The University of La Laguna is holding a conference on the eco-social crisis and local responses

The University of La Laguna hosted the 2nd Transdisciplinary Conference on Biodiversity and the Environment from October 14th to 16th, under the title 'Decolonizing the Future: Local Responses to Global Challenges'. This conference addressed the eco-social crisis from a critical perspective, focusing on how to question the futures we have inherited, recognize those that are already being cultivated, and collectively explore new ways of inhabiting the world.

The academic direction of the event has been handled by Eduardo Rodríguez Batista, Professor of Didactics of Experimental Sciences and head of LUALab (Environmental Narratives Laboratory), with the endorsement of the research groups ECOTOPIA (Transdisciplinary Laboratory of Art and Science for Ecosocial Transformation) and CPSULL (Political City and Society). Support was provided by the Vice-Rectorate for Research and the Vice-Rectorate for Culture, as well as the collaboration of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology – Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FECYT), the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Society of the Government of the Canary Islands, the La Laguna City Council, the Canary Islands Foundation, and the FICMEC Association.

Over the three days, speakers and participants shared knowledge, experiences, and reflections on topics such as ecosocial education, food sovereignty, and climate imagination. The program facilitated the exploration and dialogue of diverse perspectives through three presentations, two roundtables, two participatory workshops, and an artistic performance. Prominent figures from the national scene participated, including Yayo Herrero and José Luis Fernández Casadevante "Kois," who also took part in the roundtable on ecosocial education.

This forum highlighted the importance of addressing the crises and catastrophes we experience as educational opportunities that, through learning, allow us to strengthen community ties, foster cooperation and mutual support, and mobilize our collective capacities to face the challenges of the present. For their part, the Otros Futuros collective shared their initiatives from a Latin American laboratory of climate imagination and collective creation, exploring possible, existing, and latent futures in Latin America.

It is worth noting that the Conference highlighted the community initiatives being developed in the Canary Islands; thus, the round table 'Feeding other futures: community initiatives for food sovereignty in the Canary Islands' included the participation of the Canarina Foundation, the La Rebusca Project, as well as professors from the University of La Laguna, concluding that it is essential to support agri-food initiatives that are already testing another way of doing things in order to strengthen them, multiply their reach and promote public policies that promote food sovereignty and a just eco-social transition.