Cem İskender Aydın is an ecological economist working on energy and climate policy, environmental justice and mapping environmental conflicts, and environmental governance. He received his BA and MA in economics from Boğaziçi University, Turkey, and his second MA in environmental economics from Toulouse School of Economics, France. He holds a PhD in ecological economics from the University of Paris-Saclay, France. Previously, he worked as a researcher in the EU-funded EJOLT (Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade (2011-15) and ISC-funded ACKnowl-EJ (Academic-Activist Co-Produced Knowledge for Environmental Justice) projects. Aydın is currently a fellow in the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) methodological assessment on the diverse conceptualizations of multiple values of nature and its benefits. He previously worked as the climate policy officer at the Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and Protection of Natural Habitats (TEMA) in Turkey.
Project: “Assessing Multi-level Governance Using Participatory Multi-criteria Evaluation Frameworks: The Case of Windfarm Conflicts in Turkey”
Mobilizations against wind farm projects demonstrate how the “local,” “national,” and “global” are interconnected. These collective movements show how a national action to achieve a global goal—i.e., aiming to prevent the global ecological distribution problem of climate change—may affect local processes and create yet another ecological distribution problem. Hence, investigating the linkages between where decisions are made, actions are taken, or where effects are felt might be useful in understanding the dynamics of ecological conflicts.
This project aims to construct a deliberative multi-criteria framework that can offer a multi-scale assessment procedure capable of presenting complex cross-scale linkages and eliciting the sources of tension between stakeholders at different levels of governance. To this end, this research will assess conflicts around wind farm projects in Western Anatolia. This assessment will be then used to identify and explore the sources of tensions, divergences, and conflicts of interest between stakeholders at the local, regional, and global levels.
Cities in a Changing Climate: Reduction and Adaptation Policies for Local Governance
2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellows Cem İskender Aydın and Ender Peker’s policy brief “Cities in a Changing Climate: Reduction and Adaptation Policies for Local Governance (Değişen İklimde Kentler: Yerel Yönetimler için Azaltım ve Uyum Politikaları) ” was published in September 2019.
Click here to download the document.
Welcoming of the 2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellows
We welcome our 2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellows, Cem İskender Aydın, Annegret Warth, Jannes Tessmann, Ender Peker, Maissam Nimer, Yohanan Benhaim, and Joanna Krzeminska.
Cem İskender Aydın | Assessing Multi-level Governance Using Participatory Multi-criteria Evaluation Frameworks: The Case of Windfarm Conflicts in Turkey
Annegret Warth | Municipalities as Actors of Youth Exchange?! An Exemplary Case Analysis of Youth Work and Local Governance Structures in Turkey
Jannes Tessmann | Multi-scalar Labor Governance in EU-Turkey Garment Value Chains: Challenges and Potentials for Workplace Integration of Refugees
Ender Peker | Producing Actionable Knowledge to Achieve Climate Responsive Urban Development in Turkey
Maissam Nimer | Access of Syrian Refugee Adults to Language Instruction
Yohanan Benhaim | Turkish Business People and the War in Iraq: Impacts and Prospects in Trade and Construction Sectors
Joanna Krzeminska | Refugees and Elementary School in Istanbul - Inclusion of Young Refugees through Cultural Education
Power Asymmetries, Divergent Values and Alternative Facts: Prospects for Building Public Deliberation under Conditions of Violence, Confusion and Stress
2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellow Cem İskender Aydın convened the talk “Power Asymmetries, Divergent Values and Alternative Facts: Prospects for Building Public Deliberation under Conditions of Violence, Confusion and Stress” by Martin O’Connor from University of Paris-Saclay on November 19, 2019 at IPC Karaköy.
Climate Café Talks 9 – On the Trail of Energy Justice: Understanding the Opposition against Wind Energy in Turkey
As the ninth event in the Climate Café Talks series, Cem İskender Aydın’s talk on “On the Trail of Energy Justice: Understanding the Opposition against Wind Energy in Turkey (Enerji Adaletinin İzinde: Türkiye'de Rüzgâr Enerjisi Karşıtı Muhalefeti Anlamak)” took place on October 2, 2019 at IPC Karaköy.
Please click here for more information about the Climate Cafe Talks.
From the Ground Up: Environmental Struggles and Transformations to Sustainability
The IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative and ACKnowl-EJ network convened the discussion “From the Ground Up: Environmental Struggles and Transformations to Sustainability” under the initiative of 2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellow Cem İskender Aydın on April 26, 2019 at Studio-X Istanbul.
2018 Katowice Climate Summit – Impressions from COP24
The Initiative convened the panel titled “2018 Katowice Climate Summit – Impressions from COP24,” with the participation of Climate Change Studies Coordinator Ümit Şahin, 2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellow Cem İskender Aydın, 2017/18 Mercator-IPC Fellow Pınar Ertör-Akyazı, and Semra Cerit Mazlum from Marmara University on December 18, 2018 at IPC Karaköy.
Welcoming of the 2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellows
The Welcoming of the 2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellows was held on October 8, 2018 at Salon IKSV. The event marked the seventh cycle of the Mercator-IPC Fellowship Program of the IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative.
The event began with welcoming remarks by Director Fuat Keyman, followed by remarks from the Chairman of the Advisory Board at Stiftung Mercator, Rüdiger Frohn. The welcoming remarks were followed by a movie screening that introduced 2018/19 Mercator-IPC Senior Fellows Atila Eralp and Özcan Mutlu and the 2018/19 Mercator-IPC Fellows Annegret Warth, Cem İskender Aydın, Ender Peker, Jannes Tessmann, Joanna Krzeminska, Maissam Nimer, and Yohanan Benhaim.
