ECLAC’s Natural Resources Division organized the discussion “Environmental Justice and Water Management Challenges” with Professor Joan Martínez Alier on Friday, June 23. The discussion sought to provide the opportunity to become familiar with the perspectives and approaches of ecological economics and environmental justice that Professor Martínez Alier has developed throughout his distinguished career.
Professor Martínez Alier has dedicated his life to the study and research of crucial issues that affect our planet and our society. Currently, he holds the title of Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His extensive academic career and dedication to research have been recognized with prestigious awards and distinctions worldwide, including the Balzan Prize in 2020, for his outstanding contribution to environmental matters, and more recently, in 2023, the acclaimed Holberg Prize, for the originality and importance of your research.
On this occasion, the professor based his presentation on the talk given at the time of receiving the Holberg prize, entitled “Land, water, air and freedom: the creation of global movements for environmental justice.” Throughout his presentation, he spoke of the growth of the industrial economy, and how this promotes changes in the Social Metabolism, that is, in the flows of energy and materials that enter the economy as inputs and leave as waste. From this he derives his main statement, that the industrial economy is not circular, but rather entropic -and the materials are not recovered-. From there arises, he indicates, the conflictive search for new materials and energies at the borders of extraction of goods, generating a “circularity gap” and the growth of global movements in favor of environmental justice.
rmation can be found on the Holberg Prize website, which includes a summary of the presentation made: https://holbergprize.org/en/news/holberg-prize/2023-holberg-lecture-joan-martinez-alier-land-water-air-and-freedom
