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Subject: Earth System Governance Tokyo 28-31 January 2013 Call for Papers
Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference: Complex Architectures, Multiple
Agents
UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY HEAD QUARTERS
TOKYO, 28-31 JANUARY 2013
We invite you to the Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference, to be held
28-31 January 2013 at the United Nations University Headquarters in Tokyo,
Japan.
This event is part of the global conference series organized by the Earth
System Governance Project, a ten-year research programme under the auspices
of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental
Change (IHDP). This conference will be the fourth in a global series
organized by the Earth System Governance Project. The Earth System
Governance Tokyo Conference will be jointly hosted by the United Nations
University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), the International
Environmental Governance Architecture Research Group and the Tokyo Institute
of Technology on behalf of the Earth System Governance Project.
Key Dates
• Deadline for paper abstracts: 1 July 2012
• Notification of acceptance: 1 September 2012
• Full papers due: 1 December 2012
• Conference date: 28-31 January 2013
Conference Themes
Today, a multitude of agents plays a significant role in earth system
governance, ranging from traditional state actors to international
organizations, civil society organizations, science networks, city
coalitions, or business associations. At the same time, the overall
governance architecture, from local to global levels, is becoming more
complex as a consequence of ever increasing needs for governance and
policy-development. This situation poses fundamental questions about the
impacts of fragmented and complex governance architectures, the overall
effectiveness of earth system governance, and the ways in which multiple
agents at all levels influence related processes.
This complex architecture with multiple agents is the core research problem
to be discussed at the Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference. The
conference will bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplines as
well as practitioners from diverse backgrounds to address the nexus between
the analytical problems of agency and architecture in earth system
governance, and will also consider the other analytical problems identified
in the Earth System Governance Science and Implementation Plan. The timing
of the Tokyo Conference, half a year after the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”), will make these discussions especially
pertinent and timely. The conference may open up new and fruitful areas of
science-policy interaction and strengthen the interface between science and
policy in earth system governance.
We invite papers on six interrelated clusters of questions:
1. Earth System Governance Architectures in the 21st Century: The need for
reform of the global institutional architecture for environmental and
sustainable development governance has been discussed for many years, yet
little progress in the political realm has been made so far. While some
propose, for example, the creation of a world environment organization,
others argue in favour of more decentralized architectures that try to
configure multiple actors effectively. We invite papers that address various
aspects of the basic design of the architecture of earth system governance.
This includes papers that analyse advantages of centralized or decentralized
governance architectures, multi-level governance, or governance and vision
in the post-MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) era. Also important here is
an investigation of the existing architecture and of the roles of various
actors and actor networks in governance.
2. Climate and Energy Governance Architectures: Discussions about the
advantages and disadvantages of various governance architectures have been
particularly lively and fruitful in the area of climate and energy policy. A
nuclear disaster in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami
in Japan highlighted even more the importance of effective and accountable
governance in this domain at all levels. We thus invite papers that explore
options for more effective architectures of future climate and energy
governance. Papers could address, for example, effective multilevel
governance architectures in the nexus between climate and energy security,
or the optimal mechanisms to facilitate low carbon technology transfer, or
the kind of partnerships that could combine actors of different scales and
within and among different regions. Also important is how to fill the
policy, implementation and financial gaps in designing the next generation
of climate governance architectures.
3. The Nexus between Architecture and the other “A’s” in Earth System
Governance: One of the most important research questions in the area of
earth system governance is the intersection between architecture and the
other four analytical problems (the “5 A’s”) identified in the Earth System
Governance Science and Implementation Plan. Hence, we invite papers that
explore these linkages and interactions. For instance, how can equity and
fairness concerns (‘Allocation and Access’) be addressed in the design and
implementation of environmental and development institutions? In what ways
can private actors (‘Agency’) be held accountable (‘Accountability’) in
environmental governance architectures? What types of resource
re-distribution and social conflicts are created (‘Allocation and Access’)
by different ways of structuring efforts (‘Architecture’) to enhance the
resilience of social-ecological systems (‘Adaptiveness’)?
