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• 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Degrowth held in Barcelona, March 26-29

Degrowth, décroissance or decreixement. In ever more countries and regions the movement against the dominant growth-orientated economic model is becoming increasingly well-known and gaining support. CEECEC participated in the “2nd Conference on Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity”, held at the University of Barcelona from March 26th to 29th.
In a world where everybody wants economic growth, calls for degrowth can be likened to shouts in the desert, but the number of participants has doubled since 2008, when the first conference took place in Paris (http://events.it-sudparis.eu/degrowthconference/en) . Over 400 scientists and activists from 40 countries in the global North and South came to Barcelona. Co-organizer Joan Martinez-Alier believes “the reason is simple: behind the concept of economic degrowth lies a well-informed, timely and positive message. A decrease of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the North, if well organized, can hit three birds with one stone: it creates more physical space for growth in the South, it halts the destruction of the ecosystem called earth and it supports more quality of life both in the South as in the North”. What the words economic degrowth exactly stand for is still up for debate, as most ecological economists do not like to measure the economy by GDP. But all participants agreed on one issue: that it is necessary to dump the green-growth idea.

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More than one Degrowth
Some scientists expressed a belief that it is necessary to first reach a consensus on one grand theory that will address all pressing environmental problems, but the overwhelming sentiment of participants in Barcelona was remarkably one of an urgent need for practical and immediate action. What emerged from the mist were not easy or ready -made solutions to all environmental, social and North-South problems, but a multitude of proposals for initiatives and empirical studies which together can further shape the growing agenda for degrowth.
VODO and ULB jointly presented a poster on the ecological debt of UMICORE, a private Belgian company, based on the case study they authored for CEECEC. This work has also been accepted for presentation at the 20th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion in Geneva in July 2010 (www.iuhpeconference.net) and the ISEE Conference 2010 in August in Bremen (www.isee2010.org). The authors believe that the need to decrease natural resource use and to pursue sustainable degrowth instead will become more evident and eventually acceptable to the general public when the hidden damages accumulated by private companies over time, and the economic value of the costs associated with these damages are put in the spotlight.
Some heads of state in the rich North are warming up to the idea of degrowth. There’s much work to be done before the majority will ever be convinced, but the running joke at the conference was that the world needs more Carla Brunis. Since joining Sarkozy’s side he no longer speaks of growth in GDP, but growth in joie de vivre. Whether that’s because of political opportunism, necessity, conviction or any other reason is up for a different debate.

(by Nick Meynen, VODO)

*Note: A networking site has been set up following the Barcelona conference http://dgrowth.ning.com . It will be in use until July only, before which time news will be posted on the development of a new website to be designed specifically for Degrowth networking. Please invite people in your networks to join, even if they were not able to attend the Barcelona conference.

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• “Life After Growth – Economics for Everyone” Screening at 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Degrowth

After its debut screening at the Second International Degrowth Conference in Barcelona this past March, “Life After Growth – Economics for Everyone” is now viewable online, at: www.vimeo.com/10871269 . Our aim is to disseminate it as widely as possible, so please feel free to pass it on to your networks.  If you would like a DVD copy to screen at an event you can contact us at the following email: lifeaftergrowth@gmail.com . This is an ongoing project that aims to document as many examples of economic degrowth in action all over the world.  If you would like to lend support or collaborate please contact us via the above email.

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• London Degrowth Videos Now Online

Video footage from Rethinking Economic Growth: Toward an International Degrowth Network is now online. This event, held at the King’s Cross Hub in London was organised by CEECEC’s Hali Healy and supported by the new economics foundation. Click here to see the talks of Mauro Bonaiuti (University of Turin), Leida Rijnhout (ANPED), Andre Reichel (University of Stuttgart), Stephen Spratt (nef) and Tim Jackson (University of Surrey).

Plans are also underway to launch the online CEECEC Handbook. The Handbook is the core resource of the online course, and will be made up of 12 CSO case studies that hyperlink to a glossary of ecological economics and related terms. It is intended to be used as a stand-alone tool, accessible to NGOs, students and the general public. On its completion we will launch the Handbook on the CEECEC website for public access, with a request for feedback from users. If you are interested in trying the Handbook please contact Hali Healy at hhealyatceecec@googlemail.com . When writing, please state your full name, your organisational affiliation (if any) and your country of residence.

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. To read more click here.

To participate contact Hali Healy: halilooyah@yahoo.com

On January 12 2010, the King’s Cross Hub in London was packed to capacity with a crowd that braved some of the UK’s worst winter weather to attend Degrowth in London: Toward an International Degrowth Network. The purpose of the CEECEC supported event (linked to SERI’s Growth in Transition conference, and the upcoming 2^nd Annual Conference on Sustainable Economic Degrowth in Barcelona) was to introduce the concept of Decroissance, which shares many features with better-known approaches in the UK such as steady-state economics, and prosperity without growth, and to bring together these visions with a view to contributing to the establishment an International Degrowth network, one that values the complementarity and diversity of the many emerging European movements, and encourages and enables collaboration between researchers. Attendees included individuals from the policy realm, the research community, environmental and sustainability NGOs and advocates of corporate social responsibility.

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To see the brochure of the London event click here.

