Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity
April 18-19, 2008, Paris

Delegates of the CEECEC kick-off meeting took advantage of its timing to attend the De-Growth conference held in Paris on April 18-19, 2008. In recognition of the failed “decoupling” between ecological degradation and economic growth despite improvements in eco-efficiency over recent years, the conference hailed the opening of a new field of research, posing important questions, such as:

- Is “de-growth” of industrialised countries possible in the present context?
- What are the social and institutional conditions required for a fair and sustainable economic de-growth process?
- What would possible de-growth scenarios look like?

CEECEC members Joan Martinez Alier UAB, Spain), Elizabeth Bravo (Accion Ecologica, Ecuador), Leida Rijnhout (VODO, Belgium) and Sara Vegni (ASUD, Italy) took part in a round table entitled, “Sustainable De-Growth : From Academia and Civil Society to Policy”. There was also a CEECEC presence in a workshop to design a conference ‘position’ on De-Growth.

View the Declaration on De-growth here.

The conference proceedings are also available for download here.