The XVII Biennial IASC Conference, entitled ‘In Defense of the Commons: Challenges, Innovation, and Action’ will be held at the Catholic University of Lima, Peru on July 1-4, 2019; July 5 will be dedicated to field visits in Lima and other regions of Peru.
For the first time the IASC Global conference will be co-organized by two leading universities of the Andean region: PUCP’s Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Department of Economics of the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia).
IACD’s South American Regional Director, Ursula Harman is currently involved with helping to organise this conference, at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), where Ursula works as a professor and is planning a session around community development.
The conference will bring together experiences and lessons from around the world to reflect on the multiple ways in which different actors have sought to maintain and defend the commons, as well as the challenges and opportunities faced by the commons in the 21st century.
We aim to provide scholars, practitioners, and policy makers with a forum to debate the contemporary role of the commons in a globalized world. Common property is a critical factor in order to address pressing challenges such as climate change, sustainability in light of growing inequality, gender imbalances and impending scarcity.
Held in South America, a region characterized by its high biodiversity (in the Andes, the Amazon, and the Coastal/Oceans areas), highly diverse and stratified populations (in ethnic, cultural, racial, and class terms), and a marked tendency for ‘extractive’ development logics coexisting with multiple forms of indigenous and afro-descendant governance of their territories, the conference will pay attention to the role of collective action in shaping how the commons are created, maintained, and recovered.
This is an especially timely exploration in light of the different economic, environmental, political, and social agendas intersecting the commons, providing social movements with both challenges and opportunities for action. The conference will offer an opportunity to share lessons from Latin America’s commons and compare global experiences to identify paths forward in urban, rural and virtual spaces for mutual learning.
Conference tracks
The program will include:
- Policy Dialogues with National Authorities from Colombia and Peru and International Cooperation Agencies active on the field
- 50+ parallel research panels
- Film and video exhibit on the commons
- Half-day workshops on key common issues
- Keynote Lectures by international leading experts
- Practice Workshops with renowned Chefs and Artists
- Master classes for early career researchers
- Field visits in Lima and other regions of the country
- Poster exhibitions
- Book fair with international publishers
- Exhibit stands of grassroots initiatives
Check out their website: https://www.iasc2019.org/
