Erik Gomez Baggethun
Norway

I am a Professor in Environmental Governance at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), a Senior Associate at the University of Oxford, and President of the European Society for Ecological Economics (until the end of 2021). My research covers diverse topics in ecological economics, including environmental values and governance, traditional knowledge, economic instruments for nature protection, the future of work, and post-growth economics. I am a lead author of the report ‘The economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity’ (TEEB) and of the Global Assessment of Values by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). My core interests concern transformative change towards strong sustainability and justice across dimensions of class, gender, North-South geographies, and different life-forms.

You may visit my Google scholar account for more information on my work and impact.

Motivation

Ecological Economics is my academic home and passion. I am a member of ISEE since the first year of my PhD back in 2004 and a founding member of the Spanish association for Ecological Economics. I have served as President (2018-2020) and Vice-President (2013-2017) of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE) and I am a regular contributor to ISEE/ESEE conferences and to the Ecological Economics journal, of which I am editorial board member.

If elected ISEE President, I will focus on three main areas. First, I will work to strengthen the voice of the next generation of ecological economists, the youth that calls for system change to pursue sustainability and justice, unafraid of countering the foundations of capitalism itself. Next, I will strive to building alliances and joint initiatives with sister organizations and movements such as feminist economics, Rethinking Economics, decolonialism, post-development, environmental justice, and degrowth. Third, I will build upon ongoing efforts at ISEE to use digital platforms to organize regular events on top of our regional and international conferences, as to enhance the visibility and relevance of ecological economics in political debates ranging from the climate and biodiversity crises, to social and environmental justice, the future of care and work, and transformative change towards post-growth and post-development futures.