Mine to fork: Minerals and agriculture in the ecological crisis

A key element in agriculture, phosphorus is essential to the reproduction of life on the planet. Paradoxically, it is also at the heart of the ecological crisis. On the one hand, phosphate fertilisers are – along with nitrogen and potash – at the basis of modern conventional agriculture. On the other hand, phosphate is a non-renewable resource, projected to become increasingly scarce and expensive, and the disruption of the phosphorus cycle is creating several thorny ecological challenges.

The first part of this workshop will bring together social scientists who are following the path of phosphate from the mines of North Africa into the factories and fields of the Mediterranean area, investigating the past and present labour relations that made its deployment possible, as well as its environmental impacts on workers, communities, and ecosystems.

The second part will be an occasion to watch and discuss the documentary Sh’hili by social geographer Habib Ayeb. 

In this film, Ayeb interviews farmers in Tunisia and Italy to enquire how they are responding to the difficulties posed by climate change and the ecological crisis more broadly. In doing this, he searches in their knowledge the possibilities for alternative agricultural pathways to a future of food sovereignty.

The event is free to attend and open to the public.

With the participation of Ca' Foscari University of Venice and the Environmental Committee of the Graduate Institute Student Association.
 

PANEL: Phosphate in the Mediterranean: Labour, ecology, waste 
2.30pm - 4.30pm

• Mustapha Azaitraoui, Khouribga Multidisciplinary Faculty, University Sultan Moulay Slimane.
  "Between strategic resource and local vulnerabilities: The paradoxes of the Khouribga phosphate territory"
• Lorenzo Feltrin, Department of Humanities, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice – Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Geneva Graduate Institute.
  “World” war and critical minerals before critical minerals: Italian colonialism and the political ecology of phosphate in the Mediterranean’
• Francesca Gabbriellini, Feltrinelli Foundation (Milan).
  ‘Cooperatives against phosphate pollution: An environmental history of the cooperative movement in Italy (1982-1991)’
• Diane Robert, Centre Jacques-Berque (Rabat).
  ‘Labour discipline and precarisation in Morocco: Strategic foundations of OCP’s global ascent in the phosphate industry’
• Francesco Vacchiano, Department of Humanities, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
  ‘Extractive feelings: Phosphate in Khouribga between hope and frustration’

Discussant

Filipe Calvão, Anthropology and Sociology Department, Geneva Graduate Institute.

DOCUMENTARY SCREENING: Sh’hili. Farmers facing climate change
5.00pm – 7.30pm

With the director Habib Ayeb, Geography Department, University Paris 8.

Discussant

Shubhika Tagore, Environmental Committee, Graduate Institute Student Association.