







































 

 

Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 1(2): 115– 118, July 2018 

 
REPORT 
 

A Report on the INSEE Ninth Biennial Conference on 
Sustainability, Institutions, Incentives: Voices, 
Policies and Commitments  
 

Nandan Nawn  
 
Research on economics of the environment is carried out through mostly 
the orthodox or heterodox paradigm. The orthodox paradigm is rooted in 
the neoclassical framework, while the heterodox paradigm follows a more 
inclusive, transdisciplinary approach that includes political ecology, 
environmental history, and environmental sociology. This difference in 
quite evident in many locations of the Global North, such as Europe. It can 
be witnessed by means of simple and analytical indicators like the journals 
listed by  professional societies: Environmental Policy and Governance, by the 
European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE) and Environmental and 
Resource Economics, by the European Association of Environmental and 
Resource Economics (EAERE). The ESEE’s own journal Environmental 
Policy and Governance characteristically includes papers on values, politics, and 
institutions even within its limited scope. The EAERE’s own journal 
Environmental and Resource Economics typically includes papers on optimal 
control, bargaining, experimental economics, marginal abatement costs, and 
dynamic efficiency. Interestingly, Environment and Development Economics is 
listed by both societies under ‘publications’. 

Such compartmentalization into the orthodox and heterodox paradigms is 
virtually absent in the Indian context in terms of structure or function. The 
Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) represents both 
paradigms—it has had an agricultural economist and a hydrologist as 

 
 Head, Department of Policy Studies, TERI School of Advanced Studies, 10 Vasant Kunj 
Institutional Area, New Delhi, India 110070; Secretary, INSEE (2016–18); and Organizing 
Secretary, Ninth Biennial Conference of INSEE; nnletter@gmail.com 

Copyright © Nawn 2018. 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.v1i2.48  

https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v1i2.48


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [116] 

 

president. This inclusiveness is evident in the title of its journal, Ecology, 
Economy and Society, and in the variety of the programmes it has organized. It 
was reflected in the theme of its ninth biennial conference, ‘Sustainability, 
Institutions, Incentives: Voices, Policies and Commitments’; and in the 
titles of parallel sessions—‘Aquatic, Wetland, and Terrestrial Ecosystems’ 
(sustainability); ‘Governance of Local Common Pool Resources’ 
(institutions); ‘Behavioural Responses’ (incentives); ‘Politics, Resistance, and 
Movements’ (voices); ‘Urban Housing and Sanitation’ (SDGs and the 
Global South); and ‘Impacts of Climate Change’.  

At the conference, held over 7–10 November 2017, presented papers 
adopted a wide variety of methods and associated theoretical frameworks. 
A paper that explored the use of socio-economic and energy technology 
systems to limit climate change to an exogenously given level employed the 
computational general equilibrium (CGE) model. Another used a zero-
inflated negative binomial model to evaluate the impact of floods on human 
development and income. Several used varieties of other econometric 
models: one on assessing sanitation development for meeting the relevant 
SDG employed simple correlation; another on urban sanitation in Indian 
slums used regression; one on irrigation used the institutional analysis and 
development (IAD) framework; and another on the establishment of an 
industrial project adopted political economy. 

The organizers chose to foreground the fact that the goal of sustainability is 
intricately linked with human behaviour and anthropogenic pressures, 
which are often transmitted through institutions. This called for bringing 
together the natural sciences, social sciences, and governance in an 
interdisciplinary engagement. In choosing the theme, the organizers 
acknowledged the phenomenal rise in the importance of governance and, 
hence, institutions in the matter of public policy; this rise in importance 
traverses virtually all areas and, in particular, those at the interface of 
environment and development. The organizers felt that due attention is not 
paid to the important task of creating a space for discussing how individuals 
and groups voice their choices through formal and informal mechanisms 
and how they participate in decision-making. This prompted the choice of 
the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) at Thrissur as the 
venue, a state institution for local governance, located not only in a non-
metro city but also in a state that has witnessed movements and policy 
negotiations in the distant past (Silent Valley) and the recent past (Western 
Ghats) and is witnessing movements and negotiations now (Athirappilly). 
This rich history of movements and negotiations was reflected in the 
programme. 



