Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB, Utrecht landac.geo@uu.nl +31 30 253 13 63

IOS Fair Transitions/ LANDac Conference 2023

Fair Transitions and the Politics of Land. Institutions and imaginaries for inclusive futures.

Please be reminded that on Thursday June 29th we start with parallel sessions at the Drift Building. Please refer to your button below ‘Programme: Parallel sessions’ to know what session is taking place in which room or ask our volunteers at the Drift building for directions. 

This year in the Annual Conference of 2023 LANDac is joining forces with IOS-Fair Transitions to discuss the crossroads of the fair transitions and land governance debates in the context of climate change. The IOS-Fair Transitions-LANDac International Conference 2023 is structured around the joint challenge of finding ways to make transitions fair and inclusive, for human and non-human life. We look forward to an exciting transdisciplinary collaboration that we hope will draw many of you to Utrecht, The Netherlands. It will take place on 28-29-30 June and will be held on site with a limited offer of hybrid possibilities.

Format:

This year the conference will be held on-site in Utrecht City Centre. Online participation is limited to participants that are presenting during a limited amount of hybrid sessions. Please note that attending the conference online is not possible this year.

Key dates: 

  • Call for Abstracts: February 28th to April 7th, 2023 | closed
  • Online registration:
    • Early bird tickets: April 14th until May 12th
    • Regular tickets: May 13th until June 27th
  • Conference: June 28th to June 30th

 

Registration fees: 

Early-birds: €175
Regular: €225

Dinner on June 29th, 2023
We are sorry to inform you that due to great interest in joining the dinner there are no longer any vacant spots available.

€50 

 

Provisional Conference Programme 

Please note that the programme might be subject to change. For the latest version of the programme, please regularly check the Conference Page. Times are displayed in CEST (Central European Summer Time).

Keynote speakers:

prof. Mark Jackson

Wednesday, June 28th 

Dr. Mark Jackson is a human geographer with an expertise in postcolonial, decolonial and posthuman geographies. His interests revolve around the ecologies of thought and action, knowledge ecologies, critical theory, urban life and political ecology.

 

dr. Fatima Denton

Wednesday, June 28th 

dr. Fatima Denton is the Director of United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UU-INRA) and holder of the Prince Claus chair. As chair holder dr. Denton has a goal to democratize the debate around just transitions by fighting for the inclusion of communities that are most affected. 

prof. Christian Lund 

Friday, June 30th 

Lund is a Professor of Development, Resource Management, and Governance, at the Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on property, local politics and state formation.

Core concerns of the conference

Questions about how land is governed and controlled in the context of multiple crises are key to debates about fair transitions. The energy transition, net-zero ambitions, nature protection, and food system transformation all involve claims on land, water, and forests. How these claims are framed, analysed, and governed, how access to land is organised, and who gets a seat at the table to discuss key decisions are questions of urgent concern from both a fair transitions perspective and a land governance perspective.

More than ever, land is scarce and the transitions on the agenda take place in a context of high inequality at multiple scales and levels. Exclusionary pathways of transition lead to highly unfair distributions of ‘costs and benefits’ of the effects of climate change and mitigation measures. Under the current conditions of capitalism and authoritarianism, climate, food security, and biodiversity imperatives may lead to the loss of access to land and resources, and propel a deepening of existing social, economic, and political inequalities. Feminist, (post-)colonial and intersectional critiques from across the globe suggest ways to rethink these wicked problems and expose false solutions. The growing awareness that fair transitions in our times have to take into account non-human life in all of its articulations, asks for a serious change of perspective. Rethinking justice and inclusion from this perspective is hugely challenging- in land governance and beyond.

The current situation raises urgent questions as to how these transitions will and should be governed, and how dynamics of deepening exclusion and inequality should be addressed and prevented. The challenges ahead call for theoretical, historical, legal, and empirical analysis, feeding smart and sustained action. Key global concerns are: How much land do we need for what transitions? Who is able to claim what part, on what basis, and at whose expense? What (legal) frameworks should guide decision-making? With this background, the questions guiding this conference are: How could transitions be made fair for both human and non-human life? What role is there for land governance actors and (formal and informal) institutions? Who will have a seat at the table and what knowledges are taken into account? How will non-human interests be represented? Could transitions be a lever for promoting equity?

To explore these questions, we invite session proposals around any of the below themes:

The book of abstracts is available now: 

Practical information: 

We want to make your attendance to the conference and your stay at Utrecht as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. Click on the button below for all the practical information about directions on how to go to conference venues, where to book your hotels (and where possibly discounts apply) and some tips on where to eat out or enjoy a drink after the conference activities. 

For inquiries: 

fairtransitions.landac2023@gmail.com

Organizing committee 2023: 

Wytske Chamberlain (UU & LAND-at-scale)
Mayke Kaag (African Studies Centre Leiden)
Barbara Codispoti (Oxfam Novib)
Joanny Bélair (Bureau du Québec, Rabat)
Gemma van der Haar (WUR/LANDac)
Annelies Zoomers (UU)
Rick Dolphijn (UU, IOS Fair Transitions)
Imke Greven (RVO Netherlands)
Richard Pompoes (UU, IOS Fair Transitions)
Marit Meijer (UU, IOS Fair Transitions)