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International Conference
On
Climate Action, Sustainability and Literature: The Ecosophical Proximity in the Contemporary Anthropocentric Epoch
(CliAction 2026)
(Celebrating World Environment Day 2026)
June 05-06, 2026
Jointly organized by
Ecosophical Foundation for the Study of Literature and Environment (EFSLE)
&
University of Kashmir, Srinagar, J&K
About EFSLE:
EFSLE (Ecosophical Foundation for the Study of Literature and Environment) is a Non-profit Organization and an International Open Academic Forum for creative interaction among intellectuals, academicians, environmental activists, naturalists, nature-lovers, and those involved and earnestly dedicated to these issues and who are receptive and undogmatic to one another’s individuality and their standpoints. It intends to amalgamate two relevant issues Gender and Human Rights with Literature and Environment primarily initiated by Dr. Rishikesh Kumar Singh what he calls it the LEGH Movement (Literature, Environment, Gender and Human Rights) – A Socio-Ecoliterary Movement. This is the first venture of its kind where all the four issues are juxtaposed together. This specialty makes this movement relevant.
Though ‘Environment and Literature’ is our core concern however, this environment prominently includes the human environment too, where we care for the most vulnerable sections of the society. It includes empowering women, children care towards their holistic development and sustainable livelihood for all the deprived sections of the society. Amalgamating all these fields of studies this organization tends to be the world’s largest platform of its kind. Interdisciplinary and Multi-disciplinary aspects are its bases. We have our Executive Councils in all the Twenty-eight (28) Indian states and Eight (8) Union Territories. Also, we are working in 18 countries (plus 7 proposed ones) across the globe.
About the University of Kashmir:
The University of Jammu and Kashmir was founded in the year 1948. In the year 1969 it was bifurcated into two full-fledged Universities: University of Kashmir at Srinagar and University of Jammu at Jammu. The University of Kashmir is situated at Hazratbal in Srinagar. It is flanked by the world famous Dal Lake on its eastern side and Nigeen Lake on the western side. The Main Campus of the University spread over 247 acres of land is divided into three parts – Hazratbal Campus, Naseem Bagh Campus and Mirza Bagh Campus (serving residential purpose). Additional land has been acquired at Zakura near the main campus for further expansion of the University. The tranquil ambience of the Campus provides the right kind of atmosphere for serious study and research.
The University is committed to provide an intellectually stimulating environment for productive learning to enhance the educational, economic, scientific, business and cultural environment of the region. The University offers programmes in all the major faculties; Arts, Business & Management Studies, Education, Law, Applied Sciences & Technology, Biological Sciences, Physical & Material Sciences, Social Sciences, Medicine, Dentistry, Engineering, Oriental Learning and Music & Fine Arts. Over the years, the University has marched towards excellence in its programmes and activities. It has been re-accredited as Grade-A++ University by the National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India. This is recognition and reflection of the high standard of quality in teaching and research at the University of Kashmir.
Concept Note:
In the current Anthropocene, a period increasingly marked by human-driven changes to the Earth, literature has to play a role beyond its conventional, patterned, and stereotyped image as merely a form of art or representation. It offers significant scope for the development of ecological consciousness, the evolution of ethical and moral framework, and the reevaluation and reiteration of the human connection to the broader world with a more focused intent. Exploring the interface and cordiality among the distinct areas of climate action, sustainability, and literature proves to be a truly multidisciplinary approach, articulating the bonhomie between literary thought and ecological ethics. The concept of Anthropocene lays emphasis on the alarming fact that human actions now affect geological processes, causing precariousness in climate systems, biodiversity, and life conditions. In this scenario, literature transcends its status as just a cultural artifact, emerging instead as a vital medium for critically apprehending and resisting the crises of modernity, extractive practices, and anthropocentric dominance. World literatures, confronting the contemporary issues related to climate change and eventually ushering in for climate action, attain a critical shape when read through ecocritical lenses, a perspective to examine how texts represent the human relationship with nature and expose the political stakes of environmental damage.