[117] Nandan Nawn 

 

Local researchers made presentations in parallel sessions titled ‘Economic-
Ecological Systems in Kerala’. In one panel, titled ‘Environment, Climate 
Change, Biodiversity and Local Governance’, and chaired by the Director, 
Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Kerala, 
speakers ranged from the Secretary of Kerala State Biodiversity Board to 
the President of the Meenangadi Gram Panchayat to representatives of the 
Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad to the Secretary of the Forum of 
Environment Journalists in India. 

A second panel discussion was titled ‘Setting the Conservation and 
Development Agenda for the Western Ghats, India’ and moderated by a 
former Head of the Department of Wildlife of the Kerala Forest Research 
Institute. It involved three officials of the Government of Tamil Nadu: the 
Additional Chief Secretary, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, and 
the Chairman of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority. In 
another panel, sponsored by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change (IPCC), authors of five chapters of the Fifth Assessment Report of 
the IPCC presented their findings, and carried further the discussion on 
negotiating with the science–policy interface.  

In the discussion titled ‘Is there A Global Environmental Justice 
Movement?’, panellists from Spain and India explored how the involvement 
of different actors—indigenous communities, women leaders, and 
international non-governmental organizations—affects environmental 
justice movements. In the panel ‘Marine Fisheries Resources and 
Technology: Some Sustainability and Equity Issues’, ecologists and 
ecological economists discussed developments in methods of assessing 
fisheries resources and the influence of the notion of ‘ecosystem services’ in 
fisheries management. Another panel discussed the role of ecosystem 
services in improving farm income while ensuring the health of the 
ecosystem. 

Interdisciplinarity was at the core of two panels. In one, panellists were in 
conversation with each other via a human ecology framework, eschewing 
abstraction of nature from society (and vice versa) while recognizing that 
environmental issues are simultaneously technical, social, and political in 
nature. The other explored the experiences, opportunities, and challenges of 
doing citizen science in India in environmental and ecological studies. 

In the inaugural address, V K Ramachandran (Vice Chairman, Kerala 
Planning Board) showcased the environmental achievements in the state. In 
her plenary address, Susmita Dasgupta dealt with the implications of climate 
change ‘threats’ felt by those in the coastal zones, with particular reference 
to Bangladesh. In the second plenary, Eswaran Somanathan discussed the 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [118] 

 

roles developing country institutions—community, subnational, national, 
and global—can and do play in handling environmental matters. M N 
Murty presented arguments on the use of declining discount rates for 
evaluating investment projects that have long gestation periods, such as for 
climate change mitigation. Pavan Sukhdev, in his remarks in the inaugural 
session, argued in favour of making changes in the ways in which 
accounting of human well-being is carried out. An inclusive wealth index is 
one such possibility, on which Anantha Duraiappah spoke. 

One of the INSEE’s mandates is the capacity-building of young 
researchers; it is carried out by organizing programmes in its conferences 
and also otherwise. There were four such programmes. A pre-conference 
workshop titled ‘Researching in Ecological Economics’ offered training in 
designing questionnaires; sampling primary data from field surveys; 
operational challenges in implementation; and planning and execution of 
ecological economics research in tropical forests. A session was conducted 
on ‘Strengthening Capacity in Coastal and Marine Biodiversity 
Management’ in association with GIZ. A writer's workshop was conducted 
in association with Springer. A learning game—Cantor's World—organised 
in association with UNESCO-Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for 
Peace and Sustainable Development was launched at this conference. This 
session aimed to show teachers of environmental economics how to use 
this game to explain the potential of the inclusive wealth index in 
negotiating with policy trade-offs at both a point of time, say, between 
health, education, and GDP growth, as well as across time. 

In association with the IPCC and the Directorate of Environment and 
Climate Change of the Government of Kerala, and to engage with the city 
of Thrissur, seven curtain raiser events were organized in colleges (Vimala 
College, Dr John Matthai Centre, Sacred Heart College, and St Thomas 
College) and university departments (College of Forestry, Kerala 
Agricultural University; Academy of Excellence in Climate Change, Kerala 
Agricultural University). In each experienced INSEE members engaged 
with the students. 

Performances by Kerala Kathakali and Bamboo Symphony Orchestra, both 
involving local artists, enchanted the audience. A book exhibition-cum-sale 
by Sage Publications added more flavour, as did a photo exhibition titled 
‘The City and the Farms – Agriculture in Peri-Urban Bengaluru’ in 
association with the School of Development, Azim Premji University. 


