CODESRIA
Environmental Politics Institute
Climate change and Environmental Governance in Africa
Date: 06 – 18 August, 2012
Venue: Dakar, Senegal.
Call for Applications
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) Environmental Politics Institute is an interdisciplinary forum which brings together African scholars undertaking innovative research on topics related to the broad theme of environmental politics. The aim of the Institute is to promote and sustain the development of coherent social sciences engagement with environmental issues in Africa. The Institute will promote research and debates on issues related to environmental politics especially as they relate to democratic decision making in climate change adaptation and mitigation policies and programs on the continent. The Institute will be launched in 2012 and subsequently held annually in Dakar, Senegal. It will serve the critical functions of forging links among a younger generation of African intellectuals and meeting the scientific needs of these intellectuals in terms of access to recent documentation, participation in current debates, the retooling of their research capacities, and the updating of their conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches. The Institute will also seek to engage African policy intellectuals and civil society activists, thereby permitting a judicious mix of researchers, activists, and policy makers to be achieved in the admission of participants. It is anticipated that a total of fifteen African researchers drawn from across the continent and the Diaspora, and a few non-African scholars will participate in the Institute each year.
Objectives:
The main objectives of the Environmental Politics Institute are to:
• Build the capacity of young African scholars in Social Science research into environmental politics issues;
• Catalyze the development of a core of an epistemic community of social scientists engaged with environmental issues;
• Encourage the sharing of experiences among researchers, activists and policy makers from different disciplines, methodological and conceptual orientations, and geographical/linguistic zones on a common theme over an extended period of time;
• Promote and enhance a critical inter-disciplinary engagement in a manner that allows Africans to effectively identify and tackle the environmental issues confronting their continent; and
• Foster the participation of scholars in discussions and debates about the environment taking place in Africa especially in the context of the global climate change discourse.
Organisation:
The activities of all CODESRIA institutes centre on presentations made by resident researchers, visiting resource persons, and the participants whose applications for admission as laureates are successful. The sessions are led by a scientific director who, with the help of invited resource persons, ensures that the laureates are exposed to the range of research and policy issues generated by or arising from the theme of the Institute for which they are responsible. Open discussions drawing on books and articles relevant to the theme of a particular institute or a specific topic within the theme are also encouraged. Each of the laureates selected to participate in any of the Council's institutes is required to prepare a research paper to be presented during the course of the particular institute they attend. Laureates are expected to draw on the insights which they gain from the Institute in which they participate to produce a revised version of their research papers for consideration for publication by CODESRIA. For each institute, the CODESRIA Documentation and Information Centre (CODICE) prepares a comprehensive bibliography on the theme of the year. Access is also facilitated to a number of documentation centres in and around Dakar.
Environmental Politics in Africa
African economies are critically dependent on the environment and natural resources. Renewable natural resources exploitation (forests, aquatic life, wildlife, and land) in agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors contributes more to the GDP of many African economies than manufacturing. Tourism is the fastest growing sector in many of these economies, and it is based on the environment and natural resources (ecotourism, nature- based tourism, safari hunting etc). In addition to the significant contributions to national economies, natural resources sustain rural livelihoods through the provisions of a wide range of products and services.
At the same time as environment and natural resources assume greater significance in the human and economic development process, humanity has been depleting the life systems on which the wellbeing of the planet depends. This depletion has accelerated in the last century, largely as a result of accelerated industrial growth, prompting a search for models of growth and development that would still ensure that the fundamental life systems remain intact while supporting fundamental human and other needs. Environmental degradation and associated challenges have given rise to concerns with 'sustainable development'.
Although there is no exact definition, the concept of 'sustainable development' is used to refer to a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come. While it has become increasingly widely used, there is considerable inconsistency in the application of the concept, and many different definitions of sustainable development abound. The concept of sustainability is continually evolving since it was first popularized in the 1987 report of the Brundtland Commission.
The environment is increasingly recognized as a value whose preservation and protection are critical preconditions for the survival of humanity. There have been phenomenal developments in national and international environmental law over the past few decades in response to these challenges. Environmental law draws from and is influenced by principles of environmentalism, including ecology, conservation, stewardship, responsibility and sustainability. While environmental regulation continues to evolve in the 21st century as evidenced by the phenomenal developments in law, the social sciences have been slow and fragmented in their engagement with the challenges of reconciling environmental protection with the needs of human development.
The quest for solutions that provide a sustainable future become more urgent as ever increasing evidence of environmental degradation continues to be discovered. Concern for environmental problems is usually voiced by interest groups such as businesses, consumers, Civil Society Organizations or community based groups. Such groups will typically advocate for appropriate state responses to the experienced or imminent environmental challenges. States have responded with policies and programmes with limited social sciences engagement and support.
