Dear fellow travelers,
We warmly welcome you to the XII biennial conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE). Over the past year we have worked hard to organize this event to dovetail with the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD). Rio+20 offers a unique opportunity to take our intellectual debates to a more diverse forum, one especially conducive to conversations between academics, policy makers and civil society actors. We seized the opportunity, little realizing how uphill a task this would be logistically. We are, however, delighted with the result. This conference constitutes a gathering of major thinkers and practitioners, seeking diverse solutions to shared concerns, and linking through their engagement the global and the local, across countries and communities.
We are pleased that the Conference themes have resonated so well with you. Our panels, roundtables, posters and keynotes cover the full span of themes we had outlined in our call for papers. We recognize that efforts to achieve a “green economy” hold significant prospects for cooperation, but also the potential for conflict. There is a promise of green growth but also the possibility of discontent, inequality and exclusion. Can the development agenda, as it unfolds over the next few decades, be sustainable, inclusive and environmentally regenerative?
We face methodological challenges. We need cross-disciplinary approaches. We must bridge chasms and deal with unknowns. We hope this conference will take us forward in addressing these needs. In the coming three days, we hope you will find your particular concerns reflected in one or other of the Conference debates. From these debates could emerge clarity and vision.
We will be counting on you to remain fully engaged, intellectually. And we hope you will help us formulate proposals to take to the delegates at UNCSD.
Friends, we warmly welcome you to Rio de Janeiro and to ISEE XII!
Bina Agarwal
Peter May
Paulo Mibielli
