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EDITORIAL  

2023: The Year that Our Planet's Environmental 
Signals Played Loud and Clear 

Jagdish Krishnaswamy 

The year 2023 saw quite a few global science policy alerts. The first was the 
UN Water Conference in New York, held decades after the first one in 1977 
in Argentina when, ironically, it was under a military dictatorship. At the 
conference, the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) 
defined water as a global and local (“glocal”) common good and warned 
about impending, critical, multi-dimensional water crises such as the 
breaching of the planetary boundaries of the water cycle and water injustice 
to humans as well as ecosystems. GCEW asked for renewed governance and 
economic thinking on water management at all scales.  

The other global issue that came to our attention was the presence of invasive 
species in ecosystems. Invasive species are non-native species that have been 
introduced to an ecosystem and have particular characteristics compared to 
other exotic species. They can displace native species, proliferate and 
establish themselves, and cause ecological damage, which translates to 
economic losses of $423 billion globally as per a report released by the 
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem 
Services (IPBES). In the Indian context, the interest in the economics, 
livelihood dimensions, and ecology of the management of invasive species 
and native fish in Indian waters is gaining ground.  

In our current issue, three papers address aspects of water management and 
fisheries in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Odisha that resonate well with the 
messaging from the global science policy discourse.  

 The other global crisis whose urgency was felt more sharply in 2023 was 
climate change. The past year broke records in terms of warming episodes 
across the world. Additionally, we witnessed the effects of an El Nino 

 
 Dean, School of Environment and Sustainability, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, 
Bengaluru. jkrishnaswamy@iihs.ac.in   
Copyright © Krishnaswamy 2024. Released under Creative Commons Attribution © 

NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581–6152 (print); 2581–6101 (web).  

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v7i1.1261  

mailto:jkrishnaswamy@iihs.ac.in
https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v7i1.1261


 Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [2] 

phenomenon, which may be followed by a super El Nino in 2024. India 
received delayed western disturbances, snapping at the heels of the southwest 
monsoon and triggering devastating floods in North India. Further, this year 
was marked by a weakened southwest monsoon, which led to reduced 
agricultural productivity and impacted farmers. We were reminded of the 
need to design effective adaptation policies and recast our development 
pathways and infrastructure to be resilient and mindful of vulnerability and 
exposure in sensitive and fragile ecosystems.  

The papers and book reviews included in this issue are welcome additions to 
the literature on various dimensions of climate change and broader 
environmental challenges. This issue also presents a commentary on the draft 
new green credits policy proposed by the Government of India, which goes 
beyond carbon credits. It seeks to incentivize the private sector to invest in a 
diverse set of green interventions, aiming to offset emissions and the damage 
caused by development projects and industry. The potential and pitfalls of 
this policy need careful analysis. On the methodological side, we have the 
application of a cost–benefit analysis on the use of modern energy in cooking.  

Great teachers and mentors are pillars of academia who help train the next 
generation of scholars. Late Professor Rabindra—one of the pioneers of 
environmental economics in India—was one such educator. Rabin da was 
much loved by his students and friends and this issue has a heart-warming 
tribute to him from one of his students.  

Asmita and the editorial staff manoeuvred the journal to new strengths and 
achievements in 2023 with a welcome mix of papers on diverse topics.  

We expect EES to continue attracting globally relevant research that will 
impact both academia and policy as the journal enters the eighth year of its 
existence. We are grateful to our reviewers and contributors for their faith, 
time, and efforts.  

Conflict of Interest Statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by 

the author. 

 