4. Political Dynamics in the Interface of Agency and Architecture: How can
we recognize emerging agents in earth system governance? For example, how
does increasing power of the major emerging economies change the political
dynamics and thereby influence the overall governance architecture? What
would be the role of regional integration? How to avoid politicization of
science bodies, while ensuring political influence? We invite here papers
that explore political dynamics of earth system governance in the interface
of agency and architecture.
5. Methodological Challenges to Complex Architectures and Multiple Agents:
Earth system governance research requires new and emerging technology
developments as well as collaboration between social sciences, natural
sciences and engineering. We thus also invite papers that utilize innovative
technology and methodology in analysing problems related to complexity. They
may include, for example, new approaches and findings in the application of
agent-based modelling, GIS, socio-economic modelling, or more philosophical
approaches and further development of the philosophy of science and the role
of post-normal science approaches etc.
6. Special Conference Stream on Nuclear Safety and Post-disaster Governance:
Nuclear disaster in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami
in Japan posed many governance questions. How should nuclear be governed?
What lessons could we learn from the evacuation process? What is the role of
science in the face of emergency? What are the causal relationships between
energy governance in Japan, which are centred on strong energy companies,
and the effectiveness of the response to the nuclear disaster that began in
March 2011? There will be a special conference stream devoted for the issues
highlighting nuclear and disaster.
* Background:
The challenge of establishing effective strategies for mediating the
relationship between humans and the natural world represents one of the most
daunting tasks in the quest for environmental sustainability at all levels,
from the local to the global. Environmental problems, such as climate
change, biodiversity loss, water quality and access problems, soil erosion
and others, call into question the fundamental viability of how humans have
organized the relationship between society and nature. There is an urgent
need to identify and develop new strategies for steering societies towards a
more sustainable relationship with the natural world.
The Earth System Governance Project was launched in 2009 to address these
problems of environmental governance. In this project, “earth system
governance” is defined as the interrelated system of formal and informal
rules, rule-making mechanisms and actor-networks at all levels of human
society (from local to global) that are set up to steer societies towards
preventing, mitigating, and adapting to global and local environmental
change and earth system transformation, within the normative context of
sustainable development. The Earth System Governance Project’s Science Plan
(available at http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org) is organized around five
analytical problems. Architecture relates to the emergence, design and
effectiveness of governance arrangements. Agency addresses questions of who
governs the earth system and how. Adaptiveness research explores the ability
of governance systems to change in the face of new knowledge and challenges
as well as to enhance adaptiveness of social-ecological systems in the face
of major disturbances. Accountability refers to the democratic quality of
environmental governance arrangements. Finally, allocation and access deal
with justice, equity, and fairness. These analytical problems are united by
the cross-cutting themes of power, knowledge, norms and scale.
The Earth System Governance Project is a core project of the International
Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) under the
auspices of the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the
International Council for Science (ICSU), and the United Nations University
(UNU).
* Abstract Submission:
We invite abstracts on one of these six conference themes from scholars in
the social and natural sciences, as well as practitioners, from the global
South and North. Abstracts must be submitted electronically through the
conference website http://tokyo2013.earthsystemgovernance.org by 1 July 2012
and may not exceed 300 words. All abstracts will be evaluated in
double-blind peer-review by several members of the conference review panel.
For additional information on the Earth System Governance Project, including
its Science and Implementation Plan, please visit
www.earthsystemgovernance.org.
