Initiative background Our goals Meet our team Support

About us

We are a working group focused on integrating information from palaeoecology, archaeology and traditional knowledge to address urgent Anthropocene crises.

Together, we form ECHOES: Exploring Climate and Human Observations from the Global South.

Meet our team

Background

Echoes of historical inequality: bridging the past and present

Understanding the Anthropocene crisis – where humans have significantly impacted the Earth – means looking at its historical roots and challenges, and requires a profound acknowledgment of perspectives from the Global South.

The Anthropocene intricately intertwines with historical processes that have disproportionately affected the Global South. The reverberations of European colonialism and subsequent geopolitical upheavals extend beyond disrupting the landscape management practices of Indigenous and local communities, shaping the stage for contemporary global socioeconomic inequalities.

Recognizing the significance of archaeological, historical, and ancestral viewpoints from the Global South becomes pivotal for a comprehensive understanding of the Anthropocene crisis, casting light on the enduring impacts of human-environment interactions.

Universities and institutions researching the Anthropocene from historical, archaeological and indigenous perspectives

References (books and papers)

Heritage sites with long-term feedbacks to environment

Heritage sites and immaterial culture in danger by climate change

Our Goals

Local voices and perspectives

In the quest for information about the Global South Anthropocene, challenges surface in locating qualified content both produced by and about these regions. Acknowledging this informational gap, we are dedicated to curating content here that has inspired us in our pursuit of local voices and perspectives.

We acknowledge the existing disparity in amplifying certain voices in this discourse, often favoring historical power institutions and western languages in academic and non-academic communication. Anthropocene discussions predominantly stem from Global North institutions, with only peripheral engagement from Global South counterparts, typically within non-specialized research programs.

This website strives to rectify this imbalance by spotlighting and centralizing perspectives often marginalized in the mainstream Anthropocene dialogue.