About the project
In a world with rising sea levels, desertification, droughts, crop failure, floods and extreme weather events, we will need normative criteria to solve the conflicts of interest that will arise regarding the use of land and natural resources.
Climate change will disrupt current political, societal and economic paradigms.
- How should we approach a fair territorial arrangement for countries that will partially or completely disappear due to sea level rise or whose main productive activities, like farming, will be lost due to changed weather patterns?
- How will we consider locals and migrants in a world where climate refugees are estimated to reach up to one billion by 2050?
- How should Global Systemic Resources like rainforests be governed to guarantee their maintenance?
Three transversal themes
The project "Dynamic Territory" (DynamiTE) conceptualises territory as dynamic, and integrates environmental studies, geography and international law into political philosophy, to examine three transversal themes:
- People in flux
- Distribution of land and resource use
- Governance of Global Systemic Resources
The themes will be examined through five work packages (pdf).
Purpose
DynamiTE aims to provide normative criteria to solve conflicts of interest around land and natural resources. The project will develop a novel framework for territory on a global scale, and reassess the traditional rights and duties associated with the ownership of land and natural resources.
While current normative theories of territory rely on the stability and predictability of the climate, geography and demographics, DynamiTE theorises territory amidst instability and unpredictability.
While current theories rely on certain normative assumptions, e.g., that property rights over land and natural resources secure justice, DynamiTE questions their adequacy now and in the future.