* Hosts
International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
Earth System Governance Project
United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies
International Environmental Governance Architecture Research Group
* Co-hosts and Sponsors
The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP)
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationals (IDDRI)
L’Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
* International Steering Committee
• Prof. Steinar Andresen, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway
• Prof. Frank Biermann, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Dr. Karin Bäckstrand, Lund University, Sweden
• Prof. Michele M. Betsill, Colorado State University, United States of
America
• Prof. Susana Camargo Vieira, Universidade de Itaúna, Brazil
• Dr. Mark Elder, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan
• Prof. Joyeeta Gupta, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, and VU
University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Prof. Peter M. Haas, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States of
America
• Prof. Hironori Hamanaka, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies,
Japan
• Dr. Yasuko Kameyama, National Institute for Environmental Studies,
Tsukuba, Japan
• Prof. Norichika Kanie, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and United Nations
University Institute of Advanced Studies, Japan
• Dr. Louis Lebel, Unit for Social and Environmental Research, Chiang Mai
University, Thailand
• Prof. Diana Liverman, University of Arizona, and Oxford University, United
States of America
• Prof. Shunji Matsuoka, Waseda University, Tokyo Japan
• Prof. Isao Sakaguchi, Gakushuin University, Japan
• Dr. Heike Schroeder, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
• Prof. Bernd Siebenhüner, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg,
Germany
• Dr. Laurence Tubiana, Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations
Internationales (IDDRI), France
• Prof. Kazuhiro Ueta, Kyoto University, Japan
• Prof. Takahiro Yamada, Tokyo Metropolitian University
• Prof. Oran R. Young, University of California at Santa Barbara, United
States of America
* Lead Faculty, Earth System Governance Project
• Prof. Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan, United States of America
• Prof. Steinar Andresen, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway
• Prof. Ken Conca, American University, United States of America
• Prof. Leila da Costa Ferreira, University of Campinas, Brazil
• Prof. Bharat H. Desai, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
• Prof. John S. Dryzek, Australian National University, Australia
• Prof. Carl Folke, Stockholm University, and Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences, Sweden
• Prof. Roberto P. Guimarães, Getulio Vargas Foundation, and State
University of Campinas, Brazil
• Prof. Peter M. Haas, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, United States
of America
• Prof. Hironori Hamanaka, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies,
Japan
• Prof. Jia Wenhua, China University of Political Science and Law, China
• Prof. Andrew Jordan, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
• Dr. Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravská, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
• Prof. Ma Zhong, Renmin University of China, China
• Dr. Elizabeth L. Malone, Joint Global Change Research Institute, United
States of America
• Prof. James Meadowcroft, Carleton University, Canada
• Prof. Ronald B. Mitchell, University of Oregon, United States of America
• Prof. Peter Newell, University Sussex, United Kingdom
• Prof. Sebastian Oberthür, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
• Prof. Hiroshi Ohta, Waseda University, Japan
• Prof. Lennart Olsson, Lund University, Sweden
• Prof. Arthur Petersen, VU University Amsterdam; and PBL Netherlands
Environmental Assessment Agency, The Netherlands
• Prof. Qi Ye, Tsinghua University, China
• Dr. R.B. Singh, University of Delhi, India
• Prof. Will Steffen, Australian National University, Australia
• Prof. Simon Tay, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Dr. Laurance Tubiana, Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations
Internationales (IDDRI), France
• Prof. Kazuhiro Ueta, Kyoto University, Japan
• Prof. Arild Underdal, University of Oslo, Norway
• Prof. Eduardo Viola, University of Brasilia, Brazil
• Prof. Wang Canfa, China University of Political Science and Law, China
• Prof. Oran R. Young, University of California at Santa Barbara, United
States of America
* Funding Support:
We are trying our best to secure some funding to be available to support
conference participation by early–career colleagues and those from
developing countries. More information will be made available on the
conference website.
For additional information on the Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference,
please e-mail us here:
[email protected]
We look forward to welcoming you to the first Earth System Governance
conference in Asia!
On behalf of all organizers, sponsors, and co-hosts,
Norichika KANIE
[email protected]
Chair, 2013 Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference
Erin Kennedy
[email protected]
Conference Manager, 2013 Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference
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