Sino-European workshop on eco-cooperative theory and practice at ICTA-UAB
Last Saturday June, 18th a Sino-European workshop on eco-cooperative theory and practice took place at ICTA-UAB with the participation of researchers from the Peking University, ICTA-UAB and Universitat Ramon Llull (URL). The purpose was to promote an exchange of ideas on how alternatives of and to development are conceived and put into practice.
The researchers of the Peking University are working on a research project on 'New Type of Commune' (Weiming Commune) in northern China, whose main idea is that combines the private capital investment, eliminating poverty and improving the environment in the rural regions, raising many questions such as how to protect the economic interest of farmers and the local environment in managing such a commune. Interested for knowing better the discussion on cooperative theory in practice in Europe, they visited ICTA-UAB in their way to visit the federation of worker cooperatives at Mondragón (Basque Country) and other initiatives in Europe. In their presentations, Prof. Yang He, Prof. Bai Xueqiu, Prof. Huan Qingzhi, Dr. Huang Junli and Dr. Nie Zhihong provided information about the project of the Weiming Commune and the expectations it creates as a model of development based on bio-economic industries, the notion of eco-civilisation construction, and questions related to the rural land circulation system.
Researchers at ICTA-UAB (Prof. Joan Martínez Alier, Dr. Giacomo d’Alisa, Sam Bliss, Shao Qinglong, and Dr. Beatriz Rodríguez Labajos) and URL (Dr. Jaume Risquete) mostly focussed on ideas of alternatives to development. Their presentations included issues of environmental justice conflicts, the notion of degrowth and its connection with the definition of the commons, critical views of the ecomodernist vision, and quantitative analysis of the association between environmental pressures and diverse economic indicators were presented. This part of the workshop was complemented with information about how the imaginary of development has influenced and been challenged in Spain, and eco-socialist discussions in Catalonia.
For more details about the development of this workshop, please contact Beatriz Rodríguez (Beatriz.rodriguez@uab.cat).