Theme:
Positive Psychology, Human Rights and Climate Justice
– Professional, political, economic and social actions for world peace and human well-being
Framing:
About this historical moment
We live in times of transition, which call us to new behaviours, practices and cultures based on the ethics of solidarity – that make us more capable of closeness, communion, reciprocity, caring and sharing.
Science must increasingly be an integral part of this fascinating and challenging time in history and a facilitator of the necessary prophetic gestures that guide us to alternative lifestyles and relationships – with ourselves, each other and the environment. We believe that positive psychology has an essential place there.
This Meeting therefore intends to enrich the reflection on these changes, while at the same time strengthening and broadening the vibrant domain of the science of positive psychology.
This will be achieved through theoretical and empirical contributions around professional, political, economic and social dimensions and practices that contribute to the promotion and protection of human, environmental and universal rights, public happiness, new economic models, and the resulting forms of peace and social and ecological sustainability.
Why focus on human rights?
Human rights can be understood as basic rights that defend and protect the fundamental freedoms and human dignity to which we are all entitled, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, language or other dimension. They are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and inalienable. They cover civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. They represent a solid normative framework to guide the construction and maintenance of peaceful societies characterized by harmonious relations between groups, and equitable economic policies.
Human rights are thus central to all areas of human knowledge, to psychology in general and to positive psychology in particular.
However, the area of psychology, and the area of human rights, have traditionally been separate fields. More individualized and segmented perspectives have brought a very narrow focus, which has blinded us to structural issues that affect entire populations and global societies.
Why climate justice?
Debates on whether environmental protection is a human right are recent, as is the legal establishment of additional environmental human rights and the duty of states to protect individuals from environmental degradation. There is debate about an autonomous right to a healthy environment, and the fact that any right can be affected by environmental damage. Environmental degradation, climate change and unsustainable development are thus, in addition to human rights, some of the most urgent and serious threats to the ability of present and future generations to enjoy the right to life. Environmental and climate justice therefore means access to untouched natural resources that enable survival, including land, shelter, food, water and air, as well as purely ecological rights, which include the right of any living being to survive or the right of a human being to enjoy an intact landscape.
Where we dream of going
This initiative aims to focus positive psychology on attitudes towards human and environmental rights, how they can be affected and how they materialize into intentions and behaviors (for example, in areas as diverse as volunteering, virtues of character, servant leadership, biodiversity protection behaviors); addressing human and environmental rights in cultural, organizational and political contexts (e.g. cross-cultural differences in happiness, social policies for public happiness, well-being and social justice, new economic models and economics of happiness, ecological challenges and social change, constructive journalism, public health, gender equality, inclusive programs, integration of refugees, enhancing decent working conditions, respect and enhancement of human potential in corporate contexts); and discuss and promote guidelines related to human and environmental rights in the practice of positive psychology (for example, in areas such as positive education, therapeutic and peace-building work in conflict contexts, minority empowerment positive community development, education for citizenship and peace).
We believe that research on human and environmental rights, within a frame of reference for the studies of happiness, can lead to greater awareness and commitment, among professionals and academics of positive psychology, about when, where and how these rights are at risk, and how and where they can and should be protected and promoted.
We hope that this scientific event can raise and accelerate the role of positive psychology in addressing social changes that promote human rights and the protection of global climate change, specifically to help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and fairer, more harmonious, healthier and happier ways of living together, favoring life today and that of future generations – grounding and refining narratives of hope.
