Symposium – Converging social and ecological objectives in international cooperation

Update: tickets for live participation have been closed. If you still want to join the live meeting in Brussels, please send an email to info@secores.org.

Humans and human societies are part of nature/the environment. We refer to this as ‘Social-Ecological Systems’. Social-ecological resilience means resilience in social-ecological systems, or systems where both nature and humans are considered. This symposium will focus on the following question: “How can international cooperation actors improve harmony, strengthen synergies and reduce tensions between ‘social’ and ‘ecological’ objectives in international cooperation programs?”. The 3 goals of the symposium are:

• (Why?) To explore the dynamic relationship between people and nature gaining insights into how people and nature are interconnected and sometimes in tension
• (How?) To help shape solutions identifying the main opportunities for consolidating the well-being of man and nature and their complementarity
• (What?) To drive meaningful impact in international cooperation reflecting on how these insights can shape policies and programs within Belgian international cooperation efforts

Content

• Keynote: finding the right balance between the ‘social’ and ‘ecological’ components is a matter of understanding the system where one works, and to select the key system components to work with. Therefore: what do we mean by social-ecological systems, what are their characteristics, how can we approach the social and ecological components of a system, and how can regenerative system thinking be a step forward of resilience thinking?
  Dr. Manuel Pacheco-Romero, Postdoctoral researcher at the Andalusian Centre for Global Change (ENGLOBA) – University of Almería, Spain; Visiting Scientist at the Social-Ecological Systems Institute – Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany
• Testimonies from SECORES members:
  • Via Don Bosco – Engagement of young people, future professionals in enhancing environment in the Andes
  • Uni4Coop – Linking social and environmental objectives in mangroves in Madagascar, Benin, Guinea and Senegal (including scientific research)
• Testimonies from other networks and platforms:
  • Irina Meeusen, Coordination Platform for Decent Work – How to reconciliate decent work and resilience to climate change by just transition
  • Suzy Serneels, Broederlijk Delen on behalf of Coalition Against Hunger – Agroecology as a framework for reconciling agriculture, nature and social aspects, with examples from the field
• A debate between presenters and participants will allow us to find inspiration to move on in how to improve harmony between human well-being and nature. The debate will be moderated by John Vandaele of MO* magazine.

Practical info

• Monday 26 May 2025 from 13.30 till 17.30 h CEST (UTC+2)
• Hybrid symposium
  • Live meeting at Mundo Madou, Avenue des Arts 7-8, 1210 Brussels
  • Online participation is possible; the link will be shared to registered participants
• Possibility to attend a lunch before the symposium for participants in the live meeting
• Language: English; translation will be foreseen for online participants (English-French and English-Spanish)
• Participation is free but registration is compulsory. Click on the appropriate ticket to register for the live or online meeting. Please register before 21/5/2025.