The Alps at the International Geography Festival

The 35th edition of the International Geography Festival will take place from October 4 to 6, 2024 in the Vosges on the theme of Lands, with the Alps as guest territory. Many Labex ITTEM members will be taking part in the event.

Founded in 1990, the Festival sees itself as ” a great celebration of geography for all “. The general public rubs shoulders with scientists, writers and artists for conferences, debates, shows, geographic speed-meetings and more.

This year, Adrien Baysse-Lainé, researcher at the Pacte laboratory of Grenoble Alpes University – and leader of the Montanoël – Sapins et transition dans le Morvan project within Labex ITTEM, is the scientific co-director.

For this year’s event, the Alps will be in the spotlight, as “an ideal territory for thinking about and preparing for the transitions facing our societies “.

“The Alpine region is evolving, sometimes rapidly: European integration, economic globalization and global warming are changing landscapes, melting glaciers, changing agricultural models and reorganizing industrial production areas. All these changes will be examined under the microscope, always with one big question in mind: what, beyond national borders, unites the Alpine territory?”

The Land theme will provide an overview of a wide range of topics and issues: soil and land, artificialization vs. soil biodiversity, natural space, development, ZADs, land tenure, agricultural models and global warming, conflicts and land appropriation, the countryside and urban wasteland, real estate.

This diversity of themes will also be reflected in the various presentations by Labex ITTEM researchers:

Friday, October 4:

• Round table discussion Agricultural land, between covetousness and sharing, moderated by Adrien Baysse-Laine, with Carine Pachoud (Inrae). 11am to 12:30pm
• Conference Des terres convoitées au bord des lacs alpins: analyse géohistorique de l’appropriation des rives lacustres, with Alice Nikolli (Edytem). 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
• Conference Les Alpes dans le Monde, le Monde dans les Alpes, with Christophe Gauchon (Edytem). 1:45 pm to 2:30 pm
• Les traversées alpines à l’épreuve de la fermeture temporaire des passages, with Kevin Sutton. 3:30 pm to 4:15 pm
• Café-géo Protecting the land. Geographers get involved, with Adrien Baysse-Laine. From 4pm to 5pm
• Docu-Rencontre Transitions en tension: les valeurs de la terre face à l’exploitation du lithium dans le Massif central, with Marie Forget and Camille Girault (Edytem) based on the film by Violeta Ramirez. From 6:15pm to 7:15pm

Saturday, October 5:

• Les Alpes, haut lieu de la science conference, with Xavier Bodin (Edytem), Cristina Del Biaggio (Pacte), Marie-Christine Fourny (Pacte), Kirsten Koop (Pacte), Emmanuel Salim (Université de Toulouse). From 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
• Conference Dissociating earth from earth: soil and subsoil in the energy transition, with Marie Forget. 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm
• Lecture Le Tour de France dans les Alpes, with Antonin Van Der Straeten. From 2pm to 2:45pm.
• Round-table discussion Les recompositions du tourisme alpin, with Hugues François (Inrae), Emmanuel Salim (Université de Toulouse) and Christophe Gauchon (Edytem). 2 pm to 3:30 pm
• Alps Conference : will the ecological transition be achieved through citizen initiatives? With Jean-Baptiste Grison and Kirsten Koop (Pacte). 2:45 pm to 3:45 pm
• Café-géo S’approprier les Alpes depuis le ciel : quand le parapentiste se fait géographe, with Camille Girault (Edytem). 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Sunday, October 6 :

• Les zones frontières alpines, terres hostiles pour les personnes en migrations, with Sarah Bachellerie and Cristina Del Biaggio (Pacte). 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
• Conference From the Pacha Mama to the Zapatistas: figures of the land in Latin America’s struggles, with Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary (Pacte). From 9:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
• Docu-Rencontre In the Préalpes d’Azur, agroforestry to reclaim wasteland, with Léo Raymond (Edytem). 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
• Conference : Portrait des Alpes en Patrimoine mondial, with Christophe Gauchon (Edytem). 3:15pm to 4pm

Full program on the Festival website.