The depiction of climate change as a global exigency in literature accentuates the relationship between humans and nature, emphasizing that all communities and regions will be affected by its consequences. The representation of such global challenges in literature vividly illustrates the severe aftermath of climate change on the lives of humans and other living beings, as seen in works such as Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement, Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior, Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife, Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, and Richard Powers’ The Overstory among many other relevant ones. The expression “contemporary anthropocentric epoch,” more than merely a geological term, enunciates a cultural, psychological, and socio-ecological framework that frequently prioritizes humans as both agents and inheritors. However, in a rapidly changing world due the impact of climate change, reality challenges this ideological construct by revealing the limitations of human control over nature. Literature plays the role of a witness in this scenario documenting this ‘slow violence’ in various formats- fiction (cli-fi), poetry (eco-poems), drama (eco-theatre/ecodrama/ ecoplays) and criticism (ecocriticism). Literary texts enfold histories, memories, revolutions including natural disasters, catastrophes, famine, drought, deforestation, displacement and other environmental issues.
On the occasion of World Environment Day, this conference seeks to explore sustainability as both an ethical and societal concern, as articulated in the environmental humanities, where the climate crisis is understood to be deeply intertwined with issues of history, power, colonialism, and representation. In this context, literature emerges as a vital partner in rethinking sustainability, as it translates planetary concerns into urgent moral questions. An ecosophical literary approach also aligns with posthumanist and multispecies ideas. It challenges the notion that humans are the only beings of value and proposes a more relational understanding in which rivers, forests, animals, soils, and atmospheres are active participants. Donna Haraway’s idea of “staying with the trouble” supports this view by stressing responsibility without idealism, action without denial, and kinship without control. This perspective is particularly useful for interpreting contemporary literature that addresses ecological connections, damaged landscapes, and fragile alliances among species and communities.
The 4th EFSLE International Conference (CliAction 2026) aims to examine the interdisciplinary spectrum of climate action, sustainability and literature embracing multiple disciplines as it draws from literary studies, ecocriticism, environmental humanities, philosophy, climatology, eco-ethics, cultural theory, and sustainability discourse. It also incorporates the notion of close reading, genre analysis, and narrative theory with ecocritical lenses. Its philosophical articulation involves the discussion of ecosophy, deep ecology, and posthuman ethics intrinsically. Eventually implying climate action, it reflects the ideas of terrestrialization or planetary thinking, risk evaluation, and the practices associated with climate mitigation.
Being a multidisciplinary and an interdisciplinary conference, original research papers from all the streams are most welcome to discuss such grave issues largely related, but not exclusively limited, to the following sub-themes:
Sub-themes:
- Literary Form as Climate Action: Fragmentation, Silence, and Ecological Ethics
- Arts, Imagination, and Climate Transformation
- Eco-wisdom in Indian Knowledge Tradition
- Narrative Justice and Climate Action: Marginal Voices in Environmental Literature
- Montological and Orological Literatures: Documenting the Mountain Ecosystems
- Climate Narrative Justice and Community Development
- Literary Ecologies beyond Anthropocentrism
- The Ecology of the Everyday: Domestic Spaces and Sustainability in Literature
- Women’s Voices in Blue-Green Literary Ecologies
- Ecosophy in Anthropocene Speculative Narratives
- Literatures of Climate Exile and Migration
- Postcolonial Gendered Ecologies and Cli-fi
- Oral Traditions and Sustainable Storytelling
- Human Rights Narratives in Forest Ecocriticism
- Ecosophical Proximity in Contemporary Indian Literature
- Dalit Ecofeminism and Climate Resistance Prose
- Queer Ecologies in Maritime Romances
- Therapeutic Readings for Eco-Anxiety and Ecophobia
- Ecobibliotherapy for Eco-Grief in Memoirs
- Narratives of Care, Repair, and Restorative Future
- Geocritical Readings of LEGH Pedagogies in Environmental Humanities
- Feminist Critiques of the Anthropocene
- Posthuman Sustainability in Vernacular Literature
- Ecosophy and the Aesthetics of Refusal
- Digital climate Texts and Algorithmic Nature
- The Poetics of Ecological Inconvenience
- Nonhuman Agency in Ordinary Domestic Spaces
- Ecosophy, Narrative Form, and Planetary Ethics
- Indigenous Narratives and Eco-Philosophies of the Global South
- Ethno-Meteorological and Biological Predictions: The Indigenous and Folk Traditions
Submission Guidelines:
- Abstracts: 300 words (MLA style), with 5 keywords and 100-word bio
- Full Papers: 6,000-10,000 words (MLA 9th Edition)
- Key Dates:
- Registrations Starts on: 25 March 2026
- Abstract Deadline: 05 May 2026
- Acceptance Notification: within 15 days after receiving the abstract
- Full Paper Deadline: 31 December 2026
Notes:
- Abstract of 300 words with 5 keywords must be mailed to- md@efsle.org
- Mention “CliAction 2026” or “Kashmir Conference” in the subject line.
