As people and ecosystems confront escalating environmental challenges, there is a growing recognition of local stakeholders' pivotal role in decision-making processes. What is the interplay between environmental democracy and the pursuit of green transitions efforts worldwide? How do citizen-led reforms in democracy take place?

This panel discussion will explore how local institutional mechanisms and political mobilizations shape green transitions. It will host two personalities, Pauline Plagnat and Trilochan Sastry, who have been acting for green transitions in several capacities, as scientists and scholars but also as elected representatives or founders of civil society organisations. They will discuss their experience and the innovations that they have been part of in India, France and Switzerland.

Speakers:

• Pauline Plagnat-Cantoreggi, Senior Lecturer, University of Geneva and Mayor of Machilly, Vice president of the community of communes of Annemasse Agglo, France
• Trilochan Sastry, Professor, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and chairman of the Association for Democratic Reforms, India

Moderator:

• Christine Lutringer, Executive Director and Senior Researcher at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy, Geneva Graduate Institute 

As space to attend the event in person is limited, places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please note that your place is only secured once you have received our confirmation email.

This is the public event of the conference “Local environmental democracy and green transitions: Mapping institutional mechanisms and political mobilisations” organised with the support of the Swiss Leading House for South Asia and Iranand in collaboration with the research project “Youth Climate Activism and Local Institutions: Reframing Democratic Spaces at a Time of Polarisation”.

Pauline Plagnat-Cantoreggi is a senior lecturer at the Environmental Sciences Institute, University of Geneva. Her research and teaching focuses are: development and environmental issues (South East Asia sustainable development issues), Interdisciplinarity in environmental sciences, environmental governance and public policies, environmental economics and ecological economics. Since 2020, Pauline Plagnat is also the mayor of a village and Vice president of the community of communes of Annemasse Agglo in charge of energetic transition and participative democracy.

Trilochan Sastry is Professor at the Centre for Public Policy of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He pursued a BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Delhi, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. He is the founder and chairman of the Association for Democratic Reforms, which has been working on electoral and political reforms for over 25 years and won several Public Interest Litigations in the Supreme Court. Trilochan Sastry also founded the Centre for Collective Development, promoting cooperatives for small farmers in dry land areas, and Farmveda, a social venture benefiting farmers.¨

This is the public event of the conference “Local environmental democracy and green transitions: Mapping institutional mechanisms and political mobilisations” organised with the support of the Leading House South Asia and Iran, Zurich University of Applied Sciences and in collaboration with the research project “Youth Climate Activism and Local Institutions: Reframing Democratic Spaces at a Time of Polarisation”.