The need for effective action toward a greener and socially inclusive economy, contributing to equitable development has long been evident. The 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development states that "Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature". Yet health promotion in the context of sustainable development has faltered, especially in those parts of the Global South where poverty is greatest, as attested by the probable failure to reach the Millennium Development Goals and go beyond them producing structural responses to most pressuring global challenges. This failure calls not for resignations, but for redoubled efforts and especially for innovation in the ways in which we tackle health promotion in concert with sustainable development.
The seminar will focus on, but not be limited to, these issues:
- The disciplines in environmental science have succeeded in forging a new discipline, ‘sustainability science’. What lessons learned along the way should we take on board as we seek to forge broad-based and critical transdisciplinary research that supports transitions to green economies or other social models conductive to social change towards sustainable and equitable development?
- How can poverty studies break out of the traditional disciplinary focus and limitations to embrace an expanded role for poverty researchers in transdisciplinary and critical research for social change towards sustainable and equitable development?
- The diverse cultures and traditions of the development-oriented academic communities – economics, sociology, psychology, social geography, applied anthropology, agriculture and land use, to name some – are barriers to achieving transdisciplinary research for the green economy or alternative socio-economic models. Which new arenas and ways of collaboration must be established in research environments to extract real synergy from the richness of the various disciplines?
- The study of factors that impede/foster transdisciplinary research is today a mature arena of research. What insights can be extracted from this knowledge base that can guide the way to the most innovative research for the green economy and alternative socio-economic models?
For questions in relation to the workshop, contact the organizers by e-mail at: CROP Secretariat (cropWS@uib.no); and UiB Global (post@global.uib.no).
Visit the CROP webpage to read the Call for Papers document in full