Read the blogs on the event:

the nef triple crunch blog: Policies for a zero-growth economy

design activism: legitimate causes

Oxfam – From poverty to power: Natural Resources and Development Strategy after the crisis: useful (but flawed) new World Bank paper

Living with rats: Five challenges on way to rethinking

blog.andrereichel.de: Sustainability 2.0

View the presenters’ slides:

Introduction - Hali Healy (CEECEC – UAB)

Prof. Mauro Bonaiuti (University of Turin)

Leida Rijnhout (ANPED)

Dr. André Reichel (University of Stuttgard)

Dr. Stephen Spratt (nef)

Prof. Tim Jackson (University of Surrey)

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Watch the videos – produced by Spiritualkidz

Spiritualkidz is a gang of people making music videos, mini-films and
documentries. Our best work has been for money, shame to say, but we try not to
work to much for the system, taking our poverty as the price for freedom.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DawitSmallmoney
email Euan Donaldson at spiritualkidz@googlemail.com

Introduction: Hali Healy (CEECEC – UAB)
Prof. Mauro Bonaiuti (University of Turin)
Leida Rijnhout (ANPED)
Dr. Andre Reichel (University of Stuttgart)
Dr. Stephen Spratt (nef)
Prof. Tim Jackson (University of Surrey)

This 27-28 November 2009, the Argentinean-Uruguayan Association of Ecological Economics (ASAUEE) will hold its 4th biannual Conference in Buenos Aires entitled “New global scenarios and alternatives for a local sustainable development. Ecological Economics as an opportunity”.

The event will address a wide array of issues such as: environmental conflicts, indicators of sustainability, multicriteria tools, ecosystem services valuation, environmental policies. Members of CEECEC as Professors Joan Martinez Alier (UAB), Peter May (REBRAF), Walter Pengue (GEPAMA) and Jorge Morello (GEPAMA) will be holding lectures. Also, dissemination activities regarding CEECEC preliminary results will take place.

Venue:

Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento
Los Polvorines, Buenos Aires, Argentina

More info: www.ungs.edu.ar/ecoeco

Brochures (in Spanish): Announcement and Full brochure

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Inside you will find:

updates on case studies drafted by civil society organisations (CSOs) in collaboration with ecological economists. These studies will form the basis of the development of unique on-line interactive ecological economics teaching/learning materials based on CSO work. Some of the case studies featured are:

Environmental Justice and Ecological Debt in Belgium: The UMICORE case (VODO)
Aid, Social Metabolism and Social Conflict in the Nicobar Islands (UNI UKL)
Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in India from the Bottom-Up (CSE)
Mechanisms in Support of the Creation and Consolidation Of Protected Areas in Mato Grosso, Brazil: The Potential Of Redd And Legal Reserve Compensation (REBRAF)

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You can also:

* learn more about the eco-mafia in Italy (which made 31 million tones waste “disappear” in 2008, an amount sufficient to construct a pyramid three hectares wide and 3100 meters high!)

* see a talk on youtube about the movement for environmental justice in Latin America

* watch a video on a case study in India,

* download a report on environmental conflicts in South-Eastern Europe

* and many things more…

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News titles included are:

1. CEECEC’s VODO meets with UMICORE CEO on Ecological Debt in Hoboken

2. Updates on CEECEC’S TAV Turin-Lyon Case Study

3. Legambiente Presents Ecomafia Report 2009

4. Finalisation of Case Studies for Online Interactive Ecological Economics Course

5. Acción Ecológica Legal Status Completely Restored

6. CEECEC director Joan Martinez Alier addresses the Peruvian Centre for Social Studies (CEPES) in Lima Peru

7. CEECEC partner Endemit on the Airwaves

8. Watch Hiware Bazar Millionaires by CEECEC’s Leah Temper

9. CEECEC Workshop at ESEE Biennial Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia July 2009

10. CEECEC at ‘Ecological Economics and the Crisis’, Rome, Italy, June 2009

11. CEECEC Project Publishes Report on Environmental Conflicts and Issues in South-Eastern Europe

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Six CEECEC case study reports are now online!.

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Explore ceecec.net/case-studies or use the direct links:

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1. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) in India from the Bottom-Up
2. Participatory Forest Management in Mendha Lekha, India
3. Forestry and Communities in Cameroon
4. Aid, Social Metabolism and Social Conflict in the Nicobar Islands
5. Local Governance and Environment Investments in Hiware Bazar, India
6. Environmental Justice and Ecological Debt in Belgium: The UMICORE case
7. Mechanisms in Support of the Creation and Consolidation Of Protected Areas in Mato Grosso, Brazil: The Potential Of Redd And Legal Reserve Compensation

More case studies coming soon! Check here.

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CEECEC partner Acción Ecológica finally had its legal status completely restored on 31 August 2009. On May 11, 2009 following an outpouring of protest and condemnation from around the world, the Ecuadorean Ministry of Health temporarily reinstated the organization’s legal status, annulling the ruling which had canceled its registration as of March 18 2009.

The original government explanation for the annulment was that Acción Ecológica was not upholding their mission to “defend natural resources, preserve a healthy environment, and defend the rights of nature.” However, according to Acción Ecológica, they were being targeted for failing to tow the government line on mining, and particularly for their recent support of indigenous-led protests and highway blockades against President Rafael Correa’s plans for large- scale mining.

The mining project in the Cordillera de Condor, an Acción Ecológica / CEECEC case study, is just one of the many mining projects which threaten the unique ecosystems in Ecuador which hold some of the world’s most biologically diverse regions.

The suspension of Acción Ecológica’s license provoked public outcry and critiscm from around the world. The authoritarian action was particularly surprising because Ecuador’s government has instituted many progressive ecological policies in the past year. For example, the new constitution includes the establishment of legal rights for nature, protecting the earth’s “right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution”.

With its legal status reinstated, Acción Ecológica can now continue their invaluable work with communities affected by industrial shrimping, logging, mining, and oil exploitation, their support for the campaign against Texaco, the protection of the Yasuni National Park, and their work with CEECEC.