XV Biennial Conference - Regenerative Futures, Imagining Alternatives, Transforming Systems

In partnership with Wellbeing Economy Alliance New Zealand
Location: Massey University, Wallace Street, Mt Cook, Wellington 6021, New Zealand - Aotearoa

The ANZSEE 2026 conference will bring together people from government, education and research, practitioners, consultancies, and NGO and community sectors, helping solve problems at local-regional-global scales drawing from ecological economics and its trans-disciplinary perspectives.

With a natural focus on Oceania as a region but also on local issues and those that permeate the globe, the conference will help synthesise global “post-growth” and “planetary boundary” discourses with a specific focus on the unique social-ecological and political vulnerabilities including those of the Pacific. The gathering will center on the integration of Indigenous stewardship and decolonised economic frameworks to address climate adaptation, while prioritising island and maritime resilience over traditional growth-centric metrics.

The Conference will focus on key research areas linked to Ecological Economics analysis, perspectives, and policies, including:

1. Beyond Growth and Wellbeing
   Post-growth economies, alternative wellbeing measures, macroeconomic reform

2. Indigenous and First Nations Economies
   Decolonisation, treaty rights, traditional knowledge, land and water stewardship

3. Island and Ocean Resilience
   Blue economies, sea level rise, Pacific sovereignty, island biodiversity

4. Intergenerational Justice and Stewardship
   Just transitions, youth, equity, rights of future generations

5. Climate, Cities, and the Built Environment
   Energy, transport, housing, urban ecology, cost of living

6. Ecological Limits, Governance, and Policy
   Planetary boundaries, ecosystem services, institutions, environmental law

7. Transformative Knowledge — Education, Methods, and Technology
   Pedagogy, research methods, STI, arts, and transdisciplinarity

8. Other Issues in Ecological Economics
   Open theme for emerging, cross-cutting, and novel contributions

Keynote Speakers

• Professor Bob Costanza, Professor of Ecological Economics, Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London; Founding President, International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE); Founding Editor-In-Chief Ecological Economics, Societal Addiction and Recovery: Creating a New Science of Collective Behavioural Traps and Transformative Recovery

• Professor Anitra Nelson, President-Elect International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE), Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Melbourne, Welcome to XV ANZSEE Biennial Conference – Regenerative Futures and Across Oceans from ISEE’s President-Elect

• Professor Erik Gomez-Baggethun, Professor in Environmental Governance at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Senior Associate at the University of Oxford, The Plurality of Values and the Valuation of Nature

• Professor Maria Bargh, Professor of Politics and M?ori Studies at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington, Hidden and Diverse Economies (TBC)

• Professor Joshua Farley, L4E Ecological Economics Lead, Gund Institute for the Environment, University of  Vermont, Taking Complexity Theory Seriously and Non-market Food Systems

• Dr Marjan Van Den Belt, Ecological Economist, Global Council Member Wellbeing Economy Alliance, Ministerial Appointee of Lincoln University Council, World Oceans Assessment UNCLOS Expert Pool – Aotearoanomics: A Place-Based Economy So That Nature and People Thrive

• Dr Mike Joy, The Morgan Foundation Senior Research Fellow in Freshwater Ecology and Environmental Science, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand Freshwater Management