Forum On Health, Environment And Development

First Conference on Health, Environment and Development in China will be held

November 5-7, 2009

Beijing

       The conference will be held in Room 2602 of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research in Beijing, which located in 11A, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, People's Republic of China from November 5 to 7, 2009. You can download and fill out the registration form FORHEAD conference registration form.doc and send it to forhead@forhead.org.

       This conference will focus on the connections between human health, the environment and development in China.  In particular, it seeks to draw on the perspectives of the social sciences to improve our understanding of current and emerging environment-related health risks in China, their relations to development, and the institutional and social contexts in which they are generated and addressed.  

        It is widely understood both that human health is an important indicator of development, and that development results in changes to natural and social environments that have complex implications for health. But until recently the intersection between health, environmental change and development has not been a major focus of social science research. In work on China, the question of the relationship between environment and health has remained largely the preserve of the health and environmental sciences. A substantial body of research exists on environmental problems and environmental governance, but while many of the topics covered in this work are directly related to health, the connection is generally implied rather than explicit. When health is considered, it is largely in the context of efforts to estimate the economic cost of pollution or popular willingness to pay for reduced sickness and mortality. Meanwhile, social science research on health in China has tended to focus on health system reform and responses to infectious diseases. And to the extent that the connection between environment and health has been considered, it has not been linked in more than a general way to broader debates in development studies. This separation is also evident in policy, in which improving public health and environmental protection are key, but separate, components of the governments development agenda.

Conference Focus C Rural Development, Environment and Health

        This conference will focus on rural development, environment and health. Rapid economic growth over the last three decades has transformed Chinas rural areas, bringing profound changes to lifestyles and livelihoods. Not only does a large percentage of the rural population now engage in non-agricultural work, but agriculture itself has been greatly altered by modern farming techniques. Meanwhile, the composition of rural communities and the nature of rural life have been radically changed by large scale migration to urban centres, and the expansion of cities into formerly rural areas.

        While the increased income generated by rural economic development brings the potential for improving health, through better nutrition and housing, and more money for health services, economic development has also affected the environment in ways that have generated new risks to health. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides contaminates water, soil and crops, and endangers both farmers and consumers. Intensive livestock rearing not only pollutes the air and water but also increases the threat of animal borne diseases and the development of antibiotic resistant viruses. Many rural people are now also exposed to industrial pollution from small mines and rural industries, many of which are minimally regulated and also have low standards of occupational safety. As patterns of production and consumption change, the disposal of solid waste is also a growing problem.

        At the same time, uneven development means that many rural communities continue to grapple with public health problems that stem from poverty, including indoor pollution from burning solid fuels in poorly ventilated houses and lack of sanitary facilities. Endemic diseases related to the presence or lack of chemicals in the soil or diet remain a problem in certain areas, while in others insect and animal borne infections are becoming more prevalent as the result of climate change, rapid development and lack of preventive care.  

        These changes have taken place in a context where many of the institutions shaping rural life have undergone significant reform. Since the late 1970s, the communal organization of agricultural production has been dismantled, and fiscal responsibilities have devolved to local governments, giving them more autonomy but with it also the burden of providing public services with funds from local revenues. A range of policy in initiatives, including the New Socialist Countryside, the development of the West, and reform of the rural education and healthcare systems, have all influenced patterns of local development, with implications for its impact on environment and health. Local development is also increasingly shaped by regional, national and global chains of supply.  At the same time, channels for the expression of public opinion and public participation have broadened, with the introduction of village elections, the emergence of non-governmental organizations, and more freedom for the media. All these factors shape the way in which environmental health risks are generated, perceived and responded to.

Papers and Panels (Submission has been closed now)

        We welcome proposals for papers and panels that address these issues. Panels will be organized following the receipt of proposals (for both individual papers and panel sessions). All papers must include a social science perspective or have clear and specified implications for policy or other responses. Papers that report only findings from natural science or epidemiological research will not be considered.  However, papers which involve collaboration between natural and social science disciplines will be particularly welcome.

