BC3 Seminar: “The limits of valuing ecosystem services and the search for alternative ways of conceiving human-nature relations”

BC3 Seminars
“The limits of valuing ecosystem services and the search for alternative ways of conceiving human-nature relations“

Prof. Roldan Muradian

Visiting Professor at the Graduate Program in Economics
Universidade Federal Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro)

Abstract:

Since the publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005, the “ecosystem services” (ES) paradigm has consolidated its position as the mainstream framework for conceptualizing human-nature relations. However, the criticism to its analytical appropriateness and scope has been mounting, and there are already well-grounded initiatives to challenge its categories and discourse. The objectives of this presentation are twofold: (i) to summarize the limitations of the analytical features characterizing the ES paradigm; and (ii) to propose the foundations of a more comprehensive approach to understand human-nature interactions, based on the notion of “relational models”

About the Lecturer

Roldan Muradian is currently Visiting Professor at the Graduate Program in Economics at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro). Before moving to Brazil, he worked for the the universities of Nijmegen and Tilburg (the Netherlands). His research interests cover a broad range of subjects dealing with the interface between development, governance and the environment. Dr. Muradian has more than 65 international publications. He has been involved in a large number of international and multidisciplinary projects, in about 20 countries.