Conference Program

This paper explores the environmental and socio-economic impacts of large-scale and illegal mining in Ghana within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It uses Holden et al.’s (2016) ethical model of sustainable development. While SDG 17 promotes global partnerships for progress, Ghana’s experience shows how unequal power dynamics, weak regulations, and opaque corporate practices hinder international cooperation. Multinational mining companies contribute to national revenue but cause deforestation, water pollution, community displacement, and long-term health risks. This paper argues that these dynamics reveal critical crossroads in contemporary internationalism, where development partnerships often perpetuate structural inequalities and ecological harm. Ghana’s case highlights the urgent need for resilient global development pathways grounded in ethical responsibility, environmental limits, and inclusive governance. Strengthening institutional accountability, enforcing anti-corruption measures, and establishing binding international agreements are essential strategies for aligning global economic activity with sustainable and equitable outcomes.

Communities in areas affected by climate change and insecurity live on multiple frontlines, as armed conflict and violence increases the fragility of institutions and essential services, imperative for people’s capacity to build resilience to climate shocks. The statistics are staggering – almost 60% of the 20 most vulnerable countries to climate change are areas affected by armed conflict (ICRC, 2020). Yet, the limited amount of research on the climate-conflict nexus currently hampers global climate governance and policy.

In this paper that is a part of my PhD research, through a comparative case study of the different conflict-climate patterns in Nigeria, I examine how the relationship between insecurity and climate change is understood, and how complex power relations in society contribute to the current knowledge construction of the climate-insecurity nexus. I question who is considered a knowledge contributor, whose experience counts, who is left out, and why is that important in understanding the climate-insecurity nexus on a policy level?

This paper argues that the climate-insecurity policy should be human-centric, built on inputs form communities on the ground, and practitioners faced by these challenges, where the response to the climate-insecurity dilemma would prioritize responding to the needs of all humans regardless of borders, military alliances, and geopolitical objectives.

Dans les régions arides du Sahel, les communautés locales développent depuis longtemps des stratégies endogènes de gestion de l’eau fondées sur des savoirs traditionnels et des mécanismes de solidarité. Cette communication analyse les pratiques communautaires de gestion de l’eau dans plusieurs régions du Tchad, en s’appuyant sur une approche de recherche participative.

Les résultats montrent que ces pratiques contribuent de manière significative à la résilience des communautés face aux chocs climatiques, notamment en période de sécheresse et d’inondations. Cependant, elles demeurent insuffisamment reconnues et intégrées dans les politiques publiques et les programmes de développement.

La communication plaide pour une meilleure articulation entre savoirs locaux, recherche académique et action publique. Elle met en évidence le potentiel de la recherche communautaire comme outil de co-construction de solutions durables adaptées aux contextes sahéliens.

L’étude mobilise une méthodologie qualitative fondée sur des entretiens semi-directifs, des observations de terrain et l’analyse de documents institutionnels.

Prevailing paradigms of climate governance are largely centered around carbon metrics, emission targets, and market dynamics. Although these approaches bring encouraging outcomes, they risk narrowing the scope of climate accountability by discounting unquantifiable and imperceptible forms of socio-ecological harms, such as biodiversity loss and forced displacement, and adopting the reductionist framework of carbon units. This reduction points to a conceptual limitation: dominant theoretical frameworks look ill-equipped with unassailable normative algorithm which is capable enough to recognize and respond to harms that surpass the confines of carbon accounting. Addressing the above constraint necessitates invoking a normative position which prescribes responsible engagement under conditions of ecological interdependence and unanticipated consequences. The present paper develops a normative framework for climate accountability by drawing on the Jaina sapience. Central to the Jaina ethics is the sustained attentiveness to harm, articulated through the precepts of nonviolence (ahiṃsā) and interconnectedness of all sentient beings (parasparopagraho jīvānām). These principles identify accountability as an irrefutable mandate to minimize injury across human and non-human systems. When applied to climate governance, this orientation helps reveal harms that are often overlooked or accepted as unavoidable, such as slow violence and cumulative environmental degradation. The central contribution of this paper lies in establishing how reframing climate accountability around harm recognition and ontological interdependence enables pluralist and fairness-sensitive understanding of sustainability. Such a reorientation complements scientific and policy-based approaches while addressing ethical blind spots and aligning with pluriversal commitments that recognize diverse forms of life and conceptions of wellbeing.