On the 19th of January, we launched the GLP Telecoupling Working Group 2.0 with a webinar in which we discussed two questions with the participants. 1.- What are the current research gaps and research frontiers for telecoupling research? and 2.- What activities would you like to engage in to make our working group a lively community in the coming year(s)? (And what would be next steps?). The participants were divided in four breakout rooms, and then they shared the main outcomes of the discussion with the rest of the participants.
The main discussions around the first question were that the main challenges for telecoupling research are to develop a more robust understanding on (1) the spillover or indirect systems, feedback mechanisms & effects, (2) interdisciplinary spaces among communities studies, (3) resource and economic flows not commonly studied (e.g. sand,fertilizers, illicit economies, biodiversity implications) (4) considering other approaches such as environmental justice, and (5) policy implications.
The main discussions around the second question was the need for more interaction among the members of the working group in order to identify similar research topics and expertise among the members. Some suggestions were made about having informal meetings for networking, a platform for finding collaborators for international research funding, and more innovative formats for exchanging on specific methodologies.
After these inciting discussions, we, the coordinators, are planning the next steps of our working group to address the main suggestions of the participants. So, keep in touch with us and we hope to see you in the following activities.
The coordinators: Cecilie, Johanna, Julie, and Maria José