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15th International Research Conference - Strong sustainability

Conference
Bandeau web 15ème conférence de recherche VENG
© Jean Jean Factory
When
From Wednesday december 7 2022 to Friday december 9 2022
Where
Agence française de développement et Espace du Centenaire

This conference is part of a series of conferences organized by AFD on a biannual basis to address key development issues such as the commons, inequalities, and development financing. This year, it focuses on strong sustainability and is entitled "How sustainable are Net Zero development trajectories sustainable?"

The conference

When global crises in several areas and civil society mobilization for a just transition are multiplying, sustainability of development trajectories and the need for greater consistency of SDGs have risen to the forefront of many debates. Anchored in a context where economic issues often take precedence over longer-term environmental problems, these debates have contributed to bring the notion of strong sustainability - AFD's 15th International Research Conference flagship topic - back to the spotlight.

The conference’s multidisciplinary program is designed around three principles of strong sustainability: non-substitutability between capitals, multidimensionality, and the social construct.

The event comprises two academic days and one open discussion day: 7 plenary sessions and 13 parallel sessions will combine theoretical insights, testimonies, and recommendations for the public and private sectors to address better political, environmental, economic, and social challenges in the field of development.



How to attend the conference?

This year, the event will be held in a hybrid format, with the possibility of attending the conference either in the AFD Nelson Mandela Auditorium at the Mistral (December 7th and 8th) and the Espace du Centenaire (December 9th) or from the dedicated digital platform. It will be composed of two academic days - fed by a call for papers - and an open discussion day.

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To go further: 

Find the detailed conference programme

A strong sustainability approach to development trajectories

Find the concept note

AN ECLECTIC PROGRAM AT THE CROSSROADS OF SEVERAL DISCIPLINES



The conference program is structured around the three guiding principles of strong sustainability proposed by AFD to guide development trajectories’ construction. The first principle recognizes the non-substitutability between different types of capital (economic, social, and natural). Due to the irreversible nature of the "critical" components of natural capital, the latter is considered as non-interchangeable and unique in the way it contributes to the well-being and the possibility of life on Earth. In this frame, economic and social spheres - themselves interdependent via the knowledge or institutions - can no longer exist separately from the environment. Strong sustainability approach considers the need to respect social floors, recognizes planetary resources finiteness of the constraints that these limits pose to economic growth. Its approach is holistic and based on scientific analyses from several disciplines (principle 2). As a result of multi-scale deliberations, once the stakeholders involved have prioritized the scientific findings, a social construct describing a desirable sustainable state reconciling economic, social and environmental objectives can emerge (principle 3). Based on these principles, the conference is organized as follows.

TWO ACADEMIC DAYS TO RETHINK SUSTAINABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT

4 plenary sessions and 13 parallel sessions will punctuate the academic days. During the first session, economists and climatologists will be questioned on the interplay between their disciplines, the notion of climate tipping points, and planetary limits, which provides a means of monitoring the environmental state of the Earth, through nine interconnected thresholds, six of which have already been exceeded.



After revisiting the concept of sustainability through integrated biophysical approaches, a Senegalese philosopher, a German sociologist, and a Nepalese ethnographer will seek to question, from an ontological, biophysical and socio-economic perspective, the posture of "development within limits" and the notion of post-development.



In the following plenary session, economists from South Africa, philosophers, and engineers will propose re-reading sustainability trajectories through structural changes. Then, a final panel of experts will discuss the social dimensions of ecological transitions and the notion of a social construct built around a “good state” reconciling environmental, social, and economic knowledge.



During the parallel sessions, researchers will present 39 academic papers. Each document will contain recommendations for action on various themes such as energy transition, climate damage, biodiversity constraints, transition risks, governance, and ecological planning.



AN OPEN DISCUSSION DAY: TOWARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRONG SUSTAINABILITY TRAJECTORIES?

This day will combine academic insights, interventions by policymakers, and testimonies from civil society around methodological issues of trajectories construction, public policy dialogue, but also financial instruments to carry strong sustainability trajectories.

 

Thus, this multidisciplinary conference objective is twofold: developing concrete recommendations for the public and private sectors, but also generating knowledge related to strong sustainability.

