Conference theme

There remains little doubt that if the world is to achieve its sustainability goals in the decades to come, much has to change in the various societal systems that cause environmental degradation, drive climate change and promote inequality. There is also little doubt that accomplishing the required transformations in the ways we extract, produce, consume, share, manage and learn, represents an unprecedented challenge for societies rich and poor. While our ultimate goals are becoming increasingly clear, important questions remain about the best possible ways to achieve them. Our options are plentiful, ranging from transforming socio-ecological and socio-economic practices at the local scale, via replacing unsustainable technologies by sustainable ones, to altering the globally prevailing economic and political paradigms that keep us focused on the accumulation of wealth and reluctant to share. But which strategies are likely to be the most effective and feasible? And how are transformations of practices, socio-technological systems and paradigms best triggered and governed? Can we achieve them with help of traditional policy instruments or do we need more revolutionary means? Can we rely on governments to pull us through, or do we need to build broader coalitions of transition drivers and managers first?   

Such and other questions are even more acute in the Global South, where, compared to the Global North, vulnerabilities to the adverse effects of environmental degradation and climate change tend to be larger and the conditions for the successful realization of sustainability transitions less favourable. The pandemic and the unfolding climate crisis have mercilessly exposed the fact that despite all recent progress the Global South has seen in economic development, health care and other realms, conditions in many parts remain extremely fragile and vulnerable to backlash, with governments – not helped by the world’s richer nations minding their own interests first – struggling to cope.

It is also in the Global South where, arguably, the need for new knowledge that can support sustainability transitions, is greatest. To develop that knowledge is a challenge in itself, and may even require a transformation of existing practices and systems of knowledge creation and sharing, not only in government but also in academia and other sectors. An important role in this would seem to be reserved for the social sciences. Not only because sustainability transformations are, in many cases, very much a matter of organizing societies’ responses to particular challenges, but also because the social sciences, perhaps like no other disciplines, should be able to play a connecting role between ecology, technology, economy and governance. 

Kasetsart University’s Faculty of Social Sciences’ first international conference seeks to engage with these daunting challenges of transformation and knowledge creation. The conference, which is organized in collaboration with the Office of the Royal Society of Thailand, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural University,  Centre for Asian Studies, University of Ghana, and Eastern Regional Organization of Public Administration, particularly aims to investigate how social sciences across the Global South may contribute to the conception, design and implementation of the many sustainability transformations that will need to be completed if countries and people across the Global South are to continue to experience sustainable improvement in their lives and livelihoods. 

We warmly invite you to join us in this effort, be that as partner, contributor, or member of the audience. 

IMPORTANT DATES