







































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 5 (2): 1-3, July 2022 

EDITORIAL 
 

The Journal: A Relook After Five Years 
 

Kamal Bawa, Kanchan Chopra 
 
It was five years ago that we joined our colleague Jayanta Bandhopadhyaya 
(later succeeded by Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt) as editors of this journal. Our 
terms come to an end in early 2023. It has been an exciting journey. We 
wish to take this opportunity to briefly reflect on the past, present, and 
future. 

The journal has been privileged to have the support of leading scholars 
from all over the world by way of contributions. It has also evolved into an 
attractive and preferred destination of publication for younger scholars. Its 
different sections cover important issues ranging from energy transitions to 
challenges facing ago-ecological farming and a great deal in between. Special 
sections have also covered a range of issues from new epistemologies of 
water to a revisit of the commons. Further, its papers use diverse 
methodologies ranging from those of standard environmental economics to 
social metabolism and material import–export focused ones. 

The current issue follows the same tradition by including papers that span a 
wide variety of both themes and methodologies. The two commentaries 
address the questions of a green recovery and clean energy transition 
through a macro-opinion piece and an in-depth micro perspective, 
respectively.  One research paper examines agricultural sustainability using a 
livelihood security index. Another attempts a critical analysis of ‘discounting 
disaster’ by focusing on land markets and climate change in the Sundarbans 
region.  A third studies the political economy of the water commons in 

 
 Professor of Biology - Conservation Biology, College of Science and Mathematics, 
University of Massachusetts, Boston 100 William T. Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125-
3393, United States; kamal.bawa@umb.edu  

 Former Director and Professor, Institute of Economic Growth; University Enclave, 
North Campus, Delhi; Y-155, Regency Park II, DLF Phase IV, Gurugram, Haryana 122002, 

India; choprakanchan14@gmail.com  

Copyright © Bawa and Chopra 2022. 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.v5i2.812  

https://www.umb.edu/academics/csm/
mailto:kamal.bawa@umb.edu
http://www.iegindia.org/staffmembers/faculty/detail/3551/3
mailto:choprakanchan14@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v5i2.812


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

Kerala. The range covered is wide by any reckoning. Similarly, the books 
reviewed also cover subjects as far apart as ‘entropy law and sustainability 
from an economist’s perspective’ and ‘a study of Adivasi struggles in the 
Narmada valley’. The diversity persists and creates a niche for the journal. 

Has the journal made a difference?  

Five years is too short a period to observe and measure the impact. We 
certainly have widened our reach. EES moved to Open Journal Systems in 
May 2020. This helped the journal secure a membership with Crossref and 
made it possible for it to be archived at Ag-Econ, LOCKSS (through PKP), 
and the Environment and Society portal. The journal is now being listed 
by Scopus and has obtained the DOAJ Seal. 

During the last few years, the environmental problems covered by the 
journal have become more acute. The pandemic has imposed additional 
burdens on society, slowed progress, and reduced the resources available to 
deal with environmental crises. At the same time, rigorous analyses of 
environmental and socioeconomic trends have revealed that our problems 
are more severe than we had thought. Clearly, therefore, more 
communication on the themes that are the subject of this journal is needed. 

Fortuitously, over the last few years, we have also seen the emergence of 
consensus that we must view issues such as climate change, the decline in 
biodiversity and ecosystem services, land degradation, and equity and 
injustice through a common lens. The causes underlying these major 
problems are the same: the pursuit of models of economic growth that 
disregard nature and how natural systems work, population expansion, 
inequitable and unjust development, insatiable consumption, and poor 
governance. Not only are the causes the same, but the solutions to resolve 
these problems also have a common root in nature, and so are called 
nature-based solutions. 

Consequently, journals such as ours, for which integration is the key pillar, 
have a tremendous potential to foster interdisciplinarity and serve as a 
platform to weave narratives into a common framework for a sustainable 
world. This is especially important for our region. 

The training of our academics and their research enterprises falls short of 
the requirements of contemporary sustainability science, as pointed out by 
the authors in one of the Conversations sections devoted to the issue in the 
journal. Neither the fundamental training, nor the career incentives offered 
to scholars, are directed toward fostering the needed institutional changes.  

Furthermore, as we noted earlier, our environmental challenges are 
becoming more acute. Public policies at the intersection of ecology, 

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[3] Kamal Bawa and Kanchan Chopra 

 

 
 

economy, and society continue to downplay the downward trends in the 
quality and quantity of natural resources. Regulatory regimes to access and 
conserve such resources in recent years have also softened.  

We hope that by publishing pieces using different methodologies side-by-
side, we will encourage researchers to follow the difficult but intellectually 
exciting path of interdisciplinarity and advocating for policies based on 
knowledge and evidence.  

Thus, the journal can justifiably be proud of the ground it has covered. 
Although our focus has been India, we hope that the journal will grow in its 
geographical coverage. We face common problems with our neighbours 
and beyond. Furthermore, within South Asia, we are bound together with a 
common geography, history, and culture. Across the region, the same issues 
confront many societies. Thus, while retaining the Indian perspective, the 
journal and its readership could benefit from a greater engagement with 
regional scholars to realize the vision of a just and sustainable society in the 
region. 

Finally, it has been a privilege and honour to work with our associate 
editors, managing editors, members of the editorial board, and many 
authors and reviewers. We are grateful for the support, advice, and counsel 
we have received. We have been fortunate to be part of the founding 
editorial team and thank our colleagues at the Indian Society of Ecological 
Economics for giving us this opportunity. 

 
 
 
 
 
 


