Environmental Asia

10th Annual Nordic NIAS Council Conference and PhD Course

20-24 November 2017, Oslo

The aim of this conference is to facilitate critical discussions about Asia’s environmental pathways. What interests are at stake in current environmental policies, and who represents them? How will Asian societies deal with the double-bind of economic development and environmental protection? What roles do Asian religions and philosophies play in environmental debates? How have people reacted to and coped with major environmental changes in the past, and how do they anticipate the future? By exploring these questions, the conference aspires to promote a deeper understanding of environmental change in Asia.

Global environmental degradation and climate change are possibly the greatest challenges of our times. They have roots in humanity’s long history of creatively making use of natural resources to generate change, often with unforeseen and unpredictable consequences. As the gravity of the world economy shifts east, Asia finds itself at the center of the global environmental crisis. It is home not just to 60 percent of the world’s population, but also to some of the world’s most rapidly expanding middle classes in the largest emerging economies. As a consequence of climate change, Asia is already feeling the social and economic impact of intensified droughts, floods, storms and pollution.

Confirmed keynote speakers

• Georgina Drew, Lecturer, Anthropology and Development Studies, The University of Adelaide, Australia
• Susan Darlington, Professor, Anthropology and Asian Studies, Hampshire College, USA
• Heiner Roetz, Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany