On December 1st, 2022 Jörn, Elisabeth and Prof. Gabriel Faimau from @ubmmadikolo organized a stakeholder workshop on “Environmental transformation and Media Communication”. 📻

For this workshop they invited stakeholders from different media outlets, researchers from social sciences, and government officials to come together.

After some theoretical input from the subproject team and research colleagues from Botswana, the media and government actors discussed their own relationship with reporting on environmental issues in Botswana. 🌱

Both sides expressed their gratitude for the organization of such a workshop and for bringing both sides together on a neutral ground. For the future actors from both media and government want to work together more closely in order to raise climate change awareness in Botswana.

Photo Credit: Mr. Philip Oabona

It’s time for our third post! 🤗

After introducing our team and our university partners in Botswana and South Africa, we would
like to put the region and the countries themselves in the spotlight! 🌍

Botswana, a landlocked country north of South Africa, presents an extraordinary setting to study
climate change perception. Its diverse ecosystems include the Okavango Delta, which
is filled with an immense array of wildlife, and the Kalahari desert, a very arid region.

But these ecosystems are not immune to the impacts of climate change. Through their
research, Jörn and Elisabeth seek to understand how the people of Botswana perceive the shifts occurring in their environment. 🍃

Gaborone, where University of Botswana is situated, is also the capital of Botswana and the largest city of the country, located in the southeastern part of the country which forms the focus of the projects field work.

Just like Botswana the North West region of South Africa offers a great perspective into climate
change perception within a culturally rich and ecologically diverse context.

Here too Jörn’s and Elisabeth’s goal is to explore how the people in this region interpret and respond to challenges posed by climate change. The main field site in North West is the city of Potchefstroom, which due to a large farming community allows for valuable insights, and Ikageng, where focus group discussions have been conducted.

While that wraps up today’s post, we will be back on Thursday presenting “Climate Change
Epistemologies in Southern Africa” edited by Jörn and Ernst from subproject 3! ✨

Slide 1: Mochudi, Botswana
Slide 2: Gaborone, Botswana
Slide 3: Potchefstroom, South Africa
Slide 4: North West region, South Africa

Todays post is all about presenting the partners of subproject 2, University of Botswana and North-West University in South Africa. 🏫

At University of Botswana the project is working together with the Department of Sociology. UB is also part of the PLUS network, another cooperation Jörn is participating in, which is researching topics concerning sustainability.

JLU and UB have an Erasmus+ partnership which allows for PhD students from both universities to spend a semester abroad at the partner institution. 🧑🏽‍🎓

UB is located in Gaborone, which is also part of the research area of the subproject, and was founded in 1962.

The subproject’s second partner is the School of Social Sciences at North-West University in
South Africa. The university is named after the North West province where it is located in three different campuses in Potchefstroom, Mahikeng and Vanderbijlpark. It was founded in 2004 through the merging of two different already existing universities.

The partnership between NWU and JLU has been longstanding. NWU is also a member of the PLUS Network. For ten years now students from both universities have been participating in a student exchange (BA+MA students from JLU, MA students from NWU), which is now encompassing all three campus locations in South Africa. 🌍

We are grateful to be working closely with students and colleagues at both universities and for their continued support of our research!

Next week we will be introducing Botswana and the North West province! ✨

Meet subproject 2! 🤗
It is our turn to present our work!

In our subproject Jörn, professor of cultural sociology at JLU and Elisabeth, his research assistant, are researching the public discourse on climate change in Botswana and in the North West province of South Africa. They are trying to understand how people perceive changes in their natural environment and where people might place them in a localized discourse regarding climate change.

As part of their research they have already travelled twice to Botswana and South Africa, where they completed many interviews and met up with their respective partners in both countries. In the next four weeks we will present our area of research, our partners both in Botswana and South Africa, and give insight in some of our work!

🌿🍃🌍

Today we are introducing our team! In Germany Jörn and Elisabeth work together with student assistants Anna, working on her BA Social Sciences and Maj, studying Modern Societies and Cultures in her Masters.

During their stays abroad Jörn and Elisabeth are supported by student groups in both countries.

Slide 1+3: In Botswana PhD student Lebogang, Master of Environmental Studies student Kelebogile and Law student Bakang work with the team and have helped facilitate focus group discussions in Botswana.

Slide 2: In South Africa BA Honours Philosophy students Pogiso and Juan as well as Master of Philosophy student Elsie are helping to navigate the field.

Last but not least, PhD candidate Kevin helps out the team with any administrative questions.

