Faculty/Staff Daily Digest

Prakash Kashwan, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Co-Director of the Research Program on Economic and Social Rights, Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut

Confronting Issues of (In)Justice in Environmental and Resource Governance

Check the website for the most up-to-date information and instructions on how to join the online lecture: https://marinesciences.uconn.edu/lectures/

Followed by a panel discussion with:

Syma Ebbin, Ph.D., Research Coordinator, Connecticut Sea Grant College Program &

Melva Treviño Peña, Ph.D., Department of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island

The United States is having a long-overdue national reckoning with racism. From criminal justice to pro sports to pop culture, Americans increasingly are recognizing how racist ideas have influenced virtually every sphere of life in this country. This includes the environmental movement. Correcting this legacy can happen only by radically transforming its exclusionary approach.

Some academics and activists have long argued that the recognition of and respect for the rights of indigenous and other local population can be a strong defense against environmental degradation. Others point to the rampant inequalities at the state and local levels. Dr. Kashwan’s lecture engages with this central problem of how inequality and injustice at multiple levels interfere with the processes and institutions of environmental governance at national and local levels.

A panel discussion following the presentation will start the discussion of justice in environmental conservation and the management of resources by bringing in the perspective of two people who have examined the relationship between fishing and Indigenous and underserved populations: Dr. Syma Ebbin and Dr. Melva Treviño-Peña.