Our speakers

  • Souleymane BACHIR DIAGNE

    Philosopher and Professor of philosophy and French, Columbia University, USA

     
  • Carl BERNADAC

    Deputy Director of Innovation, Strategy and Research, French Agency for Development, France

     
  • Reinette Oonsie BIGGS

    Co-director, Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST), Stellenbosch University, South Africa & South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Social-Ecological Systems & Resilience, South Africa

     
  • Bruno BOIDIN

    Professor of economics, specialist in sustainable development and development economics, Centre Lillois d’études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques (CLERSE), France

     
  • Laura CARVALHO

    Director of Research Center on Macroeconomics of Inequality (Made), and Associate Professor of Economics, University of São Paulo, Brésil

     
  • Fatima DENTON

    Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), Ghana

     
  • Hélène DJOUFELKIT

    Director of the Economic Diagnostics and Public Policy Department, French Agency for Development, France

     
  • Ambroise FAYOLLE

    Vice-president of the European Investment Bank, Luxembourg

     
  • Marc FLEURBAEY

    Research Director, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), France

     
  • Antoine GODIN

    Head of the GEMMES macroeconomic modelling Unit at the Economic Diagnostics and Public Policy Department, French Agency for Development, France

     
  • Sylvie GOULARD

    Second Deputy Governor of Banque de France and former Minister of Defense in France

     
  • Diego GUEVARA (TBC)

    General Vice-minister at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, Colombia

     
  • Céline GUIVARCH

    Research Director, International Research Center for Environment and Development (CIRED), Ecole des Ponts Paris Tech, France

     
  • Stephane HALLEGATE

    Economist and Senior Advisor on Climate Change, World Bank, USA

     
  • Tim LENTON

    Professor of Climate Change and Earth System Science, University of Exeter, UK

     
  • Aurore MATHIEU

    International Policy Manager, Climate Action Network (RAC), France

     
  • Cheikh MBOW

    General Director, Ecological Monitoring Centre (CSE), Senegal

     
  • Pamela MCELWEE

    Professor in the Department of Human Ecology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, USA

     
  • Thomas MELONIO

    Executive Director of Innovation, Strategy, and Research, French Agency for Development, France

     
  • Helen MOUNTFORD

    President and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation, USA

     
  • Lauriane MOUYSSET

    CNRS Researcher, Centre International de Recherche pour l'Environnement et le Développement (CIRED), France

     
  • Luiz Awazu PEREIRA DA SILVA

    Deputy General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, Switzerland

     
  • Antonin POTTIER

    Associate Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Researcher at Centre International de Recherche pour l'Environnement et le Développement (CIRED)

     
  • Rémy RIOUX

    Director General of AFD, French Agency for Development, France

     
  • Alex TAYLOR

    French-British journalist

     
  • Fiona TREGENNA

    Professor of Economics and South African Research Chair in Industrial Development, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

     
  • Sébastien TREYER

    Executive Director, Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI), France

     
  • Mathis WACKERNAGEL

    Founder and President, Global Footprint Network, USA

     
  • Pearly WONG

    Ethnographer and Doctoral Candidate, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA

     
  • Chrysoula ZACHAROPOULOU (TBC)

    Secretary of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, France

     
  • Aram ZIAI

    Chair of Development and Postcolonial Studies, Executive Director of Global Partnership Network, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kassel, Germany

ACADEMIC DAYS

RECOMMENDATIONS

INTRODUCTORY SESSION

PLENARY SESSION: INTEGRATED BIOPHYSICAL APPROACH

PLENARY SESSION: HOW AND WHY CHALLENGING THE NOTION OF DEVELOPMENT FROM AN ONTOLOGICAL, ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL APPROACH?

PLENARY SESSION: STRUCTURAL CHANGES AND PUBLIC POLICIES



PLENARY SESSION: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TRAJECTORIES



OPEN DISCUSSION DAY

PLENARY SESSION: “HOW CAN WE CONSTRUCT STRONG SUSTAINABILITY TRAJECTORIES?”

PLENARY SESSION: “HOW CAN STRONG SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH INFORM POLICY-MAKING?”



PLENARY SESSION: WHAT ROLE FOR FINANCE AND WHICH FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS SHOULD BE USED TO SUPPORT STRONG SUSTAINABILITY TRAJECTORIES?

Watch all the replays on our YouTube playlist