Working Group 7: From Crises to Just Sustainable Futures: Reimagining the ‘Ecotopia’ in Socio-Ecological Systems

Coordinators:

Session description
Ernest Callenbach’s ‘ecotopia’ envisions an ecologically-ideal future with systemic principles that minimize negative impacts on the environment, such as improved relationships, careful planning, and cooperation. As global ecological crises worsen—including climate disruption, biodiversity loss, inequality, and conflict, the future of socio-ecological systems (SES) is increasingly jeopardized. Human rights and social justice actions that shape these systems are also strained, as communities strive to sustain livelihoods amid growing uncertainties. This WG adopts the concept of ‘ecotopia’ to explore how development research can foster just, resilient, and sustainable futures. Viewing the SES as interdependent systems linking people and nature, we ask what sort of ‘ecotopia’ is needed to sustain the well-being of SESs in the Global North and South. We invite contributions that adopt a ‘deep sustainability’ perspective, using ‘systems thinking’ to envision transformative futures that foster justice in SESs.

The session insights will be used to develop a blog piece for the Just Ecological Political Economy (JEPE): The HELSUS Global South Encounters blog. The session is part of the HELSUS Postdoctoral study, “Future ‘Ecotopias’ of Sustainability in Nordic Forests Systems”. For further inquiry, contact the session conveners.

Format: Two onsite sessions

Accepted presentations

Session 1: Forestry, energy, food systems, and governance

  • From Welfare to Wellbeing: Reimagining Global Governance Through an Eco-Social Constitutional Framework (Amitabha Sarkar, University of Tampere)
  • An Ecology of Belief and Peace: Case Studies of SES’s, Protected Areas and Local Stewardship Practices in Malaysia and India (Karen Heikkilä, Geethanjali Mariaselvam, University of Helsinki)
  • HELSUS Policy Brief: Forest Restoration For Just, Resilient, And Sustainable Futures: A Call To Action (Ayonghe Akonwi, University of Helsinki)
  • Enhancing Preparedness and Resilience in Nordic-Baltic Regional Food Systems: RegioFoodS Project’s Framework Preparations (Urszula Ala-Karvia, Silvia Gaiani and Kari Koppelmäki, University of Helsinki Ruralia Institute)

Session 2: Education, egalitarianism, wellbeing, and energy resilience

  • A Finnish case of participation in energy resilience (Suvi Silfvenius, Kaisa Matschoss, Outi Pitkänen, University of Helsinki)
  • Learning from education in emergencies for just sustainable futures: becoming ecotopia? (Mara Pinto, Fernando Ilídio Ferreira, University of Minho, Portugal)
  • Egalitarian Experiments in North-American American Intentional communities (Mari Hanssen Korsbrekke, Western Norway Research Institute)

Registration is now open from 12 January to 15 February 2026. 
The detailed timetable will be published later.