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Proposal for a special issue of the "International Journal of Sustainable Society"

Topic:
"The contribution of protected areas to sustainability"

Aim of the special issue:
The aim of the special issue is to highlight the significance and importance of protected areas for sustainability, not only in an ecological sense but taking into account the economic and social dimension of sustainable development. This includes the economic impacts of protected areas (e.g. provision of vital ecosystem services for local communities), as well as social implications (e.g. participation of stakeholders in establishment and management of protected areas). The special volume aims to present the most recent developments in the scientific debate, in the form of empirical and policy oriented papers on which general conclusions for the role of protected areas for sustainability, as well as for the management of protected areas, can be drawn.

For more information please click here.

Ecological Economics Students' Contact List

The last version (14/06/2010) of the Ecological Economics Students' Contact List is now available for download.

Elinor Ostrom awarded the Swedish Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009

Elinor (Lin) Ostrom is this year awarded the 'Nobel Prize' in economics together with Oliver Williamson. As Lin is a member of ISEE and as she selected ESEE as her secondary regional affiliation, we would like to honor her and her work by posting this note. She has engaged with ESEE recently in several ways. As many remember, she was a key-note at the ESEE 2007 conference in Leipzig (some might even remember her dancing with the crowd). She participated as lecturer in the THEMES summer school in Slovakia the same year. Finally, several of us have been supported by her in our research. Her insights, engagement, open-mindedness and supportive engagement are something everybody knowing her highly appreciates.

Click here to read the full text.



CEECEC trial online course

Running from April 12, 2010 – July 02, 2010, CEECEC will be piloting an online course on ecological economics, free of cost. This is based on case studies written by environmental NGOs in different countries. A selected number of students from around the globe, preferably from NGOs but also from public administration, universities, or any other profession will have the opportunity to participate. In total a commitment of 12 hours per week for 12 weeks is required to complete the course.

For more informations click here.

'Ecological Economics Reviews' journal

Recently the inaugural volume of Ecological Economics Reviews, a join of US Society for Ecological Economics and NY Academy of Sciences publication, was published. The volume contained authors such as Rudolf de Groot, Richard Cowling, Bruce Hannon, R. Kerry Turner, Peter Nijkamp, Peter Söderbaum, Barry D. Solomon, Pushpam Kumar, and many others. You can find the complete volume here.

Ph.D. course in climate change and climate policy

The Ph.D. school Environment and Society at the Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change (ENSPAC) at Roskilde University in collaboration with other Danish universities calls for applications for an interdisciplinary Ph.D. course in climate change and climate policy.

It will be held from May, 3-14, 2010.

Further information is available at climatephd.ruc.dk.

ISEE Board Election Results

The ISEE Election Committee is pleased to announce the results of the election for President Elect and 4 Board Members.

Voters selected Bina Agarwal as President Elect and Kathryn Davidson, Richard Howarth, Roldan Muradian and Matthias Ruth to the Board. This information will be posted on the ISEE website in the near future.

We wish to thank the candidates and voters and offer congratulations to our new President Elect and Board Members.

Joan Martinez-Alier
ISEE Election Committee Chair

ESEE Board Elections: Official results

The result of the last election for the board is now official. 68 members voted.

The results are:

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 		 ================
 
President:  
Sigrid Stagl
 		 65 votes
 
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 		 ================
 
Vice Presidents (two positions):
Tatiana Kluvankova-Oravska 37 votes
Marina Fischer-Kowalski
 		 47 votes
 
========================
 		 ================
 
Elected Board Members:
Janne Hukkinen 42 votes
Irene Ring 39 votes
Giorgos Kallis 39 votes
Ines Omann 37 votes
Klaus Kubeczko 35 votes (secretary)
Begum Ozkaynak 35 votes
Unai Pascual
 		 29 votes
 
========================
 		 ================
 
Not elected:
Mikael Skou Andersen 28 votes
Andreas Thiel 24 votes
Esteve Corbera
 		 23 votes
 
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 		 ================
 

News from EPG

The journal 'Environmental Policy and Governance' (EPG) will produce an issue covering material from the ESEE 2009 conference. We hereby invite you to send in your paper to be evaluated for the 'conference issue'. We have set the deadline for submission to September 15.

The paper should include an abstract of up till 250 words and being not longer than 8,000 words in length (standard EPG rules).

