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Department of Spatial Planning

Participation at the Environmental Justice Conference 2024, Switzerland

© Lassalle-Institut

Víctor Cobs-Muñoz presented insights on using critical realism to address environmental justice in sacrifice zones at the 3rd International Transdisciplinary Biennial on Environmental Justice in Switzerland, exploring ways to better understand and address these complex challenges.

At the 3rd International Transdisciplinary Biennial on Environmental Justice, held from August 25 to 29, 2024, at Lassalle-Haus in Bad Schönbrunn, Switzerland, Víctor Cobs-Muñoz presented a paper titled "Critical Realism and its Implications for Environmental Justice in Sacrifice Zones." The conference, themed “Making Hope Possible,” gathered experts to explore innovative approaches to environmental justice.

Víctor’s presentation explored a theoretical discourse advocating for a critical realist framework to advance second-generation explorations of environmental justice in 'sacrifice zones'—regions disproportionately impacted by social-ecological degradation due to ongoing polluting activities and systemic neglect. His work proposed a novel, multilayered approach to understanding these zones, integrating environmental justice with critical realism to uncover the underlying causal mechanisms that sustain these injustices. The discussion highlighted the potential for systemic change by addressing the complex, multi-scalar environmental challenges embedded within these areas.