We are looking forward to sharing some insights into our teams work with you in the next month! ✨

Besides Ecuador, there is another country in northern South America that is part of our research: Colombia!

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Nadia Combariza, one of Nisansa`s research associates, has been visiting grassroots initiatives in El Cesar province in Colombia as part of her research on just trasition. Together they aspire to foster a popular economy beyond fossil fuel extractivism. El Cesar is a region where large scale open pit coal mines are located and 99% of the extracted coal is exported. In this territory, a global future low in emissions means not only an energy transition but also an economic and social one.🌎

#socialsciences #socialscience #climatechange #climatechangeresearch #research #nisansa #unigiessen #unimarburg #researchproject #justtransition #extractivism #extractivismo #coal #fossilfuel #grassroots #colombia #sciencecommunication #sustainability #nisubweb

Today we would like to introduce you to a member of the chair of peace research at @jlu.giessen and fellow of our subproject: Pedro Alarcón.🎉

Pedro studied in different countries like Germany, Norway and Ecuador, where he received a PhD in Development Economics at FLASCO. Together with Julia, Nadia and Stefan he published a policy brief last year about Just Transition from a global perspective. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, we invite you to have a look at our Instagram post “Just Transition or Just Transformation”.
Here´s also the link to the policy brief: https://trajects.org/resource-library/item/81

Pedro´s studies focus on the gap between sustainability and development in the context of the energy crisis in the Global North and growing extractivism of natural resources in the Global South. 🌎

Taking into account the adverse framework of free trade and rentier capitalism proposed by international governance, Pedro sees one of the major challenges for extractivist societies in diversifying their economy and consolidating a domestic market for domestic products. At the same time a growing socio-environmental awareness about the consequences of extractivism at a local level proposes new challenges for the economies that are dependent on their natural resources, he says. To be able to escape extractivism, Pedro explains, it is not enough that one particular state takes action. It rather requires the effort of the international community. 🤝

In the future, he would like to continue his research on processes of change and continuity in extractivist countries. This means examining possible transformations of practices and discourses generated by the energy transition on the one hand, and studying the prevalence of extractivism on the other hand. Through his research he hopes to draw attention to crucial issues humanity is facing today. Moreover, he wants to contribute to an academic and transatlantic dialogue to bring together different visions and perspectives. 🌿🍃🌾

Do you know what a workday of a professor and researcher looks like? 🔎

Maybe, if you have seen our last posts, you already got an idea about it. However, to give you a better idea, we would like to introduce you to another team member of our subproject: Natali Cáceres.🎉

Natali is professor at the Universidad Central del Ecuador (UCE) where she teaches in the field of Tourism and Climate Change, and affiliate to the University of New Mexico. Lately, she started to coordinate the Circular Economy and Sustainable Production Master’s program at UCE as well. Natali describes her work as very dynamic. As you can see in the photos, she is involved in many different activities related to her work.

Natali is also the coordinator of the NISANSA project in Ecuador and takes care of the cooperation with @jlu.giessen . Her activities vary from granting scholarships to students and teachers, to representing the project in academic events, such as conferences and symposia. Moreover, she carries out visits to the Ecuadorian Amazon for research.

Her areas of interest are climate change, gender and circular economy. Currently she conducts research in Arajuno, Pastaza Province. She tries to find answers to the question of how inhabitants of this area perceive tourism and its ability to influence the process of adaption to climate change.

There are still many aspects of adaptive capacity, that are usually not considered in action on climate change. With her research she wants to draw attention on these capacities. When asking her, what it is she wants to achieve through her research, she answers that her work: “seeks, above all, to provide technical elements that can improve the quality of life of those who have allowed me to investigate in their territories”.

The energy transition is on everyone`s lips lately. Have you heard the term `just transition` before though?

‘Just transition’ emerged as a discourse focusing on ensuring that potential ‘losers’ of the energy transition towards a low-carbon future are recognized and compensated for their anticipated losses.

We asked ourselves: How could a ‘just transition’ in one country actually drive an unjust transition in another?

Due to the epistemological power of the Global North, the dominant narratives on "just transition" are derived from a Eurocentric point of view. To avoid this co-optation, it is necessary to incorporate a global perspective.

A first step is to recognize "just transition" as an organic and therefore dynamic concept that includes more than a mere energy transition. It is necessary to understand the transition as broader socio-political projects that go beyond debates on technological change and even conventional wisdom on environmental policy.