Please, submit the paper over ConfTool system www.conftool.com/esee2009. For entering the system you can use the same user name and password as you have used it for the ESEE conference. The submissions can be done by selecting the menu item Your Submissions and then EPG special issue contribution. The preferred submission format is MSWord. The email to be used for FAQ about submissions is office@esee2009.si. Indicate also if you want your paper to be sent to the EPG ordinary evaluation procedure if it does not make it for the conference issue - the editorial board of the journal have indicated that they would welcome paper submissions from the conference.

Concerning the evaluation procedure, we will first select papers that fit well to a conference issue and seem to have the potential to pass the review process. These will be taken to a full review. Authors of papers that do not get beyond this screening will be informed a.s.a.p. so that their paper can be taken to other outlets. Certainly, if the author(s) has asked us to send the paper to EPG for normal evaluation, this will be done at this stage.

We plan to finish the review process (two rounds if necessary) by the end of February. The conference issue will then be out in June 2010 and made available for all participants at the ISEE 2010 conference.

Best wishes

Andrej Udovč Arild Vatn
Conference organizer ESEE president

WI Spezial "Eco-Innovation"

The Wuppertal Institute has published a study on eco-innovation, which was done for the European Parliament. The study discusses the implications of resource scarcity, analyses findings on barriers and drivers, and draws policy conclusions. It recommends, inter alia, a European Trust Fund for Eco-Entrepreneurship, a Technology Platform for resource-light industries, a European Program for Refurbishing old Buildings, and a minimum tax directive for construction minerals.

Environmental Conservation (Call for Papers)
Themed Issue on Community-based Natural Resource Management: Designing the next generation of models

Submitted papers may address, but are not limited to, the following subjects (reporting on or reviewing case studies where appropriate):

  • Review: Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) - past, present and future
  • Are the goals of community development and natural resource conservation truly compatible?
  • The role of local or traditional ecological knowledge in advancing CBNRM
  • Unveiling the conservation benefits of CBNRM
  • Dealing with spatial and temporal complexities in CBNRM formulation and implementation
  • CBNRM - conserving the community or conserving natural resources?
  • Designing CBNRM models to accommodate multiple and contrasting community actors
  • The future face of CBNRM
  • One size does not fit all – how to build in flexibility and adaptability in CBNRM
  • Is Intra-community CBNRM the future?
  • When is a community ready for CBNRM?
  • Despite the local focus, an enabling macro context is the foundation for successful CBNRM

For more information click here.

Environmental Conservation (Call for Papers)
Themed Issue on Interdisciplinary Progress in Environmental Science

Environmental issues encompass huge problems that evidently require 'interdisciplinary' science and management, yet these approaches seem to be few and there are many barriers (e.g. institutional structures) to progress. With much discussion about the need for interdisciplinary thinking to improve understanding and management of the global environment, the Foundation for Environmental Conservation is planning the 6th International Conference on Environmental Future (6ICEF, Lausanne provisionally 5-11 July 2011) to comprehensively debate what 'interdisciplinary environmental science' is and what it might be in future.

For more information click here.

ESEE 2009 Student Camp

For several years now, PhD students and young researchers interested in Ecological Economics organize a meeting more or less formal in parallel with the ESEE conferences. The main goals of such encounters are to meet each other, to create networking and to organize themselves. Following what was said in the last encounter in Leipzig, the ESEE 2009 Student Camp looks for:

  • sharing people’s research doubts,
  • discussing some theoretical/methodological issues,
  • working with each other (emphasis on working groups in relation to a local conflict),
  • combining leisure and thinking.

For more informations please click here.

ISEE announces its 11th biennial conference: "Advancing Sustainability in a Time of Crises"

The 11th Biennial ISEE Conference, 2010 will take place from 22 - 25 August, 2010 with the theme: "Advancing Sustainability in a Time of Crises". The conference will take place in the two adjacent cities of Bremen and Oldenburg.

The conference will be hosted at the University of Oldenburg and University of Bremen. Both universities have a strong record in ecological economic research and teaching and are centres of interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability research with a strong focus on social science and economic dimensions of the problem.

