UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Confronting the Triple Trap in the Mekong Region: The Pandemic, Economic Downturn, and Climate Crisis

This panel is convened by the Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University for the Seventh South-South Forum on Sustainability (SSFS7) hosted by Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

Thursday 16 July 2020, start from 14:00-16:00 GMT+7/Thailand Time

In this session, we will discuss how the ‘triple trap’ - the pandemic, economic downturn, and climate crisis – have affected communities across the Mekong region, and how these challenges have been responded to by them, as well as by civil society and state. We also examine the long-term implications of the triple trap, asking what transformations have already occurred and what could happen in the future.

Speakers:

• "The Implications of Covid 19's Disruption of Global Supply Chains for Southeast Asia" by Walden Bello, Focus on the Global South

• "Inequality, migration and Covid 19 in Thailand and the Mekong Region" by Naruemon Thabchumpon, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

• "The pandemic in Northeast Thailand and implications for communities and (post)development” by Kanokwan Manorom, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University

• "The impact of Covid 19 in rural Myanmar: Community, civil society, and state responses" by Nwet Kay Khine, Paung Ku, Myanmar

Discussant: Pianporn Deetes, International Rivers, Thailand

Moderator: Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

This panel will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom and is a public session of the SSFS7 conference. Registration is required on the link below:

ZOOM WEBINAR REGISTRATION

On the registration page, please choose 'No Registration Fee Required' and 'Invited Participant' and choose the ’16 July: Workshops on Venezuela, Mexico and Mekong Region‘ to receive the Zoom link for this session.

For more information about this conference, please visit the conference website here.

IN THE NEWS: Book Review 'Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River' from Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography

By Coleen Fox [Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography]

In the last chapter of Knowing the Salween River, Nang Shining, a Shan woman living and working near the site of a proposed dam in Myanmar, writes of the frustration that communities feel when they are not consulted about projects affecting their lives and livelihoods. She discusses her efforts to create networks of young people across borders and basins, which is part of an effort to bring more voices to the decision-making process in the pursuit of social justice and sustainable development. Nang Shining’s story captures well the tensions that characterize resource politics in the Salween—while powerful national and regional actors push development and exclude local communities from meaningful participation, those same communities, supported by academics and civil society, work tirelessly to have their concerns acknowledged.

Knowing the Salween River sheds light on exactly these sorts of dynamics, revealing the multiple ways that institutions, academics, communities, and civil society organizations research and understand the river basin.

***

Read the full review here.

Carl Middleton of CSDS is co-editor and co-author of this book (see here)

Get the book: Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River (Springer Open, 2019)

NEWS: Submission of the Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement to the UN High Level Panel on Internal Displacement

In 2017, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law initiated a regional thematic study on internal displacement in the context of disasters and climate change across Asia and the Pacific as part of its wider programme on human rights and environment. Focusing on law, policy and practice in ten countries, and collaborating with academic partners from China, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the study adopted an expressly human rightsbased approach grounded in the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Academics involved in the regional thematic study have formed the Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement, in whose name this submission is made. The following submission is based on insights gained from the study, including through consultations with international, regional and national actors. Some of the insights highlighted in this submission were also presented in various regional and national fora to validate them and gather feedback.

Center for Social Development Studies is part of the "Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement" and is a co-signatory of this submission. To read the Academic Submission, please visit the link here.

You can also visit the research project related to this submission, “Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response in Hat Yai”.

UPCOMING EVENT: "Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River"

Saturday, 7 September 2019, Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Kasem Utthayanin Building (อาคารเกษม อุทยานิน), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand (guide to the venue here)

Co-organized by Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) and Salween Studies Network

The Salween River, shared by China, Myanmar, and Thailand, is increasingly at the heart of pressing regional development debates. The basin supports the livelihoods of over 10 million people, and within it there is great socioeconomic, cultural and political diversity. The basin is witnessing intensifying dynamics of resource extraction, alongside large dam construction, conservation and development intervention, that is unfolding within a complex terrain of local, national and transnational governance. With a focus on the contested politics of water and associated resources in the Salween basin, in this seminar we will explore the possible futures of the Salween basin through the lens of: resource politics; politics of knowledge making; and reconciling knowledge across divides. The seminar will also launch the new book: “Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River”.

For more information about this seminar, please contact communications.csds@gmail.com.

For the most updated information, you can also visit the event’s landing page here.

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR: "Why Think Tanks and Civil Society Networks Matter: Towards a Creative Diplomacy Agenda" [29 January 2018]

Why Think Tanks and Civil Society Networks Matter

Towards a Creative Diplomacy Agenda:
Exploring New Approaches for Contemporary Transboundary Water Governance

Monday 29th January, 14:00-17:00 at the Saranitet Conference Room, 2nd floor, Main Auditorium, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Organized by: Chula Global Network (CGN), Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, and Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Chulalongkorn University

Asia has some of the world’s largest transboundary rivers, which are central to livelihoods, culture and economies. The need for cooperation along these rivers is more apparent than ever before as large hydropower dams, irrigation schemes and water diversions are promoted under regional economic development plans. Contestation over these plans and projects have occurred both between states sharing freshwater rivers, and various non-state actors including communities, civil society groups amongst others. Similarly, many countries of Asia share open seas that also require deepening cooperation. To ensure sustainable, inclusive and just sharing of transboundary waters requires a rethinking of existing practices and a critical deliberation of new concepts, research agendas, and approaches.