We turn to the challenges of extractivist societies to highlight shortcomings of dominant narratives on the ‘just transition’. Under their techno-optimist and reactive understandings of justice, the proposed global energy transition might not reduce extractivist dynamics but rather lead to a transformed form we understand as a “reloaded extractivism”: a confluence of a ‘green’ and fossil extractivism.

We argue for a critical approach pointing out historical power relationships and discussing the root causes of ingrained regimes of inequality and injustices (both within and between countries). We propose to talk about a ‘just transformation’ being holistic, global and decolonizing.

This transformation goes beyond the notion of a ‘just transition’ and highlights that quick fixes, superficial reforms, and short-term solutions will not suffice to achieve this deep structural change needed to overcome extractivist dynamics and development models in Global South countries. To avoid reproducing the exclusive and oppressive structures of the current fossil energy regime, the past, present and future trajectories of the energy-extractive nexus need to be seen as interconnected.

Curious about more facts about oil extractivism?

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Where is the oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon actually going?

@stand.earth and @amazonwatch found out that half of the oil exports feom the Amazon go to California! To learn more check out their investigation.

🍃🌱🌿

And how is it possible that the Ecuadorian president @guillermolasso actually wants to "extract every single drop of oil we have left" in the face of the climate crisis?

This effect is called a `green paradox`. While it is known that to comply with the Paris Agreement, the world has to phase out fossil fuels, for extractivist countries this can be a threat. Approximately a third of Ecuador`s state revenues come oil exports. A transition to a low-carbon future is therefore not just a change in the energy matrix for these countries, but a change of a whole development and socio-political model.

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In a nutshell: The future marked by climate change and the energy transition hold manifold challenges for an oil-exporting country like Ecuador.

#climatechange #energytransition #justtransition #extractivism #postoil #postfossil #nisansaprojectweb #conceptseries

During her fieldwork in the Arajuno, Julia has realized several workshops in order to find out how Kichwa communities perceive their future. What are their hopes and what role does oil play in these imaginaries?

Here some of her preliminary findings: Most of Arajuno has not been intervened by oil extractivism (yet). However, there is some history. Already in the 1940s Shell did exploratory drillings in order to find oil in the area. In 2014, the Italian company AGIP wanted to expand and start extraction in Arajuno. After breaking the agreement the company had with the communities, the community organization collectively decided that they will not further negotiate with AGIP. In 2019, AGIP sold their concession to extract oil in the area to the Argentinian company Pluspetrol. Since then, community leaders report about the company reaching out again and harassing them.

Today there is ongoing discussion whether to allow oil extraction or not. Even though the detrimental effects of oil drilling are well known, the promise of development through the presence of an oil company still prevails among parts of the population. The most important argument in favor of oil extraction is of economic nature. As education and income levels are among the lowest in Ecuador and job opportunities are few, the idea of oil conveys hope for a source of income and a general improvement of living conditions in the area. At the same time, these hopes are rather illusions, according to opponents of oil drilling. They are saying “we have learned from our brothers and sisters up North”, referring to the Indigenous communities in the Northern provinces of the country. There, oil has been extracted for 50 years – with rather detrimental impacts for the Indigenous population.
It became clear that it is key to create economic alternatives to extractivism of any kind (not just to oil extraction, but also logging or agribusiness). All the participants pointed out that they would prefer to protect the Amazon from further destruction. However, at the same time, they made clear that they need to make a living and economic opportunities are scarce.

📸: courtesy of Froilan Tanguila

Do you know what a research project consists of? It requires good methodology and lots of planning, of course. But, above all, it depends on the cooperation of motivated people, every each of them contributing their individual skills and knowledge.💪

We would like to introduce you to one of those people at NISANSA: Meet Renata, a research fellow at our subproject 5!🌱

Renata has finished her Master’s degree in Socio-Environmental Studies at FLACSO, Quito. She conducts research about mine and oil extractivism, territorial resistance of indigenous women and the conservation of environment. Working with Indigenous women from Waorani and Awá communities in Ecuador, she tells us that these women try to sustain their historic and cultural memory.

What she likes most about her work is being in contact with various people. This led her to change her life completely. She now is much more attached to Indigenous and social movements and in her everyday life she reduces, reuses and recycles anywhere she can. Moreover, these exchanges affect the people surrounding her, be it in the territories or in her personal life.

What motivates her is showing what is happening in the territories. Through her research she seeks to put attention on issues that are invisible to big parts of the society. She says: “it is important to generate this consciousness that the territory is not only an area of struggle, but also of conflict and survival.”