The XIII Biennial Conference of Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) on the theme “Ecological Restoration for a Resilient Society: Economics, Policies and Institutions” was held at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India, during 12 to 14 January 2026. The conference brought relevant stakeholders together in thoughtful dialogue over the three days, and was preceded by a pre-conference workshop on 11 January 2026 and followed by a post conference fieldwork on 15 January 2026. The conference was supported by IDRC Canada, Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) and Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR). The conference recorded a total footfall of 103 participants, including 37 participants who presented their work orally or in the form of a video.
The one-day pre-conference workshop was organized in collaboration with the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) on the topic “Tools and Methods for Decision-Making on Ecological Restoration” on 11 January 2026. Participants in the post conference day of the workshop, in groups, conducted fieldwork in two locations- Chhipanu and Surahan in Mandi district to understand the challenges and opportunities on the ground in taking decisions on restoration. Both sites were identified as degraded and are being restored by the forest department. The post conference fieldwork was concluded by a debriefing session. The fieldwork was organised in collaboration with FES and the Forest Department of Mandi.
The XIII Biennial conference formally commenced with an inaugural session on 12 January 2026. The welcome address was presented by Prof. Shyam Masakapalli (Professor and Dean SRIC at IIT Mandi), the address on behalf of the School Chair was delivered by Dr. Manu Devadevan (Associate Professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Mandi). Following this, INSEE President, Prof. Seema Purushothaman, delivered the opening remarks for the conference. She provided a brief yet comprehensive overview of ecological economics and emphasised INSEE’s commitment to advancing research and policy engagement in this field. A video tribute was presented to Prof. Madhav Gadgil who passed away just before the conference, for his immeasurable contributions to the field of Ecology. The conference was then formally inaugurated with the release of the book of abstracts. The vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Shyamasree Dasgupta, Secretary, INSEE.
This year, INSEE organised the second edition of Jayanta Bandyopadhyay Endowment Lecture followed by a discussion on Water Governance and Restoration. The lecture was delivered by Prof. Himanshu Kulkarni (ACWADAM), followed by deliberations by Prof. Anamika Barua (IIT Guwahati) and Dr. Malvika Chauhan (CEDAR). There were four keynote addresses. The first two addresses were delivered by Dr. Pushpam Kumar from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Dr. Muralee T from United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on the Economics of Restoration in online mode on 13 January 2026. The third keynote address titled "Financing Ecological Restoration” was delivered by Dr. Rohini Chaturvedi on 13 January 2026. The final address was on “Regenerative Agriculture and Restoration” by Prof. Harpinder Sandhu from Federation University Australia on 14 January 2026.
The conference hosted two panel discussions which were supported by IDRC Canada. The first one was the IDRC-CRB panel on “Resource Use Efficiency and Circular Economy in the Ecological Restoration for Business Action” chaired by Dr. Bhim Adhikari of IDRC. Panelists included Prof. Deepak Malghan (IIMB), Dr. Visal Singh (CEDAR) and Dr. Aditya Petwal (CRB). The second was the IDRC-SANDEE panel on “Forest Restoration and Its Impacts – Evidence from South Asia” with Dr. Mani Nepal (ICIMOD-SANDEE, Kathmandu), Dr. Erandathie Pathiraja (IIPS, Colombo) and Dr. Naya Paudel (Forest Action, Nepal). Additionally, there was a dialogue between representatives of GIZ and the Forest Department (H.P) on “Ecological Restoration in the Indian Himalayan Region”. The dialogue led to wider discussion on forest restoration and the role of funding agencies, forest departments and the community. There were seven sessions on oral presentation with dedicated discussants commenting on the presentation before the audience joined the discussion. The topics of the sessions ranged across various themes of ecology, gender dimensions, livelihoods, economic valuation, and others across forests, wetlands, pastures, agriculture and urban commons. This biennial also had two video presentations in addition to regular oral presentations. The first video screening was on the topic “Restoring an urban lake: Design principles for a participatory socio-ecological restoration through a transdisciplinary approach” by ATREE, Bengaluru. The second video presentation, titled “Bridging Community Knowledge and Scientific Tools for Landscape Restoration: A Case from the Semi-Arid Kalyanpura Watershed, Rajasthan,” was presented by FES.
A discussion was organised on the edited volume by Prof. Sudha Vasan titled “Environmental Studies from India: Engaging with the Planetary Ecological Crisis” on 14 January 2026. There was a dedicated session on Ecology, Economy, and Society - The INSEE Journal, conducted by the Prof. Nandan Nawn, Executive Editor, EES and Prof. Sudha Vasan, Editor, EES. The final session of the conference was titled INSEE@25 and beyond - A conversation with past INSEE presidents to introspect and chart out INSEE's future pathways. The younger members of INSEE also reported their expectations from the society.
This year, INSEE conferred the title of INSEE Fellow on Prof. C. K. Varshney and Prof. Jyoti Parikh, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the field of ecological economics and allied disciplines.
Participants of the XIII INSEE Biennial Conference @IIT Mandi (12 January 2026)
