The open course - ULB, 25 February 2011
Sciences and arts responding together to the water and biodiversity emergency
Who says water, says food, says health, says healthy and biodiverse ecosystems, says prosperous communities inland and on the coast. Extinction rates of species are currently estimated at 1000 times natural average levels. For freshwater fish, man-made changes in natural ecosystems are the most important drivers of extinction.
In the sea it is overfishing, though until a few decades ago, most people believed that the vastness of the oceans were inexhaustible. But climate change and pollution are becoming more important too.
According to Birdlife International (2010) 1,227 bird species, constituting 12.4 per cent of the 9,865 different bird species in the world are under threat of extinction.
Many scientific results are published and available, but that does not mean that they automatically lead to action. How can citizens get a better sense of research results? What can artists do that scientists can not? How to develop a shared understanding that enables action?
In the open course of Prof. Jacques van Helden, the Mundus maris team will perform a multi-actor intervention to address the problems from different angles and engage the public not only in sharing the diagnosis of the emergency situation, but also in what can be done to remedy it. The team is composed of:
Dr. Cornelia E. Nauen, marine ecologist based in Brussels, Belgium
Prof. Stella Williams, agricultural economist, Nigeria
Carla Zickfeld, artist and aesthetic operator living in Italy
Dr. Aliou Sall, socio-anthropologist, Senegal
The open course was co-organised with SEDIF from 8h to 10h in the Auditorium UD2.218A, Solbosch Campus, Building U, Entry D, 2nd floor. Click here for the map.
Prof. Jacques van Helden briefly introduced the special session of his course leaving the floor to Luz Garcia Ocampo of SEDIF for opening remarks about the history, the objectives and thrust of this year's Programme of Campus Plein Sud.
The 2011 focus on water is inspired by recently renewed efforts to achieve the recognition of the right to water as a fundamental human right in the context of the United Nations. For the last two weeks of February and March 2011 respectively numerous debates, open courses and other events enable critical reflection and international solidarity activities.
Cornelia E. Nauen explained that the four members of the Mundus maris team each represented a particular professional perspective and experience. Bringing these together enabled a richer analysis of the current crisis. The goal was to develop a shared understanding and perception to eventually enable more effective action.
She then started the open course proper with a short overview of key parameters of the global water balance and the quantities of water required for the production of different types of food stuffs.
The definition of biological diversity and the predominant pressures leading to extinction rates estimated at 1000 times the historical background completed the overview.
Stella Williams then connected these to the more than 30 years of her work in rural and artisanal fishing communities in West Africa and the political economy of differentiated access to resources and the particular dependence of the financially poorer parts of the population on functioning ecosystems in the commons.
She noted that even though much research was published the gap from knowledge to action remained large.
Carla Zickfeld picked up the challenge explaining how socially engaged aesthetical operators like herself were able to touch people at a different level. This approach entails multiple use of all types of media for a verification of reality in a participatory and interactive way. She illustrated this with the example of an international cultural project - Civitella d'Agliano - she had led for many years and which had been instrumental in reviving the medieval town centre and its socio-economic life.
Aliou Sall discussed which approach a socio-anthropologist would chose against social exclusion and for the sustainability of a society. He would also start with the realities of the natural environment and ask how his instruments could become a catalyser for change? From his work in coastal fishing villages along the West African coast he shared how people organise around shared challenges.
At the end of an intensive session, several students voiced questions about labelling schemes like the Marine Stewardship Council which entailed costly certification processes often out of reach of small producers in developing countries. Consumers willing to make responsible choices but unsure whether to trust the schemes or not face considerable dilemmas. The discussion went on in smaller groups at the end of the course.
The powerpoint is available here (in French).