A preliminary set of themes based on research topics addressed by teams in Oldenburg and Bremen includes the following:

  • Climate change and adaptation to climate change
  • Biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • Governance
  • Knowledge and social learning for societal change
  • Dematerialization and de-growth
  • Business strategies for sustainable management
  • Land use patterns
  • Coastal zone management
  • (renewable) energy and sustainable energy systems
  • Sustainability science and transdisciplinary research designs
  • Evolutionary economics
  • Institutional economics
  • Postautistic economics

The executive committee is expected to take all central decisions concerning the call for papers, the venues, the review process, the keynote speakers, the organisation of sessions, and other organizational details in coordination with the local organizing teams in Oldenburg and Bremen.

Proposed Members are:
Professor Klaus Eisenack (Oldenburg University),
Dr. Katherine Farrell (Aarhus University),
Professor Michael Flitner (Bremen University),
Professor John Gowdy (Rennselear Polytechnic Institute, ISEE President elect),
Dr. Pushpam Kumar (University of Liverpool),
Professor Peter May (ISEE President, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro),
Dr. Felix Rauschmayer, (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig),
Professor Inge Røpke (Technical University of Denmark),
and Professor Bernd Siebenhüner (Oldenburg University).

The organizing team is responsible for the organizational details, in particular rooms, accommodation, transportation, catering, and alike. There will be local organizing teams in Oldenburg and Bremen to prepare the particular events at the particular locations. The teams will be supported by a larger number of student volunteers at both conference venues.

It will be the main task of the scientific committee to serve as reviewers in the selection process of paper and poster submissions. The online tool owned by ISEE will be used for the review process. Around 100 ecological economists from around the world will be summoned for this purpose.

Also the organization of the Conference will count with the partnership of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE), Vereinigung für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (German Association for Ecological-Economic Research, VÖW), Vereinigung für Ökologische Ökonomie (German Association forEcological Economics, VÖÖ), International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), among others.

Event 4 of THEMES summer school series (Emerging Theories and Methods in Sustainability Research)

Event 4 of the THEMES summer school series (Emerging Theories and Methods in Sustainability Research) will be arranged June 15-26, 2009. The title of this school is: Integrated Analysis of Complex Adaptive Systems. It will be arranged at the Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU), University of Sussex (Brighton, UK).
Deadline for applications is January 31 (2009).

For further information visit www.umb.no/research/themes.

Publication of the new Sustainable Society Index

The Sustainable Society Foundation has published the new Sustainable Society Index, the SSI-2008.

For more information please read the press release

The full publication can be downloaded from www.sustainablesocietyindex.com

New secretary at ESEE

Tatiana Kluvankova-Oravska is taking over the job as ESEE secretary from Wendy Kenyon.

Her secretarial responsibilities will be shared with colleagues in the Centre for Transdisciplinary Studies of Institutions, Evolution and Policies - CETIP (www.progeko.savba.sk) in particular with Veronika Chobotova who agreed to take over the students member list and communication with them.

Information on CETIP can be found on www.progeko.savba.sk or here.

ESEE 2009 deadline extension

The local organizing committee of ESEE 2009 announced, that the deadline for submission/editing of contributions to 8th ESEE conference in Ljubljana is extended until 15th of December 2008.

For submission please use the conference registration and management system at:
www.conftool.com/esee2009/index.php?page=login

Publication of "Climate Change: Financing Global Forests"

Earthscan is pleased to announce the publication of Climate Change: Financing Global Forests. Also known as the Eliasch Review, this independent report commissioned by the UK Prime Minister assesses the impact of global forest loss on climate change and explores the future role of forests in the international climate change framework, with particular emphasis on the role of international finance.

It includes new modelling and analysis of the global economic impact of continued deforestation and provides a comprehensive assessment of the opportunity and capacity-building costs of addressing the problem. It shows that the benefits of halving deforestation could amount to $3.7 trillion over the long term. However, if the international community does not act, the global economic cost of climate change caused by deforestation could amount to $12 trillion.

In this detailed report, Eliasch makes a clear and forceful case for forests to be included in international carbon trading mechanisms. He calls for the international community to support forest nations to halve deforestation by 2020 and to make the global forest sector carbon neutral by 2030.

Click here to read the Guardian's editorial on the Eliasch Review, and here for an opinion piece by Tony Juniper, former Executive Director of Friends of the Earth UK, and special adviser to the Prince of Wales’ Rainforest Project.

Publication: "Integrating biodiversity into business strategies: the Biodiversity Accountability Framework"

The Fondation pour la recherche sur la biodiversité (FRB) (www.fondationbiodiversite.fr/Accueil.html) and Orée – Entreprises, territoires et Environnement (www.oree.org) has just published "Integrating biodiversity into business strategies: the Biodiversity Accountability Framework".

