The ProblemSHIFTING Seminar Series offers a dynamic platform to explore the causes, impacts, and solutions to unintended consequences in environmental policies and decisions. By bringing together leading experts and fresh voices from diverse disciplines, the series highlights critical research in environmental law, politics, and governance, fostering innovative approaches to addressing environmental problem shifting. Each seminar features expert insights and thought-provoking discussions, with the flexibility to participate online via Microsoft Teams or in person at Vening Meineszgebouw A, Utrecht Science Park. For enquiries, please contact the seminar series coordinators: Ashok Vardhan Adipudi and Işık Girgiç.

To join online, use meeting ID “385 133 921 487” and passcode “Z7gt6A6j”, or the link below:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MTc1ODU5YTYtMDk2Ny00MzU0LTk1ZDUtMjZmZDIxMDJjZDVk%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22d72758a0-a446-4e0f-a0aa-4bf95a4a10e7%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2297f01360-a5ad-40c3-b7ca-06468977e09b%22%7d

Drifters, Zombies, and Changelings: Where Does the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Fit in This Taxonomy? – Peter Bridgewater

13 March 2025, 15:00 CET, Room 7.02, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Utrecht University

In this seminar, Prof. Peter Bridgewater examines the World Heritage Convention's origins and evolution, analysing its success in solving intended problems. He questions if the convention is now ineffective, drifting from its purpose, or transforming into a biodiversity tool and discusses potential futures through lenses of problem-solving, key actors, and political dynamics.

High-Risk Technology as a Destabilizing Force in Global Governance – Florian Rabitz

20 February 2025, 15:00 CET, Room 7.02, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Utrecht University

This seminar explores the role of high-risk technologies in solving global crises and aiding or harming global governance institutions. Prof. Rabitz explores how high-risk technologies drive problem shifts by destabilizing governance arrangements, creating pressure for contested institutional adjustments. The seminar highlights their dual role in solving sustainability issues while generating risks that spark ripple effects across institutions.

A Computational Approach to Multilateral Diplomacy: Advances and Future Directions - Didier Wernli

13 February 2025, 15:00 CET, Room 1.10, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Utrecht University

This seminar highlights key methodological challenges in preprocessing diplomatic documents and extracting data from international organization resolutions, exploring recent advances in modelling diplomacy as a complex governance system. Dr. Wernli argues that combining network analysis, text mining, and statistical methods uncovers hidden patterns in diplomatic behavior and policy diffusion that single-method approaches would miss. The ensuing discussion will focus on methodological refinements needed to advance this research and its potential applications in modern diplomacy.

The Role of the Global Environment Facility in Problem Shifting Mitigation - Işık Girgiç

30 January 2025, 15:00 CET, Room 7.02, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Utrecht University

This seminar will highlight the GEF’s significant role in fostering synergies among fragmented environmental regimes while identifying opportunities to expand its impact. Drawing on insights from a diverse range of GEF-funded projects, Işık Girgiç (PhD Researcher, Utrecht University) will discuss the challenges posed by environmental problem shifting—unintended negative impacts that arise during project implementation—and the importance of proactive measures to address them. The discussion will explore opportunities to strengthen monitoring and reporting mechanisms, alongside adaptive and innovative approaches, to reinforce the GEF’s position as a key institution driving impactful and future-oriented strategies for global environmental governance.

The Integrity of International Carbon Markets in an Era of Reform - Sasha Maher

16 January 2025, 15:00 CET; Room 7.02, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Utrecht University

This seminar will delve into the dual politics surrounding carbon markets, often criticized for greenwashing and environmental damage, yet also seen as pivotal for sustainable development under the new Paris Agreement mechanisms. Dr. Sasha Maher will explore the boundaries and potential of climate markets to address climate goals effectively, arguing for a broader approach that includes enhancing accountability and strengthening regulatory oversight.

Preventing or Promoting Problem Shifting? The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and its Relevance for Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal - Miranda Boettcher

12 December 2024, 15:00 CET; Room 7.02, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Utrecht University

Dr. Miranda Boettcher’s seminar will explore marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) and how it is emerging at the intersection of debates about ocean protection and use. It will provide an overview of the different emerging interpretations of the recent decision by International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in relation to mCDR and discuss how these different interpretations could play a role in ongoing climate and ocean governance processes.

Youth Potential to (Un)-Shift Global Environmental Politics - Amandine Orsini

28 November 2024, 15:00 CET; Room 7.02, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Utrecht University

Youth, as liminal actors, form a very specific group within civil society, that has recently, with the Fridays for Future movement, loudly entered the global scene on environmental issues. In line of this entry of youth in global politics, this presentation will precisely discuss their potential to shift and un-shift environmental problems across a range of major international negotiation processes on climate change, biodiversity and the sustainable development goals.

Amandine Orsini is Professor of Political Science at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles university. She is promotor of the YOUTH EARTH (2021-2024) research project, Jean Monnet Chair EUGLOBALGREEN (2022-2025), and FSR research Chair Global Cleav’Age (2024-2026).