Advancing sustainability in a time of Crisis

Ecological systems and their services to humans have been exposed to stress, exploitation and destruction for decades. Biodiversity is being lost at an almost unprecedented pace. Climate change will bring about rapid and unpredictable changes in the earth’s entire biophysical system. There are thus massive indications of a crisis of ecosystems caused by human activity. In 2008 the global financial system collapsed and pushed many economies towards crisis. A deregulated banking sector acted outside the boundaries of safe and trustworthy operations resulting in a collapse of confidence in economic institutions not seen since the 1930s. Economic breakdowns in many countries have already generated dramatic social problems adding to existing poverty, hunger and inequality.

But times of crisis are also times of opportunity. The financial meltdown has led to a renaissance in public responsibility and an avalanche of stimulus packages that stand against the neo-liberal creed of minimal government. While many of these measures follow conventional lines of unsustainable economic practices, there is a growing awareness for the need for active public policies to create more sustainable economic structures and processes to combat both economic and ecological crises. Green recovery, a global Green New Deal, and a green energy revolution are catch phrases that now find their way into governance and policy making processes.

The 11th ISEE Conference will be organised in the adjacent cities of Oldenburg and Bremen in Northwestern Germany. Both hosts, Bremen and Oldenburg University 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 sustainability problems.

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