Building Just Climate Strategies
THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND RACIAL CAPITALISM : 17TH - 18TH JULY 2023
From oil spills in Nigeria, and floods in Pakistan, to waste incinerators in North London- it is clear that the interaction between climactic breakdown and structural inequalities leave vulnerable communities specifically and disproportionately impacted. Capitalist modes of production that rely on exploitation and extraction to prioritise profit have provided the economic framework, while colonial myths provide a political framework which create a sense of duty and justification for expansive empires to violently occupy and extract. From unregulated agribusiness4 to the continued appropriation of indigenous lands and extraction of raw materials- the practices and dynamics of racial capitalism persist and ultimately have caused the rapid climate degradation we witness today, locally and globally.1 So far the ‘solutions’ being pushed by corporations and policymakers at the UN Climate Change Conference seek to mitigate the consequences of climate breakdown rather than to develop the radical change that is necessary to save people and the planet. This year Worldmaking Beyond SOAS we will incubate short-term collaborative action that brings together organisations and SOAS students to reflect on the climate crisis.
On 17th-18th July 2023 we convened stakeholders to build transnational strategies around climate justice. This will also be a kick off space for the projects incubated within Worldmaking Beyond SOAS.
Find a summary of the thoughtful dialogues and exchange of ideas here.
Conference dates
Monday 17th July
14:00 - 20:00
Tuesday 18th July
10:00- 16:30
Day One
Monday 17th July 2023
SOAS
Opening: Dr Awino Okech
Time: 14:00-14:15
Description: Conference Opening
Dr Awino Okech Associate Director Equity and Accountability.
This event will be hybrid. Tickets are available to join us in-person or online.
Keynote: Farhana Yamin and Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah
Time: 14:15-15:45
Description:
Farhana Yamin is an internationally recognised environmental lawyer, climate change and development policy expert. She has advised leaders and ministers on UN climate negotiations for 30 years, representing small islands and developing countries and attending nearly every major climate summit since 1991. In addition to founding Track 0, she is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, a Director of Impatience, Senior Advisor to SYSTEMIQ, a FRSA and Visiting Professor, University of the Arts, London, and deputy chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum expert advisory group. She is currently the Coordinator of the Climate Justice & Just Transition Donor Collaborative Project – a project bringing together some of the world’s largest private philanthropies on an educational journey about how to tackle systemic inequalities through intersectional solutions. She was voted Number 2 on the 2020 BBC’s Power List with the judges describing her a “powerhouse of climate justice” and is active in numerous community-based initiatives and social justice movements. She is a columnist at Business Green and appears regularly in the media. She trained as an outdoor education leader and did a number of courses on nature connection, including how to support racialised minorities to access & enjoy green spaces.
Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is a grassroots campaigner in Lewisham raising awareness of asthma and the health problems that can be caused by air pollution, following the death of her 9-year old daughter, Ella Roberta, in 2013. Rosamund is now a leading light in the global fight against air pollution, a position recognised by the World Health Organisation, who made her a BreatheLife Ambassador. She set up The Ella Roberta Foundation which believes the Coroner’s recommendations issued after the landmark inquest into Ella’s death have the power to improve air quality for everyone, everywhere. The Foundation's work is to campaign for these guidelines to be followed by governments, councils, medical professionals and the general public, all over the world. She uses her experience and position to highlight the inequality of those affected by air pollution. She is a teacher, lecturer and researcher in psychology and an advocate of Clean Air. She has been awarded a CBE in public health in the Kings Honours list 2023, and is an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association and was named among You Magazine’s 21 Most Extraordinary Women of 2021, British Vogue’s 25 Extraordinary Women of 2021, The Times’ Green Power List 2021 and BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour Power List 2020.
Farhana and Rosamund will join SOAS’ Dr Thomas Tanner to discuss justice-based approaches to the climate crisis.
This event will be hybrid. Tickets are available to join us in-person or online.
Spotlight Session: Somers Town Living Centre
Time: 16:00-17:00
Description:
The St Pancras and Somers Town Living Centre is a commuity centre offering health and wellbeing services to the St Pancras and Somers Town Community, where local people help to co-design, deliver and use projects that tackle their own health, wellbeing, economic and social issues.
This session will delve into the impacts of heat extremes on a community local to SOAS, touching on the ways that climate shocks and stresses are linked to other pressures such as reductions in greenspace and air pollution.
This event will be hybrid. Tickets are available to join us in-person or online.
Networking Evening
Time: 17:30-20:00
Description:
Join us for an evening of networking, performances and an installation by climate justice creatives.
This event will be catered by local, family owned business Jerk Grill.
Day Two
Tuesday 18th July 2023
SOAS
Worldmaking Projects Showcase
Time: 10:15-11:15
Description:
This session will bring together the three projects incubated by Worldmaking Beyond SOAS to discuss the importance of g-local organising to address climate breakdown.
This discussion will be moderated by Lydia Ayame Hiraide.