It will be presented during the European platform for biodiversity research strategy (EPBRS ; www.epbrsparis2008.fr/en/Programme.asp) week in Paris from the 18th to the 20th of November.

Download executive summary in French and English

For more details please visit the publications area.

Announcement of a Call for Evidence

The project "The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity" (TEEB) has launched a Call for Evidence (CfE) on the website of the EU DG Environment. TEEB was launched as a consequence of the G8+5 Environmental Ministers meeting in March 2007 in Potsdam, Germany. Further background information on TEEB can be found here.

The CfE for Phase Two of TEEB welcomes theoretical insights, but is particularly interested in empirical evidence and practical experience. It covers a range of topics, broadly ranging from the valuation of ecosystems, to national policy and local administration issues, to helping business and consumers understand the problem of biodiversity loss. The CfE is directed at a broad audience of scientists, policy-makers, NGO’s and anyone who has hands-on experience with the management of ecosystems and biodiversity.

The Call for Evidence for TEEB can be found here. The link above will take you to a website where you will find preliminary Tables of Content for the various TEEB end reports. You can submit your evidence (literature, report, website, …) via email or via a questionnaire, where you can provide your evidence in more detail. Your contributions are most welcome.

For the foreseeable future, the CfE will remain open and be updated as necessary. Evidence submitted after a future closing date may still be considered.

ISEE October 2008 newsletter

The ISEE October 2008 newsletter is now available at www.ecoeco.org/news_archive.php

Features of this edition include:
 UNEP Initiatives on the Economy and the Environment with ISEE Involvement
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)
The CEECEC Project
The Growth, Application and Potential for Ecological Economics in Africa
Younger Voices: The Promise and Energy of Ecological Economics
Keynote Speakers
Regional News
Jobs, Appointments, Conferences
Publications
&
Pictures from ISEE 2008 Nairobi

The Year in Ecological Economics

  • Karin E. Limburg and Robert Costanza are coeditor-in-chiefs
  • new monographic series published by Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS)
  • to be published in 2009, currently putting out a 'Call for Contributions'. See the Flyer
  • papers are due by November 31, 2008

Ecological Economics Certificate online

Carbon Crucible - Innovating for a Low Carbon Society

The Carbon Crucible is a new professional and personal leadership programme, which will together 30 energy researchers from a mixture of academic, industry and other research backgrounds. The programme will inspire participants to think differently about, and work together on the low carbon energy challenge. As a group, participants will attend 3 residential workshops (LABS), each spread over 3 days, where they will explore the wider social, technological, economical and political context of a low carbon society. The LABS will be a mixture of lectures, seminars, skills sessions, tours, informal discussions and visits. Participants will meet and hear from inspirational people, who will explore innovation and collaboration, and you will learn about yourself. Working together they will expand creativity to generate new ideas and collaborations to meet the energy and low carbon research challenge and embark on new exciting directions in their work.

More information is available on the web site.

European Environment re-launches as Environmental Policy and Governance in 2009

The journal, European Environment (Wiley-Blackwell and the ERP Environment editorial team), will re-launch from 2009, which will see the journal extend its scope and start a new partnership with the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE).

Renamed as Environmental Policy and Governance the journal will continue to publish applied, policy relevant research papers but with a broadened geographical scope and an expanded focus on environmental governance issues from across the environmental social sciences and at the inter-face between the social and natural sciences.

For a call for papers and special issues, see here.

8th ESEE conference in Ljubljana - Call for Papers

The European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE), in co-operation with the University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, are pleased to invite you to join us in Ljubljana, Slovenia for the 8th biennial international conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics with the title "TRANSFORMATION, INNOVATION AND ADAPTATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY – INTEGRATING NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES" at 29 June – 2 July 2009.

See the Call for Papers.

Call for papers for a special issue of Business Strategy and the Environment

Special issue topic:
TRADE-OFFS IN CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY

Deadline for submissions: September 15, 2008

Guest editors:
Tobias Hahn, Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment, Berlin, Germany
Frank Figge, Queen's University Management School, Belfast, UK
Jonatan Pinkse, University of Amsterdam Business School, The Netherlands
Lutz Preuss, School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

There is a growing literature on the so-called business case for sustainability. Scholars seek to determine if and under which conditions it pays off financially for companies to act environmentally and/or socially responsible. We acknowledge that research based on this win-win paradigm represents a promising starting point to gain acceptance in mainstream research and business practice. It is, however, based on a critical assumption, namely that the different aspects of corporate sustainability are mutually reinforcing. This sharply contrasts the complexity and multidimensionality of sustainable development where trade-offs and conflicts between economic, environmental, and social aspects represent the rule rather than the exception.

