HCIAS Blogcast: an interview with Cecilia Ibarra

Welcome back to the HCIAS Blogcast! This is a new category of post on the HCIAS blog, where we summarize some of the key points from our most recent podcast episode. For our second Blogcast, we bring you an interview with Dr. Cecilia Ibarra of the Universidad de Chile, a researcher at the Center for Climate and Resilience Research or (CR)2.

HCIAS scholars Dr. Héctor Álvarez Mella and Junior Prof. Dr. Rosa Lehmann sat down with Dr. Ibarra to discuss the role of science in politics and the political nature of scientific research. The conversation covered a range of topics, including the importance of participation in environmental decision-making, the differences in climate change and resource use debates in the Global North and Global South, and the need for scientists to recognize the impact that their political perspective has on their research.

Throughout the conversation, Dr. Ibarra emphasized the need for scientists to become more aware of the political nature of their work. When asked whether politicians need to become more scientific or whether scientists should become more political, she argued that scientists are already political. As human beings living in a society, they cannot help but have political viewpoints and these necessarily affect the kind of questions they choose to address in their research as well as the solutions they consider.

Another  point of discussion was the differences in climate change and resource use debates in the global north and the global south. Dr. Ibarra noted that the kinds of debates on the environment that are relevant to local issues in Chile are not necessarily of great concern on the global climate change agenda, and vice versa. As a result, climate scientists in Chile have become brokers between local concerns, which often focus more on access to water or non-greenhouse gas pollutants, and the global scientific community, which is heavily focused on global warming.

Photo credit: David Gubler CC BY-SA 4.0

Finally, the conversation turned to the Green narratives that are currently prominent in Latin American politics and the question of what the Global South can contribute to science and science governance. One of the key points that Dr. Ibarra emphasized was the need for greater participation in environmental decision-making processes. She argued that historically, many countries in Latin America have struggled with issues of political and social exclusion, which has often extended to environmental decision-making as well. To address this, Dr. Ibarra emphasized the importance of building partnerships and collaborations with local communities and organizations, promoting transparency and accountability, developing new governance structures, and investing in education and capacity-building initiatives.

Overall, the podcast provided a thought-provoking discussion of the role of science in politics and the political nature of scientific research. While the world is facing many crises and there are no easy solutions, Dr. Ibarra remains optimistic about the role of science. Society as a whole will have to make decisions about the kind of future we want to live in and scientists can contribute to that process by offering insight into what these different imagined futures entail, whether they are based on green energy, nuclear power, or something else entirely.

This HCIAS Blogcast has been just a short recap of a wide-ranging and thought-provoking discussion. If you would like to learn more about our guest and her research, you can listen to the whole episode here.