- Abstracts can be submitted through the Google form as well using this link:
https://forms.gle/FjpbXZseMS7kbAy6A
- Please use 12 point Times New Roman and avoid footnotes.
- The full paper must be within 6000-10000 words (excluding all the references and the abstract). Use the latest MLA style of referencing.
- Selected Papers will be published in an edited volume with ISBN no. (Not in the form of conference proceedings, instead a complete edited book- The proposed publisher will be Bloomsbury or EFSLE’s newly launched Journal Paryālocana (OUP)
- Authors are requested to attach their bio-note (in third person, not exceeding 100 words) separately
Registration:
| Participants | Registration | |
| Without Accommodation | With Accommodation | |
| Faculties/Professional & Independent Scholars | INR 2000 | INR 7000 |
| Research Scholars | INR 1000 | INR 5000 |
| PG Students | INR 500 | INR 3000 |
| Foreign Nationals | $ 100 | $ 350 |
| EFSLE Life Members | No Fee | INR 5000 |
| Participants (Not presenting paper/ or Accompanying person) | INR 1000
$ 50 |
INR 3000
$ 250 |
Note: The researchers (PhD students) of Kashmir University are exempted from any registration fee and the registration fee for the faculties is INR 1000 only.
*Registration Fee details available on EFSLE website.
Organizing Committee:
Patron:
Prof. Nilofer Khan, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
Conference Director:
Prof. Mufti Mudasir Farooqi: HoD, Department of English, University of Kashmir, Srinagar
Organising Secretary:
Dr. Javid Ahmad Reshi, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Kashmir, Srinagar
Coordinators:
- Dr. Rishikesh Kumar Singh, President, EFSLE, New Delhi
- Dr. Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, Sanskrit Department, Vivekanand College, Delhi University, Managing Director (MD), EFSLE
- Dr. Kiran Bhairannavar, Geography Department, DSE, Delhi University, Secretary, EFSLE
- Dr. Asha Tiwari, Sanskrit Department, Bharati College, Delhi University, Chief Coordinator, EFSLE
Organizing Committee:
- Prof. Nusrat Jan, English Department, University of Kashmir, Srinagar
- Prof. Tasleem Ahmad War, English Department, University of Kashmir, Regional Secretary, EFSLE Kashmir EC
- Prof. Iffat Maqbool, English Department, University of Kashmir, Srinagar
- Prof. Yasmeen Farooq, Principal, Govt. College for Women, Srinagar, Coordinator, EFSLE Kashmir EC, J&K
- Prof. Siddhartha Singh, English Department, Sri JNMPG College, Lucknow, Zonal Secretary, NE Zone, EFSLE
- Prof. Huma Yaqub, English Department, MANUU, Lucknow, Coordinator, EFSLE UP South-Central EC
- Dr. Najma, English Department, University of Kashmir, Srinagar
- Dr. Saima Mehdi, English Department, Shia College, Lucknow, Executive Member, EFSLE UP South Central EC
- Dr. Sumaira Akhter, English Department, University of Kashmir, Srinagar
- Mr. Brajesh Kumar, Executive Council Member, EFSLE, New Delhi
- Dr. Rafaquat Dev, English Department, University of Kashmir, Srinagar
- Dr. Hameeda Mir, Associate Professor, Physics Department, Govt. Degree College, Tangmarg, EC Member, EFSLE, Kashmir Council, J&K
- Mrs. Vijaya Laxmi, Treasurer, EFSLE, New Delhi
- Dr. Aishwarya Maindola, Clinical Psychologist, EC Member, EFSLE, New Delhi
Logistics & Tour Committee:
- Mr. Bashir Ahmed, Travel & Tour Manager, Srinagar, Kashmir,
- Mr. Kumar Paarth, Programme Coordinator, EFSLE, New Delhi
For EFSLE Bank Account Details, Click the link:
https://www.efsle.org/efsle-account-detail/
EFSLE welcomes you to the ‘Paradise on Earth’
agar firdaus bar-rū-e-zamīñ ast
hamīñ ast o hamīñ ast o hamīñ ast
اگر فردوس بر روی زمین است
همین است و همین است و همین است
– Amir Khusrau