Knowledge among and between think tanks and civil society network is a crucial component of transboundary water governance. It is now widely recognized that addressing real-world complex water governance challenges requires the combination of a range of different types of knowledge, including academic, local, practical, and political knowledge. Whilst some knowledge producers are well-established and recognized, for example academic institutes, local communities, civil society groups and government agencies, other actors such as think tanks producing policy knowledge are relatively recent. How these forms of knowledge are combined and acted upon within policy and practice will be an important determinant of the outcomes of transboundary water governance.

In this seminar, representatives of academia, government, international organizations and think tanks will critically reflect on existing practices of transboundary water governance in Asia, and propose new concepts and approaches including on the role, strategies and possibilities for various forms of knowledge production.

Speakers:

• Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, Centre for Genocide Studies University of Dhaka
• Dr. John Dore, Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Australia
• Ganesh Pangare, Asia-Pacific Regional Director, International Water Association
• Dr. Sucharit Koonthanakulwong, UNESCO Chair on Water & Sustainable Development
• Asst. Prof. Dr. Carl Middleton, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
• Dr. Chariyaway Suntabutra, Former Ambassador of Thailand to Egypt, Kenya and Germany

For more information please contact Robert Irven (CSDS): csds.chulalongkorn@gmail.com

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR: "Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia” Panel and Book launch [18 December 2017]

 '“Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia" Panel Discussion and Book Launch

18 December 2017, 16:15-17:30 at the Auditorium on the 13th Floor of the Faculty of Political Science Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Please join the authors of the newly published book "Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia: A Political Ecology of Vulnerability, Migration and Environmental Change" for a panel discussion exploring the connections between flooding and migration in Southeast Asia. Four of the authors will present their case studies and policy recommendations, followed by commentary by Mr. Apichai Sunchindah and Ms. Sarah Koeltzow (Platform on Disaster Displacement). The panel aims to sensitize flood hazard policy agendas to the complexities of migration and mobility in Southeast Asia through exploring the relationship between migration, vulnerability, resilience and social justice.

The session will be moderated by book author and faculty member Asst. Prof. Dr. Naruemon Thabchumpon. Case study presenters are:

Philippines: Dr. Bernadette Resurreccion (SEI-Asia Center)
Laos: Dr. Albert Salamanca (SEI-Asia Center)
Thailand: Narumon Arunotai (CUSRI, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University)
Cambodia: Asst. Prof Dr. Carl Middleton (CSDS, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University) 

Please register for this event at https://tinyurl.com/ChulaEvent2017

For further information on the event or to make requests for interviews with the authors, please contact Robert Irven at csds.chulalongkorn@gmail.com

Helicopter survey of flooding in suburban Greater Bangkok, 2011 (Source: WikiCommons)

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR: "'The Outsiders Role' for Peace in the South" [6-7 December]

 "'The Outsiders Role' for Peace in the South"

6-7 December 2017 at the Alumni Meeting Room (Floor 12), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Workshop in collaboration with the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University

*Please note: The meeting will be conducted in Thai but English translation will be provided.

For a full translation of the event details in Thai, please download document here.

The seminar on “The Outsiders’ Role for Peace in the South” will be focusing on Peace and Security issues in the southern border provinces of Thailand. This seminar is a collaborative effort between Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University and Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University. It will explore the roles of outsiders such as academic, civil society, media and policy makers who are not living in the area on their contribution towards peace in the Southern border provinces of Thailand.

Activity Description

This seminar is a national-level activity to provide a platform knowledge exchanges among key stakeholders (academics, scholars, researchers- emerging and seasoned, students, governments, civil society and media) on the role of outsiders and peace processes and the issue of conflict in the Deep South of Thailand. These seminars are to present findings on national level issues, in Thai language, with an aim to reach out to relevant stakeholders.

The seminar divides into two parts. First part is Public Forum: Academics-Practitioners Exchange. This session will be conducted on the first day of seminar where scholars and practitioners who are involved in peacebuilding and peace process in Southern Thailand and other conflicts in the region exchange their lessons-learned and their research findings. This forum aims to generate analysis and discussion on roles and involvement of outsiders and people in wider public on peace process and peacebuilding in Deep South of Thailand through reflecting lessons from regions and in-country. It also includes presentation of studies on minority-majority coexistence or ongoing trends of Islamophobia as one of concerns that outsiders could be involved.

Second part is Multi-stakeholders Platform. This platform will bring together scholars and practitioners who are actively involved in Deep South conflict to discuss on networking and future collaboration for effective peacebuilding process. This session will build upon insights and ideas from the academics-practitioners session on the first day as resource to draw on practical steps.    

Schedule

Two- day national seminar on Outsiders’ Role for Peace in the South; tentative date is December 6-7, 2017 at Chulalongkorn University. The first day is allocated for academic sessions on “Outsiders’ Role in Peace Process in the South” and the second day will be multi-stakeholders dialogue on the issue in order to explore collaboration and recommendations of people from different sectors. Tentative schedule is below: