Global social challenges for development studies in the Crisis in the Anthropocene

This panel discussion session explores some of the central dimensions of the Crisis in the Anthropocene that constitute global social challenges in the context of development studies The conference theme highlighted the profound human impact on our blue green brown planet that is already breaching planetary boundaries and pushing us beyond the roughly 1 5 C tipping point This threatens liveability and sustainability in many localities and regions and may well rapidly be off the scale of imaginability and survivability Inevitably as mounting empirical evidence and increasingly clear projections by the IPCC and other authoritative bodies show these impacts are unevenly spread both socially and spatially both now and over the coming decades The urgency of appropriate action is undeniable and we already know many dimensions of the required adaptations and transformations Yet progress mostly remains too slow These challenges are vital to the development studies community heterogenous as it is with our concerns for tackling poverty inequality deprivation and environmental degradation globally and locally Hence this symposium asks what the crisis means for development theory policy and practice and what development studies can and should be contributing to and indeed whether it is capable of addressing some key dimensions that warrant greater attention