Topics of interest

        Papers on all topics related to the broad conference theme will be considered, but we are particularly interested in papers that focus on the following topics and approaches:

-         Papers that consider the ways in which institutional arrangements and interactions shape the management of environmental health risks and how institutional weakenesses are related to risk vulnerability of various sorts: for example, patterns of cross-agency coordination, the impact of changing central-local relations on the ability to coordinate the management of environment-related health risks at the local level, the ways in which budgetary arrangements affect incentives and the capacity to respond, etc..

-         Papers that examine the way in which the health sector assesses and responds to environment-related health risks, including its incorporation into ongoing healthcare system reforms.

-         Papers that examine the ways in which environmental policy and the work of environmental NGOs currently addresses the health impacts of environmental change.

-         Papers that examine the engagement of sectors beyond the health and environment agencies in assessing and responding to environmental health risks, including the ways in which a consideration of environment-related impacts is (or is not) integrated into development planning at the national, regional, and local levels.

-         Papers that focus on how information about environmental health risks is generated, circulated, and used: the channels through which it is available, the barriers to greater transparency; the ways in which information shapes perceptions of and responses to risk by various actors, the way in which information moves through decision making processes and shapes policy innovation; the role of media and other actors in shaping processes of issue generation and framing, etc..

-         Sectoral case studies that look comparatively at how different regions or localities respond to similar problems, including different models of government response, NGO activity, the operation of actor networks, chains of supply, production, consumption, etc. 

-         Analysis of environmental health emergencies, and responses to them, including their role in shaping policy and institutional change.   

-         In-depth case studies of responses to environmental health risks in localities that reflect representative types of resource use; local governance structure; cultural practices etc.

-         Papers that analysze chains of production, supply and consumption and seek to identify potential levers and agents of change at various points in the process.

Registration and submission of paper/panel applications (Submission has been closed now)

        Participants who wish to present a paper and/or organise a panel must submit a paper and/or panel abstract (maximum 300 words) by May 30 2009. Participants will be notified of acceptance by June 30 2009, and must confirm participation by July 15 2009. Participants who want to take part in the conference, but do not wish to present a paper are asked to register by 1 August 2009. A registration form will be available on the FORHEAD website (www.forhead.org) from April 15.

Funding

        Some funding is available to support the attendance of Chinese conference participants. Please indicate when submitting your registration if you will need funding, and the estimated amount of your travel costs, using the form provided on the website.

Full conference papers and presentations

        Full papers must be submitted to the conference organiser by October 15 so they can be made available for the discussants and other participants before the meeting. Those who cannot meet this deadline must bring copies of their papers to distribute to the other participants at the conference.

Publication

        FORHEAD expects to publish a selection of high quality papers as an edited volume or a special issue of a refereed journal. Cconference proceedings will also be published in Chinese by a reputable publisher in China.

About FORHEAD

        The Forum on Health, Environment and Development (FORHEAD) was formed in 2008 to provide a platform for sustained communication among researchers, policymakers, NGOs and others working in the field of environment, health and development. The Forum promotes exchange and collaboration among scholars and professionals from different disciplines and seeks to make research on environment and health issues available to a broad range of publics. The Forum is a network of organizations and individuals within China and overseas. The current Steering Committee is composed of representatives from the China Agricultural University (College of Humanities and Development), the China Academy of Sciences (Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources), Peking University (Institute of Environmental Economics), and the Social Science Research Council (China Environment and Health Initiative). For more information about the Forum see www.forhead.org

        You can become a member of the FORHEAD network by sending your name, title, institutional affiliation, country and contact details to information@forhead.org. Your name will then be included in the mailing list, and you will receive periodic information about FORHEAD activities.  

FORHEAD is supported by funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund

        Click here to dowload the registration form.