Envisioning a Just Transition from the South: Latin America's Ecosocial Pact

April 25, 2023

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In June 2020, Latin American activists came together to form the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact of the South. One of them was Maristella Svampa. With members from a dozen countries across the region, the collective aims to advance the building of a socio-ecological just transition that prioritizes care for all life.

This event brings together leading Latin American thinkers to discuss the urgent work of the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact and its proposals for responding to the climate emergency with a view from the South. Highlighting how colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism shape North-South geopolitical relations, Argentine sociologist and activist Maristella Svampa will discuss the Pact’s goals of unmasking the destructive “false solutions” to the climate crisis promoted by states and corporations while deepening our understandings of the dispossession of Latin America. In dialogue with Colombian human rights and environmental law scholar César Rodríguez Gavarito, Maristella Svampa will guide us in shifting the conversation around just transitions away from the Global North to center the cutting-edge proposals and thinking emerging from Latin America.

Tuesday, April 25, 6:00pm-8:00pm ET / 3:00pm-5:00pm PT

This is a hybrid in-person and virtual event with English interpretation available via Zoom. In person the conversation will be in Spanish. Register for Zoom.

Location: Great Room, 19 University Place, New York City
Registar to attend in person. 

Read Maristella Svampa's new NACLA article, "Hacia una agenda socioambiental para Sudamérica."


Maristella Svampa lives in Buenos Aires and is a Senior Researcher at Conicet and Full Professor at the National University of La Plata. She has received several awards and recognitions, among which the National Prize for Sociological Essay (2018). She is the coordinator of the Group of Critical and Interdisciplinary Studies on the Energy Problem, and since 2011, a member of the Permanent Group of Alternatives to Development. In 2022 she was at the University of Cambridge as Simon Bolivar Visiting Chair and is now the Hans Speier Professor (Spring 2023) at the New School of Social Research in New York City. She is a member of the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact of the South.

César Rodríguez-Garavito is Professor of Clinical Law and Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. He is the founding director of the Earth Rights Advocacy Clinic and the More Than Human Rights (MOTH) project at NYU Law. A lawyer and sociologist by training, he has published widely on global governance, international human rights, climate litigation, Indigenous rights, and socio-environmental conflicts. His latest edited volume is Litigating the Climate Emergency: How Courts, Human Rights, and Legal Mobilization Can Bolster Climate Action (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022).


En junio de 2020, activistas latinoamericanos se unieron para formar el Pacto Ecosocial e Intercultural del Sur. Entre ellxs estaba Maristella Svampa. Con miembros en una docena de países de la región, el colectivo tiene como objetivo avanzar en la construcción de una transición justa socioambiental junto al cuidado de la vida.

Este evento reúne a dos destacados pensadores latinoamericanos para discutir el trabajo urgente del Pacto Ecosocial e Intercultural y sus propuestas desde el Sur para enfrentar la emergencia climática. Destacando las maneras en las cuales el colonialismo, el capitalismo y el imperialismo dan forma a las relaciones geopolíticas Norte-Sur, la socióloga y activista argentina Maristella Svampa discutirá los objetivos del Pacto para desenmascarar las destructivas "falsas soluciones" a la crisis climática promovidas por los estados y las empresas, y profundizar como se entiende el despojo de América Latina. En diálogo con el académico colombiano de derechos humanos y derecho ambiental César Rodríguez Gavarito, Maristella Svampa nos guiará a pensar las transiciones justas no solo desde el Norte sino más bien centrar las propuestas y el pensamiento que están surgiendo desde América Latina.

El martes 25 de abril 2023, 18:00-20:00 ET hora NY

Este es un evento hybrido presencial y virtual con interpretación simultanea al inglés por Zoom. En persona, la conversación se desarrollará en español. Registrarse para el Zoom

Dirección: Great Room, 19 University Place, New York City
Registarse para asistir al evento presencial. 

Lee el nuevo artículo de Maristella Svampa en NACLA , "Hacia una agenda socioambiental para Sudamérica".