Concerns with environmental degradation, scarcity, pollution and related challenges have led to the proliferation of environmental management policies, laws and programs. Environmental management in turn has become an arena of cooperation and conflict, and hence an arena of social and political-economic interaction. As such it is an arena of justice and injustice that cannot be separated from the larger context of government and governance. Contemporary debates in environmental politics focus on a wide range of issues such as the relationship between global political forces and environmental change; environmental security; environmental justice; environmental management, policy and governance; environmental movements and political parties; local-global interactions; multi-lateral environmental agreements; and so on. African participation in these issues is limited and fragmented. Yet African societies are increasingly confronted with inter-related environmental challenges arising from trade, climate change, biodiversity loss, conservation, land-use conflicts; waste management and so on.
Through the Environmental Politics Institute, CODESRIA proposes to focus scholarly attention on social sciences engagement with environmental governance issues in the context of sustainable development. The Institute will explore the various environmental governance dimensions of sustainable development policies and programmes in Africa, the character and extent of current social science research engagement with these policies and programmes, identify key issues for social science researchers, and encourage laureates to take up longitudinal engagement with environmental governance issues on the continent
The Director
For every session of its various institutes, CODESRIA appoints an external scholar with a proven track-record of quality work to provide intellectual leadership. Directors are senior scholars known for their expertise in the topic and for the originality of their thinking on it. They are recruited on the basis of a proposal which they submit and which contains a detailed course outline covering methodological issues and approaches; the key concepts integral to an understanding of the objective of a particular Institute and the specific theme that will be focused upon; a thorough review of the state of the literature designed to expose laureates to different theoretical and empirical currents; a presentation on various sub-themes, case-studies and comparative examples relevant to the theme of the particular Institute they are applying to lead; and possible policy questions that are worth keeping in mind during the entire research process. Candidates for the position of Director should also note that if their application is successful, they will be asked to:
- participate in the selection of laureates;
- identify resource-persons to help lead discussions and debates;
- design the course for the session, including the specification of sub-themes;
- deliver a set of lectures and provide a critique of the papers presented by the resource persons and the laureates;
- Submit a written scientific report on the session.
In addition, the Director is expected to (co-)edit the revised versions of the papers presented by the resource persons with a view to submitting them for publication in one of CODESRIA's collections. The Director also assists CODESRIA in assessing the papers presented by laureates for publication by the Council.
Resource Persons
Lectures to be delivered at the Institute are intended to offer laureates an opportunity to advance their reflections on the theme of the programme and on their own research topics. Resource Persons are, therefore, senior scholars or scholars in their mid-career who have published extensively on the topic, and who have a significant contribution to make to the debates on it. They will be expected to produce lecture materials which serve as think pieces that stimulate laureates to engage in discussion and debate around the lectures and the general body of literature available on the theme.
Once selected, resource persons must:
- submit a copy of their lectures for reproduction and distribution to participants not later than one week before the lecture begins ;
- deliver their lectures, participate in debates and comment on the research proposals of the laureates ;
- Review and submit the revised version of their research papers for consideration for publication by CODESRIA not later than two months following their presentation.
Laureates
Applicants should be African researchers who have completed their university and /or professional training, with a proven capacity to carry out research on the theme of the Institute. Intellectuals active in the policy process and/or in social movements/civic organisations are also encouraged to apply. The number of places offered by CODESRIA at each session of its institutes is limited to fifteen (15) fellowships. Non-African scholars who are able to raise funds for their participation may also apply for a limited number of places.
Applications
Applicants for the position of Director should submit:
• an application letter;
• a proposal, not more than 15 pages in length, indicating the course outline and showing in what ways the course would be original and responsive to the needs of prospective laureates, specifically focussing on the issues to be covered from the point of view of concepts and methodology, a critical review of the literature, and the range of issues arising from the theme of the Institute;
• a detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae; and
• Three writing samples.
Applications for the position of resource persons should include:
• an application letter ;
• two writing samples ;
• a curriculum vitae ; and
• A proposal, not more than five (5) pages in length, outlining the issues to be covered in their proposed lecture.
Applications for Laureates should include:
• an application letter;
• a letter indicating institutional or organisational affiliation;
• a curriculum vitae ;
• a research proposal (two copies and not more than 10 pages), including a descriptive analysis of the work the applicant intends to undertake, an outline of the theoretical interest of the topic chosen by the applicant, and the relationship of the topic to the problematic and concerns of the theme of the Institute; and
• Two reference letters from scholars and/or researchers known for their competence and expertise in the candidate's research area (geographic and disciplinary), including their names, addresses and telephone, e-mail, fax numbers.
An independent committee composed of outstanding African social scientists will select the candidates to be admitted to the institute.
The deadline for the submission of applications is set for 15 April, 2012. The Institute will be held in Dakar, Senegal, from 06 – 18 August, 2012
All applications or requests for further information should be addressed to:
Environmental Politics Institute
CODESRIA
Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop x Canal IV
BP 3304, CP 18524,
Dakar, Senegal
Tel.: +221 33 825 65 97
Fax: +221 33 824 12 89
Website: http://www.codesria.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/codesria
