformationen zum Buch “Business Interest and the Environmental Crisis” und zu den Herausgeberinnen
CONTENT
The world is going through an environmental crisis. But who has caused it and where does the onus to remedy it lie? If one is to go by the policy debates and outcomes worldwide, the existence of a crisis seems established, the attribution contested, and the road map for remedies under perpetual review. Each year several international conventions revisit their priorities and national governments review their responses to problems of deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change, water availability and pollution.
A collection of essays in the edited volume, Business Interests and the Environmental Crisis, [edited by Kanchi Kohli and Menon Menon] brings together analysis on how the policy discourse on the environmental crisis has borrowed economic and trade principles to address the ‘environmental’ problem. The discussions and negotiations are to account for the “scarcity” of nature. If nature is no longer available in plenty, how should one view it, value it and live with it? These are at the root of the conversations at international environmental gatherings.
The attempt has been to understand these conversations through four elements: commodity, pricing or valuation, ownership, and regulation. While finding solutions to a crisis, how does nature come to be viewed as a commodity and what might have prompted the introduction of the principles of valuation and compensation while presenting solutions? Where do these solutions interface with the demands for defining clear property rights and putting in place a regulatory framework to shape our consumption of the environment?
The thematic essays explore the theme of the book through a range of sectors and “solutions”. These include water pricing, climate change, forest rights, access and benefit sharing, knowledge privatization, coal extraction and the commodification of built space.
Detailed description of the contents of the book can be found on: Contents
AUTHOR BIOS
Kanchi Kohli is researcher and writer working on environment, forest and biodiversity governance in India. Her work explores the links between law, industrialization and environment justice. One of her current areas of research locates the concept of commodification of nature in real time environment policy and sustainability discourses.
Manju Menon has researched and written on Environment, Law and Development for over two decades. Her main areas of work are environmental law making and implementation processes and regulatory decisions on siting of infrastructure projects. She collaborates with local, regional and thematic networks working on decentralised resource governance and environmental compliance.