The Justice Gap in Global Forest Governance

Dr. Kimberly Suiseeya, Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Political Science, Environmental Policy and Culture Program at Northwestern University, will speak on the topic of her book, The Justice Gap in Global Forest Governance.  Laos, a land-locked country in Southeast Asia, is exceptionally diverse—in its landscape, biodiversity, and peoples. A territory that is 70% mountainous, many of its seven million people live in or adjacent to forestlands. As the world confronts climate change and biodiversity loss, these forests have become important not only for the peoples that live within them, but also for the global community. Over the last fifty years, governments and non-governmental organizations have developed programs and policies, including international treaties like the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to protect the environment. At the same time, the past 50 years have shown us that these initiatives have continued to generate injustice for forest peoples around the globe, despite efforts to mitigate injustice. Suiseeya’s research explores how forest peoples in Laos experience such global initiatives to protect forests and biodiversity in order to better understand why injustice persists. This requires asking questions about what it means to experience justice and injustice, who decides what justice in forest conservation requires and for whom is justice necessary.

Kimberly Suiseeya is also Faculty Affiliate with the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research and the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy.  Trained as an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist, Suiseeya specializes in global environmental politics and political ecology.  Her book manuscript and the topic of her talk will explore the politics of justice and representation in global forest and climate governance and its impacts on forest dependent communities in Laos.  Suiseeya holds a PhD in Environment from Duke University, an MA in International Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and a BA in International Relations/Politics and German Studies from Scripps College.  She also has extensive experience as a practitioner, including stints in the Peace Corps, with the Sierra Club and IUCN, and on World Bank-funded projects. Her recent publications have appeared in Global Environmental Politics, Conservation and Society, Forests, Environmental Politics, and Global Environmental Change.

Covid safety: let us all keep each other safe!

While we are meeting in person, we need to mutually trust that we will respect the risks to the most vulnerable and hold each other’s well-being as a shared priority. As such, we will be constantly monitoring public health recommendations. In accordance with Cook County Department of Health and local guidelines, we will be practicing the following safety protocols:

• Socially distant seating
• Masks required and hand sanitizer available
• Individually wrapped food