Such trade-offs have been systematically under-researched in the corporate sustainability literature. Therefore, in this special issue we invite submissions that explicitly address trade-offs in corporate sustainability. Contributions could focus on different levels of analysis and/or address the role of different actors. We further encourage papers that investigate and/or develop management tools and corporate strategies to effectively deal with trade-offs in corporate sustainability. Contributions that also address conflicts between different environmental and social concerns beyond their financial implications are particularly welcome.

From a societal perspective sustainable development will most likely-like any development-produce winners and losers. This is particularly interesting for industry level analyses and refers to questions such as: How are companies of different sectors affected by the structural changes that sustainable development is about to bring? What role do companies play in the transition toward more sustainability-particularly if organisational survival on the individual firm level is in conflict with the benign development of society? Should companies in environmentally harmful sectors persist when they provide high levels of employment? Are strategies such as the shift from food plantations to energy seeds beneficial?

Relevant research questions on the organisational level could address corporate strategies, management tools, incentive systems and measurement approaches that help to ensure that corporate conduct leads to positive overall sustainability effects in the presence of trade-offs. In which cases is it worth from a sustainability point of view to sacrifice some environmental and/or financial performance in favour of large positive social effects or vice versa? This also raises the question on the strategic approach of companies to dilemma situations: Which companies adopt a proactive strategy and expose themselves as sustainability leaders? How are conflicts between economic, environmental, and social aspects solved in strategy development?

At the individual level of analysis, research questions focus on how managers and other corporate stakeholders (such as consumers or investors) deal with trade-offs between different aspects of sustainability. Papers might address the perception of trade-offs by different actors, their influence on individual behaviour, and the requirements and incentives for more sustainable decision making when there are trade-offs. Examples for dilemma situations on the individual level include conflicts for consumer decisions between organic trade and local sourcing, trade-offs between higher stock returns vs. controversial business areas for investors, or conflicts between short term bonus payments and ethically sound managerial conduct.

This special issue is open to papers from various academic disciplines. Papers should go beyond the win-win paradigm and explore how corporate contributions to sustainable development could be achieved in the presence of trade-offs between economic, environmental, and social aspects.

The deadline for paper submission is 15 September 2008. Papers will undergo a double-blind review process, following standard BSE guidelines. Submissions should be sent electronically in word format to one of the guest editors and should be written in accordance with the "Instructions to Authors" ( www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jabout/5329/ForAuthors.html ). Please note that due to space restrictions we cannot accept papers that exceed 7,000 words.

Authors are requested to submit papers electronically to Dr Tobias Hahn ( t.hahn(at)izt.de ).

Any questions regarding the Special Issue can also be addressed to the guest editors.

For more information please visit www.seabus-research.net/specialissue/bse.

Launching the 4th edition of the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology

Six months after the 2007 Ramon Margalef Prize was awarded to the North American researcher Harold A. Mooney, the fourth edition of this award of international renown is now launched, having elicited the interest of the most prestigious universities and research centres in the world. This has been amply demonstrated by the level of the more than 50 candidates nominated in the past three editions, to compete for the most important prize conferred by the Autonomous Government (Generalitat) of Catalonia.

The Prize may be awarded to living individuals (the Prize is not awarded posthumously), or to legal entities or groups from anywhere in the world that, through their scientific career and teaching, their thinking, creativity, innovation and discoveries have contributed to the significant development of ecology, as well as to conceptual advancement and its application aimed at the sustainable management of natural resources, or use of the land and sea.

In this fourth call, the candidatures must be presented before June 30th, 2008, by competent qualified representatives of universities, other higher education schools, research centres and academies of science or their scientific subsidiaries. Such presentation of candidates must include a letter or statement of well-reasoned justification indicating the reasons why the career and contributions of the candidate respond to the criteria of the Prize.

For more information visit www.gencat.net/premiramonmargalef/eng.

