Becoming a Centre and other news
13 May 2021
As some of you may have noticed, we have recently started calling ourselves by another name. In recognition of our contribution to the research environment of the School of Law and Politics, the Environmental Justice Research Unit (EJRU) has become the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ). This upgrading to Centre status acknowledges how central environmental law and politics scholarship has become within the School, and the role that we as a group have played in raising the profile of this critically important issue area to research and teaching in law, politics and international relations. We are currently in the process of consulting as a group to create a shared direction for this next stage in our development, and are using CEJ in the interim while we explore our identity together and find the most appropriate name to represent this. We’ll keep you posted as soon as there is news to share.
Professor Anna Grear invited to speak on Planetary Responsibilities
Professor Anna Grear has been invited to speak at a roundtable discussion on Planetary Responsibilities in Paris, 2021 alongside other critical scholars, including Judith Butler (Berkeley); Dipesh Chakrabarty (Chicago); Thomas Scheffer (Frankfurt); Marilyn Strathern (Cambridge); Mario Biagoli (UCLA); and Liz Fisher (Oxford).
The object of the event is to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to critically reflect on the imaginaries, vocabularies and performances of responsibility and to initiate experimentation in a new political art of planetary responsibility. It is being organised by Professors Alain Pottage at Sciences Po and Stephen Humphreys of the LSE. It’s taking place in Paris on a date to be arranged once the organisers have a clearer picture of Covid-19 rates.
Review of Welsh Water’s 2050 Resilience Strategy
Professor Ben Pontin is part of the University’s Water Research Institute team drafting a review of Welsh Water’s 2050 Resilience Strategy. Ben is helping with changes to the legal framework, including those arising from the pandemic, devolution and Brexit. Ben is particularly interested in the legal definition of river pollution, given the growing number of chemicals/pharmaceuticals being discharged into rivers by Welsh Water which make it almost impossible for any river to comply with current chemical quality standards.
New Policy Brief on the Environment and Indigenous People in Colombia
Dr Ricardo Pereira, together with Britta Sjöstedt and Torsten Krause (Lund University), published a policy brief for the Instituto Colombo-Aleman para la Paz (CAPAZ) on ‘The Environment and Indigenous People in the Context of the Armed Conflict and Peacebuilding Process in Colombia: Implications for the Special Jurisdiction for Peace and International Criminal Justice.’ This policy brief includes recommendations aimed at advancing peacebuilding, transitional criminal justice and reparations for environmental damage linked to the armed conflict in Colombia.
Forthcoming Events
Next Thought-In-Progress (TIP)
At our next TIP meeting, Dr. Ricardo Pereira will be presenting his thoughts-in-progress on the Illegal Wildlife Trade. Join us on May 17th 2021, 1-2pm, via Zoom (please email pontinb@cardiff.ac.uk).
Multi-level Cross-Border Responses to Illegal Wildlife Trade: International, European and National Perspectives
‘This paper aims to critically compare the legal enforcement mechanisms against wildlife trade in the European Union and internationally, in particular China and countries in South East Asia. It will be argued that effectiveness of the cross-border legal measures in Europe as a consumer market for endangered species requires collaboration between the European and international enforcement agencies and a stronger legal framework for implementation of CITES in the EU legal order and other legal systems.’
Reading Group: Decolonising the Anthropocene
In our next reading group meeting, co-hosted with Cardiff Environmental Cultures, we will be exploring As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker. Join us on the June 2nd 2021, 1-1:50pm, via Zoom.
This is a multidisciplinary group and we welcome participation from across the sciences and humanities, if you would like to join please contact David Shackleton (ShackletonD@cardiff.ac.uk).