Centre for Development, Environment and Policy x Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines
Mitzi Jonelle Tan is a full-time climate justice activist based in Metro Manila, Philippines. She is the convenor and international spokesperson of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP), the Fridays For Future (FFF) of the Philippines. She is also an organizer with FFF International and FFF MAPA (Most Affected Peoples and Areas) making sure that voices from the Global South are heard, amplified, and given space. A strong voice on anti-imperialism, anti-colonization, and the intersectionality of the climate crisis, she is committed to changing the system and building a world that prioritizes people and planet, not profit, through collective action.
May Project Gardens - HipHop Garden
For over 20 years, Ian Solomon-Kawall, aka KMT, has channelled his relentless passion for the environment and conservation into positive social change and awareness raising for a multitude of social issues. His methods are diverse and include the power of song, spoken word, the rhythms of Hip Hop, dance and permaculture.
He is Co-Founder of the award-winning CIC May Project Gardens which brings urban communities together, to address poverty, disempowerment and access to resources and influence. The project, based in the garden of his mum’s council house, provides practical, affordable and collective solutions for people to live sustainably and to disengage with power structures that don’t serve their interests.
Race & Health
Sonora English is a young researcher working on the intersection of climate change, health, and racial justice on the Climate Justice | Race & Health (raceandhealth.org). She also works on climate change and health policy with UCL Public Policy and has recently joined the UK Youth Climate Coalition as a community organiser. She holds an MSc in Medical Anthropology from the University of Oxford and a BA in Global Health and Social Medicine from King’s College London. Outside of her environmental justice work, Sonora works with Liberty Lines Project, a volunteer led organisation creating an educational comic book to equip children with information on county lines child criminal exploitation in the UK.
Find out more about the projects here.
This event will be hybrid. Tickets are available to join us in-person or online.
Spotlight Session: People’s Health Tribunal
Time: 11:30-12:30
Description:
Sharing outcomes of work on the collective health harms faced by the People of Africa, and the African diaspora due to extractivism and climate change.
This event will be hybrid. Tickets are available to join us in-person or online.
Open Space- Strategies for justice-centred approaches to climate organising
Time: 14:00-16:00
Description:
A broad and open invitation for participants to self-organise, discuss justice-centred approaches to climate breakdown, and to create strategies and intention to work together.
This space will be opened by a facilitator and the theme “radical collective imagination on strategies for justice-centred approaches to climate organising” will be announced.
Participants will be invited to set the agenda for this session by raising an issue, topic or question that they would like to explore during the session. We will then break off into smaller group sessions looking at the different topics, before we come together and share outcomes.
Principles for Open Space
Whoever comes are the right people: Since people can choose what sessions to attend there has to be to trust, that the people that come are the right people. Even if a session only has two participants these two people might be exactly the right people to meet at that time to do something great together.
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have: Open Space Technology events have an emerging character. No one can possibly predict, how things might unfold. Therefore, participants are invited to concentrate on the moment with an open mind.
Whenever it starts is the right time: Creativity moves on its own timeline independent of the meeting or event schedule. Therefore, participants should be attentive to when creativity arises. Whether that is as part of the group sessions or in one to one conversations at the lunch buffet.
When it is over, it is over: Getting the work done is more important than sticking to the schedule. When a group is in the perfect flow, then they can decide to continue their discussions. Or, if they finish their topic earlier, the can also close the session and do something else instead.
Closing: Dr Awino Okech
Time: 16:00-16:30
Description:
Dr Awino Okech Associate Director Equity and Accountability
This event will be hybrid. Tickets are available to join us in-person or online.
FAQs
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While we are happy to welcome individuals to every session of the panel, we are unable to offer a single conference ticket for both dates. To attend every session, you’ll need to book tickets for each event separately.
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We are making all events accessible virtually as all events have been designed with a hybrid approach.
Near the time of the event you have registered for, you will be sent joining information via our ticketing platform, Eventbrite. Please do not share this information with others, as it is unique to you.
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The specific location for each event will be sent to you via our ticketing platform, Eventbrite, near the time of the session.
We will arrange for signage in the SOAS buildings to direct you if you are not familiar with our campus, and you can find SOAS campus maps on our website.
Please make sure to either have your booking confirmation on a digital device or printed out for the conference team to check to permit you entrance to the venue.
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We are planning this conference responsibly, and will review any relevant UK Government and internal guidance in the days before the event. We will make sure to contact all registered in-person attendees with any information necessary ahead of the conference.
We may ask you to wear masks inside SOAS buildings, and hand sanitiser will be provided at the entrance to buildings and event rooms.
As ever, if you are displaying any COVID-19 symptoms or are feeling unwell, please do not attend and risk passing any illness on to other attendees. If you do feel unwell, please contact the conference team and request the links for virtual attendance instead of in-person attendance.
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If you have any problems booking tickets or using Eventbrite, please contact the conference team.
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We are aiming to record each panel event for the aim of preserving information. Any links to recordings will be made available on the relevant project pages after the conference.