An ESRC CASE studentship available at the Centre for Environmental Policy and Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London

Participatory monitoring of fishers' spatial behaviour: estimating social costs in local conservation planning.

CASE partner: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Co-supervisors: Professor E.J. Milner-Gulland, Dr R. Young (Durrell), Dr E. Nicholson (Imperial), Dr J.P.G. Jones (Bangor University).

The studentship will be based at the Silwood Park campus of Imperial College London. For information about the research group, see www.iccs.org.uk.

Closing date for applications 15th June 2008. Interviews will be held on 23rd-24th June, and the decision will be communicated to the candidates as soon as possible thereafter. Please send a CV and a covering letter explaining why you are suitable for the studentship to Diana Anderson (d.anderson@imperial.ac.uk). Informal enquiries can be made to Dr E. Nicholson, e.nicholson@imperial.ac.uk.

Please note: This studentship is open only to UK students who have (or are about to complete) an MSc in an appropriate subject. If you are unsure about your fees status, please consult the Imperial College Postgraduate Prospectus, at www.imperial.ac.uk.

For further details click here.

ConAccount 2008 - Postponed deadline

The deadline for sending abstracts for the ConAccount 2008 Conference has been postponed till the 15th of April. The Conference will take place this September in Prague.
For more information click here.

Minutes of ESEE Board Meeting 2007

The minutes of the ESEE Board Meeting, held in Leibzig (June 2007) are now available at the ESEE webpage. Click here to read the minutes.

International Cooperation within the New Research Framework Programme of the EU
ESEE is building up a database of research groups in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia in order to foster international cooperation and research in ecological economics within the 7th framework programme of the European Union.

Free internet access for ESEE members to the journal Environmental Values.

All ESEE members will be informed per email how to get free internet access to the journal Environmental Values. This is a very generous offer made by the journal. They certainly hope it will increase ESEE members' interests in the journal and hopefully some of you will consider to submit articles too.

Announcement of Joan Martinez-Alier:
2006 Kenneth Boulding Memorial Award to Professor Richard B. Norgaard

As President of the International Society for Ecological Economics I am very pleased to announce that Professor Richard B. Norgaard (University of California, Berkeley) is the recipient of the Kenneth Boulding Memorial Award for 2006. This is a prize given every two years.

Professor David Rapport, chair of the Kenneth Boulding Award committee (whose other members have been Professors Kanchan Chopra, "Buzz" Holling, C. Tisdell, Brian Walker, Kerry Turner) has written to me that there was "unanimous and enthusiastic support of Dick Norgaard as this year's recipient of the Kenneth Boulding Memorial Award... there is no question that his contributions have been entirely in the spirit of the open and inquisitive mind that was the hallmark of Boulding's work".

As President of ISEE and on behalf of the Board and all the members I congratulate Dick Norgaard. The presentation ceremony will take place at the Ninth Biennial Conference of ISEE in New Delhi, between 15th and 18th December 2006. The Award will be presented by Professor David Rapport.

I thank Professor David Rapport for his leadership on the Kenneth Boulding Award throughout many years and I am very grateful to the committee. At the ISEE Board meeting in New Delhi, and in complete agreement with Professor David Rapport, we shall be considering a renewed process for future awards that will continue to ensure the quality, the transparency and the undoubted prestige that this Award from ISEE has always carried with it.

Prof. Dr. Joan Martinez-Alier, President of the International Society for Ecological Economics Delhi, 7 September 2006

Note from the President: ESEE is 10 YEARS!

10 years has elapsed since ESEE was established at an exciting conference in Versailles in 1996. It was a very engaging meeting from which I especially remember three issues: The strong spirit of collective engagement into something new; the discussions over the focus of ecological economics (EE) in general and what the European society should emphasize; and finally, the elections of Sylvie Faucheux as president and the (almost unbelievable) tied vote between Jan van der Straaten and Clive Spash as standing for the post of vice president, leading to a change in the constitution allowing for two vice presidents.

For me this was the second time I went to an EE meeting (the first was the ISEE meeting in Stockholm in 1992) and the spirit of it had a very strong influence of my future choices of research. It also opened the door to contacts with a lot of people that I new about, but had never met before. I believe it played similar roles for most others at the conference.

