GARDEN on EH conference, Namur, Belgium 29-30 nov-1 dec 2012

GARDEN presents at the Second Conference of the History of Environment in Belgium Luxemburg, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi. (Rencontres d’Histoire de l’Environnement en Belgique, REBEL) at Namur (B) from 29th of November till the  1st of December  2012)

This three day conference on the history of environment was held for the second time at the University of Namur.

The organizers prepared a full and very interesting program discussing several main themes of environmental topics, presented by more than 35 speakers during five sessions:

• During the opening session, sponsored by Histoire de l’Environnement-Réseau interdisciplinaire (HENRI), and chaired by Chloé Deligne, (FNRS, ULB), an overview of international environmental historiography was presented  for Switserland(Prof. F. Walter), the United States (Prof. M. Melosi) and Hongary (Prof. L. Rácz,
• During the second session on sources and methodology,  GARDEN presented the Chambers of Commerce (1802-1875) as institutional source on environmental strategies and policies in business and local and regional economics and politics.
• The third session  dealt with the rural history of Burundi, Congo and Rwanda
• The fourth session, on the history of climate in Belgian provinces, was chaired by the eminent French historian and environmentalist E. Le Roy Ladurie, (honorary professor at the  Collège de France),
• The fifth session, sponsored by the research group ACANTHUM, and chaired by C. Billen (Prof. ULB) involved the historiography of Belgian landscapes.
• Prof. E. Thoen (University of Ghent), held a final session, during which he debated the conference themes, to conclude the conference.

Furthermore, during the whole conference posters of several projects of the research group “History and Environment” were on display.

The conference also had an interesting evening session, open to, and attended by a wide audience, during which Jean-Marc Moriceau (Prof. University of Caen) presented the history of the presence of the wolf in Europe from the middle ages up till now.

Danielle Caluwe

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