The preliminary full conference programme is available now

The full programme is now available online with a mix of plenaries, semi-plenaries, innovative sessions, paper presentations and social events. We have invited a range of speakers from academia, policy-making and activism including our keynotes, Monika Griefahn, a former member of the German parliament and co-founder of Greenpeace Germany and Erik Olin Wright, described below. In addition, Stefan Mikaelsson, a Sami elder and former President of the Sami Parliament will contribute to the discussions with different experiences. In addition to the main programme, don’t miss out on the opportunities of the Early Career Researcher Workshop and the Earth System Governance Teaching Workshop.

In turbulent times, the collective contribution of the Earth System Governance community to the challenges of earth system governance is more urgent. The 2017 Lund Conference on Allocation & Access in a Warming and Increasingly Unequal World offers you new knowledge, sharing of ideas and strengthens collegiality within the Earth System Governance network.

Call for Papers

Key Dates
  • Deadline for paper abstracts: 20 March 2017 (extended deadline)
  • Notification of acceptance: 15 April 2017
  • Full papers due: 20 September 2017
  • Conference dates: 9-11 October 2017

The conference is part of the global series organized by the Earth System Governance Project. The first Earth System Governance conference was held in Amsterdam in December 2009, followed by Fort Collins (2011), Lund (2012), Tokyo (2013), Norwich (2014), Canberra (2015), and Nairobi (2016). The 2017 conference will take place in Lund, Sweden. The Lund Conference on Earth System Governance is hosted by Lund University and jointly organized by the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) and the Earth System Governance Project.

Conference Theme

The 2017 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance will address the overarching theme of ‘Allocation and Access in a Warming and Increasingly Unequal World’. This theme acknowledges the multiple crises faced across the world and the uneven distribution of their impacts. A recent report from Oxfam suggests that the richest 1% of the world’s population now has as much wealth as the rest of the other 99% combined. Similarly, climate change and the challenges of mitigation and adaptation are driving further inequalities across the world. In addition, climate change implies an unprecedented intergenerational dimension because of the long lags between emissions, on the one hand, and climate change impacts on the other. However, inequality is far more complex than simply wealth distribution and climate change impacts. Earth system governance must address the entire spectrum of environmental, social and political inequalities.

This leads to the fundamental questions of ‘who gets what, when, where and how’. Different disciplines refer to this challenge differently: lawyers speak of equity, economists of distribution, resource analysts of access, political scientists of fairness, and sociologists of social justice. In earth system governance research, we refer to this as the analytical problems of ‘allocation and access’. In this line of inquiry, we are particularly interested in outcomes, pathways and reallocation in governance. Given the clear impetus for a drastic change in earth system governance in the coming decades and the key challenges faced by many countries politically, socially and environmentally, matters of allocation and access will continue to be crucial questions in the coming decades.

Conference Streams

The conference theme ‘Allocation and Access in a Warming and Increasingly Unequal World’ will be addressed in five thematic streams:

  • Environmental justice in earth system governance
  • Conceptual understandings and progress
  • Science and activism
  • Theory and methodology
  • Earth system governance in turbulent times
Types of Proposals
Additional Information

Please note that while there is no limit on the number of submissions, individuals will only be permitted to present, at a maximum, 2 papers. The organizers are undertaking all efforts to secure travel support for participants who are based at institutions in developing countries. To the extent that travel funds are available, they will be disbursed on merit basis according to the relative ranking of the abstract. Acceptance of a paper for presentation does not guarantee travel support. Additional information and answers to frequently asked questions can be found on the conference website at earthsystemgovernance.org/lund2017

Conference Chair

Vasna Ramsar

Lund University Centre of Sustainability