GLOBAL SOCIOTECHNICAL TRANSFORMATIONS, WIDENING ASYMMETRIES AND UNSUSTAINABLE PRODUCTIVE TRAJECTORIES: LATIN AMERICA IN THE ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION
This symposium proposes a discussion of the implications of the problematic energy — ecological transition in Latin America, analyzing how it is incorporated into the economic-productive, scientific-technological and public-policy spheres, paying special attention to the role of institutions and social movements in relation to these processes, and, based on this, assessing whether progress is being made along pathways toward sustainability.
A review of the global context, of the threats and risks arising from the intensification of geopolitical conflicts, economic imbalances, accelerated consumption of resources and energy, and increasing environmental degradation, confirms that we are at a planetary inflection point. Meanwhile, the disruptive technological transformations under way do not contribute — per se — to steering development along pathways toward sustainability; rather, in no few cases, they tend to worsen the problems, because their foundations rest on the “common sense” and institutional structures of the techno-economic paradigm that is intensive in the use of materials and energy, consolidated in the logic of continuous growth.
LATAM research communities are invited to take part in the discussion with multidirectional approaches, with an interest in identifying trends in economic-productive structures, the incorporation of national value, technological absorption and innovation capacities, and the resulting socio-environmental impacts. In this regard, contributions analyzing the role of institutions and public policies, especially in industrial and environmental regulation matters, are also important. Information obtained from an ongoing project shows how weak institutions and processes of deinstitutionalization allow for an increase in socio-environmental degradation. Moreover, the emergence of an institutional framework consubstantial with reprimarization and extractivism can even be observed (Mercado, A. Meyer, J B., 2024).
Closely related to the foregoing, it is of interest to learn about and discuss the existing scientific-technological capacities and|or those being developed to address the disruptions generated by the overwhelming development of convergent technologies and the socio-environmental problems — impacts — that appear to be intensifying due to the region’s asymmetric insertion into the global economic-productive structure. Various indicators suggest a worrying widening of the scientific-technological gap. Thus, beyond knowing the magnitude of the efforts (e.g., investment, critical mass, scientific productivity, etc.), it is essential to understand the orientations that research is taking and its dependence on the major research lines being developed in the core countries-regions, and to what extent it is oriented toward responding to local problems-needs.
Last but not least, it is essential to learn about the experiences of social movements and|or other social actors in the face of policies and productive projects that affect the environment and communities. What new forms of organization might be emerging in response to deinstitutionalization? Are interactions being established with other social actors, and are collaborative experiences being identified? Are new ways of addressing these problems and generating knowledge through a dialogue of knowledges emerging?
