From the global to the local and back again

From the global to the local and back again: putting local communities at the centre of our future.

The seminar will be hosted ‘in person’, at the University of Bristol, but also offered online, via zoom. See below for the venue details. The zoom link will be sent 5 days before the event for those wishing to access the event remotely.

Decisions about how land is managed for the provision of energy, food, shelter and timber are central to the current climate and nature emergencies. The globalisation of markets has driven those decisions away from the local and its residents. As a result, the values of the people with the strongest connection to place and the largest stake in the long-term health of the landscape have been marginalised. Can we trust the values of communities and not the values of the market to find a solution to the climate, nature, and the social emergencies we face?

In this IEI seminar, we will be hearing from Chris Blake, an activist and social entrepreneur who suggests that the displacement of land management decisions away from place has had disastrous consequences for both nature and communities. He has been exploring the rise of the New Commons in Wales where local communities are regaining control of land assets to increase the resilience of both nature and society. He will report from the Skyline project where communities in the South Wales Valleys are shaping the forest at a landscape scale to meet their needs and values and explores the ways in which a local community voice can be heard to shape an economically and environmentally sustainable future.

In response to Chris’ presentation, we will have two discussants, Joy Carey and Huw Thomas, who will reflect on the issues involved in the local and global dimensions when it comes to land management, production networks and related social and environmental challenges. The session will be chaired by Professor Martin Parker, lead for the Inclusive Economy Initiative at University of Bristol.