Soil Ecology Work Group sociology partners participated in ESA RN12 ‘Environment and Society’ mid-term and Energy and Society Network 7th international joint conference “Societal Responses to Environmental Crises and Energy Transitions” in lovely Kaunas, Lithuania 24-25 September, 2025.  

Eveli Neemre and Maie Kiisel spoke about how agricultural land users respond to polycrisis and the corresponding challenges to climate mitigation and biodiversity networks. Their main conclusion was that environmental policy framework should support and enhance bottom- up initiatives among farmers to approach climate and biodiversity problems as a community of practice. 

The conference had 141 participants, featured 119 oral presentations, including 7 special sessions, and hosted 3 plenary sessions. It was designed with sustainability in mind – in central location to encourage walking; no printed handouts; low-impact social events; only vegetarian/vegan meals, reusable or compostable dishware; and no bottled water – participants were encouraged to use refillable bottles with refill stations. 

More info about the conference can be found here: https://energyandsocietyconference.ktu.edu/