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PODCAST Ep 13: Climate politics, carbon offsets and green minerals

What is the relationship between climate change and agrarian struggles? As world leaders, and fossil fuel lobbyists, convene for climate negotiations at COP28 (the Conference of the Parties) in Dubai, we talk with Kirtana Chandrasekaran from Friends of the Earth International (India/Scotland) and Emilinah Namaganda of Utrecht University (Uganda/Netherlands) about their work on the political economy of global climate responses.…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
December 7, 2023
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Agrarian scholars tackle climate politics in new (free) book

Agrarian scholars tackle climate politics in new (free) book As world leaders converge for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the dominant narrative is focused on technical solutions to climate change. Amidst these discussions, centered on offset markets, carbon capture, and alternative energy technologies, a crucial element remains conspicuously absent: the rural and agrarian dimensions of the climate…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
December 4, 2023
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Global Agrarian Studies Conference – Blog

PLAAS makes a mark at the Global Agrarian Studies Conference In a recent gathering celebrating half a century of the Journal of Peasant Studies (JPS), scholars and activists converged in the heart of Beijing. UWC’s Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) was right there at the helm. The International Conference on Critical Agrarian Studies in the 21st Century,…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
November 13, 2023
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PODCAST Ep 11: Land, labour migration and pathways of change in rural China

In one of the biggest rural transformations in world history, China’s land reforms through the twentieth century involved first the redistribution of farmland, then farming cooperatives, and collectivisation of land under the commune system. In this episode, we speak with Prof. Yan Hairong, a scholar on China’s rural transformations. She explains how, in the decades after the revolution, initial freedoms…
PLAAS
October 19, 2023
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PLAAS ACADEMIC SEMINAR – Race, water and precision technologies in Global Production Network of Citrus in Western Cape

The main component of water reforms in South Africa, redressing the racial injustice of the past in existing and all new future water allocations, has failed to materialise. Ramsha will argue that the emergence of a strong Global Production Network (GPN) of citrus export at the time of rolling out of the water reforms has, and continues to have, contributed…
PLAAS
October 18, 2023
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Rural Women and Climate Justice: A call to action in EMS Faculty

Professor Ruth Hall and Professor Moenieba Isaacs, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) In a world gripped by the urgency of climate change, the voices of rural women often remain unheard. On August 23, 2023, we convened a public webinar hosted by our Economic and Management Sciences Faculty, bringing together a panel of experts to shed light on…
PLAAS
August 31, 2023
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The Land and its People

Recently I have had the opportunity to present my PLAAS Working Paper, entitled ‘The Land and Its People:  The South African Land Question’ at a series of seminars: once at PLAAS (the session was recorded — you can see a video of it here) and once at the Wits Independent Seminar in the Humanities at the Wits Institute for Social…
PLAAS
August 31, 2023
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ACADEMIC SEMINAR – Transforming Mexican Coffee Policies: A Closer Look at President López Obrador’s Impact

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s tenure as president of Mexico has marked a significant departure from past administrations, including in the context of the coffee industry. This was the topic of an academic seminar delivered on 22 August 2023 by Claudia Oviedo Rodriguez, a Ph.D. student at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Hosted by the Institute of Poverty, Land and…
PLAAS
August 25, 2023
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PLAAS ACADEMIC SEMINAR – The Promised transformation: Mexican coffee policies during the administration of President Lopez Obrador

Abstract This thesis analyses Mexican coffee policies during the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). It builds on approaches of state theories, agrarian political economy, and global value chain studies, and contributes to debates regarding the role of the state in small farmers’ livelihoods. The thesis is based on a case study analysing the implementation of rural policies…
PLAAS
August 11, 2023