"Resource Economics, Biodiversity Conservation and Development"
11-13 September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland
A research symposium in partnership with UNEP, IUCN, Conservation International, FEEM and IHEID
in association with CSIRO This is the largest conference in the world on topic of the economics of conservation and the natural environment. It was established by Prof. Tim Swanson (the new Andre Hoffmann Chair of Environmental Economics) in 1998 with the assistance of a European Commission grant. It has been convened annually since that time, usually at Kings College Cambridge or in Venice. Bioecon was convened this year in Geneva by the Graduate Institute’s new Centre for International Environmental Studies (CIES), in order to foster closer ties between the academic research community and the various international organisations in the area interested in conservation. The conference is now supported by a partnership made up of IUCN-the World Conservation Union, Conservation International, UNEP, FEEM and the Graduate Institute. It serves as an academic network, and a focal point for bringing together many of the most important thinkers on these issues from the social and policy sciences. CIES now serves as the coordinator for the network, in association with the Foundation ENI Enrico Mattei (FEEM) in Venice, Italy. The keynote speakers for Bioecon 13 were Prof. Erwin Bulte speaking on “Conflict and Conservation” and Prof. Steve Polasky speaking on “Biodiversity in Development”. There were seventy papers accepted for presentation at the two-day event, as well as a policy session on the role of natural resource valuation in national accounts. The subject matter of the conference covers every habitat from coral reefs to tropical forests, and looks at all forms of economic policies and mechanisms used in their conservation. Participants come from all parts of the world, and include academics and policy makers. 2011 has been proclaimed the “Year of Biodiversity” by the UN General Assembly, and the recent conference of the parties for the Convention on Biological Diversity has called for a more concentrated effort at developing global conservation mechanisms. A special presentation at Bioecon by UNEP advanced the idea of an International Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), intended to develop the scientific basis for global conservation. Bioecon continues to play an important role in developing the analytic basis for the advancement of effective and efficient policies in the conservation of natural resources. CIES hopes to build from this enterprise in order to play a key role in the advancement of this important agenda.
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Call for papers for 2012 BIOECON Conference
