Land, Communities and the Ecological Crisis Seminar Series

This summer, we will be facilitating a seminar series that focuses on the issues of land, communities and the ecological crisis to help develop ideas and hear your views. These seminars will explore an understanding of the national context of land use and management in the UK, as well as local Scottish case studies that demonstrate how rethinking land management can empower local communities and deliver climate justice. We also appreciate that the UK is embedded in an international context in respect to land, due to its history as a colonial power, and its role in driving international demand for extracted resources. Our final seminar will explore extractive mining internationally and the relationship of the UK to international land injustice, and how policy changes at home can help communities abroad.

The first seminar is on Tuesday, July 28th at 7 pm.

Climate change and the ecological crisis: land use in the UK

This seminar will be led by a speaker from the Friends of the Earth who will address the question of what land use changes are necessary in the UK in order to deal with the threats to our environment. He will highlight the problems created by the fragmentation and despoliation of urban, suburban and rural land, which have been fuelled by hyper-mobility, urbanisation and poor land use practices.  He will examine how harmful agricultural and forestry practices have contributed to the degradation of the environment. This session will give us the ideas to help develop an effective strategy for change.

Sign up on eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/land-communities-and-the-ecological-crisis-tickets-113441797470

The third in the series is coming up on the 18th of August.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/x/land-communities-and-the-ecological-crisis-the-impact-of-mining-tickets-114856797774

This seminar will be led by speakers from the London Mining Network and their partners, including speakers from Yes to Life, No to Mines and the Anti-Coal Network. We will examine how global mining corporations devastate the environment and the health and well-being of local communities. We will also consider how this relates to the UK. Not only is mining still an issue in this country, for example through fracking, but the UK has effectively exported many of the problems mining brings to other countries. Communities in the global south have to deal with the ecological, health and social consequences of a brutal mining industry, many of these mining corporations being based in the UK.

This session will place our struggle for land rights firmly in the international context, facilitating a movement for land rights that challenges the colonial legacy and is based on solidarity.