1st Austrian Conference on International Resource Fairness

“Towards International Resource Fairness – Theories, Conflicts and Policies”

International researchers and practitioners met at the the kick-off event of the transdisciplinary Network “Faire Ressourcenversorgung” (“fair provision of resources”) held from 4-6 December 2014 in Vienna.

Natural resources have become a key issue in international politics. Competition for access to and control of natural resources has intensified, and so have conflicts over the distribution of benefits as well as over negative environmental and social impacts of exploration and production. In this context, the question arises of how to conceptualize “resource fairness”, i.e. how access to, distribution and use of natural resources can be organized in a way that takes into account the legitimate interests of all actors and institutions involved. In this context, far-reaching questions emerge with regard to the current modes of production and living.

For a more detailed review (in German) click here.

The Risk of Inclusion

Socio-ecological conflicts and environmental justice viewed from the Chaco Occidental, a soy frontier of globalisation

[10/2012 – 06/2017]

The cultivation, commodification and distribution of soy have, particularly in Latin America, undergone enormous growth and internationalisation processes. Driven by its high lucrativeness new territories for GM soybean monocultures are explored. Here, the example of the Chaco Occidental, a traditionally peripheral region with high deficits in terms of economic and infrastructure is presented. Due to globalisation processes and favoured by climate change, significant structure and power shifts are observed at the new frontier of globalisation, leading to socio-ecological conflicts among old and new regional actors as well as varying interests groups. Continue reading “The Risk of Inclusion”