The discussions about the ‘soul’ of EE were certainly the most distinct and important ones at the Versailles meeting. From the very beginning a strong element of European EE was the emphasis on including socio-economics perspectives. Certainly, EE was from its roots in the 1960s and 70s more focussed on material flow aspects of the economy-ecology interactions, the question of material substitution and the issue of growth etc. Hence, EE was formed on a critique of the conceptualization of the relationships between the economy and its material base as envisioned in neoclassical/environmental economics. What the European ‘version’ of EE already from the beginning added to this, was a focus on socio-economic aspects – not least emphasizing the plurality of values and the importance of social processes in forming preferences and values. The broad acceptance of this was very clearly demonstrated by the quite strong reactions against David Pearce, when he in his appearance at Versailles claimed EE to be a sub discipline of environmental economics. At that moment I felt the big auditorium of the conference was almost on fire!

Since then ESEE has managed to develop itself as a quite distinct ‘flower’ within the ISEE bouquet. This is the result of many peoples’ effort. Mentioning some will always be felt unfair to all the others. Still, the role of the past presidents – Sylvie Faucheux and Clive Spash (two periods) – and the secretaries Martin O’Connor, Claudia Carter and Wendy Kenyon must be emphasized. I would also like to mention Ben Davies running the newsletter for a substantial part of the period. They have all put tre­mendous efforts into building ESEE.

In the same vain one must mention the teams standing behind the various biannual congresses ESEE has arranged: In 1996 at the University of Versailles with the team headed by Faucheux and O’Connor; in 1998 at the University of Geneva with the team led by Beat Burgenmeier and Roderick Lawrence; in 2000 at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration with the team led by Uwe Schubert, Klaus Kubeczko and Sigrid Stagl; in 2005 at the New University of Lisbon with a team chaired by Paula Antunes. In between two Frontiers conferences were also arranged: in 2001 at the University of Cambridge with the team lead by Spash and Carter; in 2003 at the University of La Laguna with the team led by Juan Sanchez and Federico Aguilera Klink.

I mention these conferences because they have been crucial in keeping momentum to the organization. The moving of our conferences from even to odd numbered years was moti­vated by the need to place them in-between years with ISEE conferences. This explains the appearance of the somewhat smaller Frontiers conferences in 2001 and 2003 and the halt in arranging the larger conferences for some years. This also implies that there is no opportunity available for celebrating the 10 years anniversary at a conference. This is a pity. My proposal is that we find a way of doing this at the next conference in Leipzig. While we have challenges ahead, we should be very proud of what is accomplished so far.

Congratulations!

Arild Vatn

Looking for Ecological Economics in Portuguese and Spanish?
Check out the Iberoamerican Journal of Ecological Economics
(Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica)

The Iberoamerican Network for Ecological Economics (REDIBEC) offers a portal with information on ecological economics in both Portuguese and Spanish. Apart of organising the Biennial Iberoamerican Conference on Environment and Development (next in 2007 in Costa Rica), it publishes the Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, REVIBEC.

REVIBEC is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published online with papers in Portuguese and Spanish. The Secretariat is located in FLACSO Ecuador, under the Programme of Economics. REVIBEC promotes and diseminates scientific debate on ecological economics in Latin America, Portugal and Spain.

Please be aware that in October 15th, 2006 an issue on Material and Energy flows in Latin America will be published.

Papers are free to download at: www.redibec.org/archivos/revibec.htm.
REVIBEC is indexed in Catálogo de Revistas del Sistema Latindex.

New ICM Postgraduate Degree Programme

We are glad to announce the new Postgraduate Degree Programme Integrated Coastal Management in the Mediterranean - Educom @ med. The course is organised by Ca'Foscari University of Venice (Italy), Cairo University (Egypt), University Pablo de Olavide (Spain), University of Split (Croatia) and PAP/RAC of UNEP/MAP.

For more information click here.

Special Issue Announcement “Perspectives on Environmental Values: The Princeton Workshop.” Environmental Values Vol.15 No.3 (2006)

The journal "Environmental Values" announces a forthcoming special issue bringing together a variety of perspectives on aesthetics; value in Nature; spiritual, ethical and political aspects of environmentalism; and economics and ethics in the climate change debate. The papers arose from a workshop held at Princeton University, USA last year. Contributors include: Emily Brady, Thomas Dunlap, Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Hill, Dale Jamieson, Michael MacCracken, Dana Phillips, Holmes Rolston, Peter Singer, Kimberley Smith, Michael Smith, Clive Spash, Susan Stewart, and Michael Toman.

