The international 2019 Bina Agarwal Prize has been attributed to EnvJustice coordinator Professor Joan Martinez-Alier for his contribution on ecological economics as well as practical work on environmental justice, including the EJatlas.
The Prize Jury consisted of Clement Tisdell, John Gowdy and E. Somanathan. Established by Bina Agarwal, the founder of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), the prize aims at honouring pioneering intellectual contributions to enhance human well-being, environmental sustainability and social justice. The jury unanimously decided to award Professor Joan Martinez-Alier for his outstanding contributions to ecological economics. They especially highlighted his “important practical contributions to environmental justice, including the EJ Atlas, where he has provided online mapping of conflict involving natural resources and the environment”.
Prof. Joan Martinez-Alier is an emeritus professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelone (ICTA-UAB). After having held positions in prestigious universities such as Oxford University, Stanford University and Yale University, he has served as co-director of the EJAtlas. He directs the EnvJustice Project at the ICTA-UAB on ecological distribution conflicts and global movements for environmental justice. He was further a founding member and former president of the International Society for Ecological Economics.
Depicted by the jury as an advocate of the cause of the poor, Professor Martinez-Alier will receive a cash prize of Rupees Two Lakhs with a citation which will be presented at the tenth Biennial Conference of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics, scheduled to held during the 6th and 8th November at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) at Hyderabad.
The project ENVJUSTICE has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 695446)