Conveners: Sarah Beringer (German Historical Institute Washington D.C.), Benjamin Beuerle (German Historical Institute Moscow), Sonja Ganseforth (German Institute for Japanese Studies), Yufei Zhou (German Institute for Japanese Studies) in collaboration with the Max Weber Foundation Research Group at the National University of Singapore and the Max Weber Foundation China Branch Office in Beijing
Our conference will focus on the Pacific region, which over the last decades has turned into a powerhouse of the world economy. The ever increasing hunger of Pacific Rim countries like China, the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, and Mexico for natural resources to fuel this growth vastly affects mankind´s chances of finding sustainable modes of living on this planet and of mitigating climate change to levels defined as bearable according to the Paris Agreement.
The present interdisciplinary conference seeks to explore the historical development of attitudes towards climate change and environmental degradation within various Pacific Rim countries, as well as interactions between their climate, energy, and environmental policies. In which instances have the issues appeared on the agenda of political decision makers both on national and regional levels? To what extent have there been transfers and/or tensions between the countries of the Pacific region regarding the knowledge about these interrelated concerns and ways of handling them? What kinds of transnational cooperation and conflicts have taken place between Pacific Rim countries in the realm of energy policy and environmental preservation and to what extent have they been related to attempts to mitigate climate change?