July edition of ISEE Newsletter
The July 2006 edition of the ISEE Newsletter is now available to download. Once again, it is a very informative publication. Please go the ISEE home page at: www.ecoeco.org and follow the links, or click on the link below: www.ecoeco.org/Documents/Newsletter%20Jul06.doc

Registration for ESEE 2007
Note that the registration for ESEE 2007 is open now! Come and join us when we talk about "Integrating Natural and Social Sciences for Sustainability" in Leipzig, Germany, from 5-8th June 2007. Keynote speakers include Elinor Ostrom, Malte Faber, Dick Norgaard, Inge Roepke, Clive Spash, and Carl Folke. The first deadline for submitting symposia is 20 September, the deadline for submitting abstracts and papers is 20 November. Have a look at www.esee-leipzig2007.org and think about your contribution!

www.materialflows.net: the online portal for material flow data
www.materialflows.net is an online portal for material flow data, providing links and access to material flow data sets on the national level. The website is maintained by the Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI), and supported by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. www.materialflows.net provides background information on the method of material flow accounting and the policy relevance of material flows and resource use, illustrations of world-wide trends of natural resource use, links to download various MFA data sets on the national and international level.

Future ESEE conferences
If you are interested in hosting one of the next ESEE conferences (2009 or 2011), please contact Sigrid Stagl, s.stagl@sussex.ac.uk, ph. ++44-1273-872784.

New Research Centre on Steps to Sustainability in Sussex
Some of the biggest global challenges of the 21st Century lie in how to combine environmental sustainability with better livelihoods and health for poor people in developing countries, as well as how to harness science and technology towards their wellbeing and social justice. To address these issues the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) announces the award of funding for a significant new research centre - the Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability (STEPS) Centre.

The centre, based at the Institute for Development Studies and Science Technology Policy Research (SPRU) at the University of Sussex, will see ESRC inject £3.8 million over an initial five-year period to explore the pathways through which technologies, ecologies and social systems interact and how these can be used to address some of the global challenges facing us now.

For further information, contact: Professor Melissa Leach (IDS) on 01273 678685, M.Leach@ids.ac.uk or Professor Andy Stirling (SPRU) on 01273 877118, A.C.Stirling@sussex.ac.uk.

Spanish translation of ecological economics book
Common / Stagl: Ecological Economics. An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, is currently being translated into Spanish. This edition is expected to appear in 2007.

GoverNAT: New Project coordinated by UFZ (Felix Rauschmeyer)
A new project will start this autumn with heavy participation of ESEE researchers: “Multi-level Governance of Natural Resources: Tools and Processes for Water and Biodiversity Governance in Europe” (GoverNat).
Download more information.

ESRC Research Group on Lifestyles Values and Environment (RESOLVE)

Tim Jackson is Director of the newly-awarded ESRC Research group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE).
The overall aim of RESOLVE is to develop a robust understanding of the links between lifestyle, societal values and environment. In particular, RESOLVE will work to provide robust, evidence-based advice to policy-makers in the UK and elsewhere who are seeking to understand and to influence the behaviours and practices of ‘energy consumers’.
Fur further information visit www.surrey.ac.uk/resolve.

Resilience and Sustainability: Integrated Research on Social-Ecological Systems

Carl Folke is the scientific leader of the interdisciplinary research program that has been selected by the Swedish Research Council Formas as one out of five strong research environments in Sweden.
For further information visit www.ecology.su.se/projects/projects.asp?id=85.

New web resources for Complex Systems

To enhance communication and dialog and create new resources for the Complex Systems community the NECSI will host a new web based forum and wiki for the complex systems community. There are initial contributions already there as "starters." These systems are designed to be largely self-explanatory.

In brief:
The Discussion Forum is an internet message board for questions, sharing recent research and receiving feedback, finding out about upcoming conferences and job opportunities, and engaging in general discussion.
To receive forum messages click on "log in," then after registering and logging in, at the bottom of every thread will appear the option to "Subscribe to this topic." You can also post new messages.

The Complex Systems Wiki is a collection of webpages that can be edited by anyone who visits it. Feel free to create new pages, link to other websites, or upload pictures and other media files. It works much like other wiki sites, including Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Click on the "edit" tab at the top of a page to edit the page. Save by clicking on the "save page" button. Add new pages by inserting [[pagename]] into an existing page, save the page, and click on the new link.
For more information see:http://necsi.org/community/info/

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