Fifth Latin American Congress of Political Ecology

The academic community, social movements, and land defenders participate in Fifth Latin American Congress of Political Ecology – Political ecology and new horizons of rebellion: rooting knowledge, resistance and alternatives” at the Autonomous University of Mexico City (UACM) from December 4 to 6.

The Congress is convened by the Intercollegiate Research Group in Political Ecology of the UACM, Community Networks and Forms of the Political of the Postgraduate Program in Sociology of the Institute of Sciences and Humanities of the BUAP, Master's Program in Sustainable Societies of the UAM-X, Observatory of Socio-environmental Conflicts of the Ibero-American University of Mexico City, Editorial Bajo Tierra, Institute of Studies on the University of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, with the support of the Political Ecologies from the South/Abya-Yala Working Group of CLACSO, and involves a network of organizations, Latin American universities and social movements.

Organizing committee:
Aida Luz López, Autonomous University of Mexico City; Aleida Azamar, Metropolitan Autonomous University-Xochimilco, Mexico
Ana María Veintimilla, Institute of Ecological Studies of the Third World
Denisse Roca Servat, Institute of Regional Studies, University of Antioquia, Colombia
Felipe Milanez, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil
Lucrecia Wagner, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina
Martín Medina, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Lorena Navarro Mine, Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico
Raquel Neyra, National Agrarian University La Molina, Peru

More Information

For the past ten years, an extensive network of researchers, academics, activists and land defenders have been meeting at a series of Political Ecology congresses, with the aim of collectively thinking about the challenges of the present and the alternatives being built in different trenches in the face of the civilizational crisis we face.

Over the past decade, four congresses have been held: in Santiago, Chile (2014) with the theme “Problems and New Approaches to Political Ecology in Latin America: Post-Neoliberalism, Neo-Extractivism, and Public Policies”; San Pedro de Atacama (2016) under the title “Latin America Facing Extractivism and Extended Urbanization: Resistance, Indigeneity, and Popular Environmentalism”; Salvador de Bahia (2019) with the theme “Decolonial Insurgencies and Emancipatory Horizons: Political Ecology and Liberation”; and Quito (2022) with the theme “Political Ecology and Latin American Critical Thought: Roots, Trajectories, and Perspectives on the Future.” In 2024, they have taken on the challenge of holding the fifth edition of the congress in Mexico, with the hospitality of the Autonomous University of Mexico City.

Political ecology is a constantly evolving field of research, action, and reflection that draws on the thought and struggles of the peoples of the Earth, with particular emphasis on experiences emanating from our Abya Yala (the Americas). The expansion of extractive frontiers, the resurgence of authoritarianism, the extractivist nature of progressive movements, the incessant violence, and the increasing militarization, among other contemporary processes, deepen inequalities, racialize and feminize vulnerabilities, and continually undermine life-support systems. Furthermore, faced with the evidence of the environmental crisis, false solutions promoted by “green capitalism” emerge, leading to new forms of dispossession of our territories. In response, Latin American political ecology generates proposals for structural ecological transformation that are anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, anti-racist, and anti-patriarchal.

The central theme of the 5th Congress is “Political Ecology and New Horizons of Rebellion: Rooting Knowledge, Resistance, and Alternatives.” It seeks to generate debates, reflections, and a process of collective construction based on the conceptual proposals of political ecology and the diverse epistemologies and experiences of struggle of the participants regarding current socio-environmental conflicts.