3rd Annual General Meeting, 17 November 1997
Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics
7.00 PM, Carlton Crest Hotel, Melbourne
The meeting opened at 7.00 pm with Mike Young, ANZSEE President, in the chair.
1. Apologies
Apologies were received from Roderic Gill and Padma Lal. Thirty two (32) financial members were present. .
2. Minutes of the 1996AGM
Young presented the minutes of 1996 AGM meeting. The motion for approval was proposed by Joanne Saleeba and seconded by Steve Dovers, the motion was carried.
3. Matters Arising
In response to question from Michael Lockwood of Charles Sturt University regarding the non-continuation of correspondence to previous members (1995, 1996) from the society, Young assured the meeting that appropriate steps would be taken for urging those members, who failed to continue membership, to join the society again.
4. President’s Report
Young tabled the president’s report, with special thanks to the organisers of the conference. The report noted that several steps had already been undertaken in terms of organising the ISEE 2000 conference in Canberra. The strategy for this international conference in 2000 is being developed in consultation with ISEE and build on the experience from ISEE 2000.
5. Secretary’s Report
There were a total of 103 members of the society as of November 17, 1997 according to the report of the secretary, delivered by Common in the secretary’s absence.
6. Treasurer’s Report
Mick Common presented the audited financial report for the year 1996-97 for the society along with a financial statement of accounts for the period July 01-October 31, 1997. The motion that the Financial Statements be approved and adopted was proposed by Steve Dovers, seconded by John Tisdell and the motion was carried.
7. Election of Committee and Officers for 1998
A proposal that the ANZSEE branch chairpersons be elected as members of the committee and be designated as Vice Presidents was moved by Steve Dovers, seconded by Ross Hynes. The motion was carried. The Executive Officer reported that the following nominations had been received:
- Mike Young: President
- Padma Lal: Secretary
- Mick Common: Treasurer
- Rod Gill: Vice President
- Terry A’Hearn: Vice President, Melbourne
- John Tisdell: Vice President, Brisbane
- John Wolfenden: Member, Post Graduate Student Coordinator
- Steve Dodds: Member
- Joanne Saleeba: Member
There being one nomination for each post, the above were declared elected.
It was agreed that Kali Sanyal would continue to be the Society’s Executive Officer of the society.
8. Policy and Future Activities
a. Interactions with Other Societies
Regarding joint activity with other organisations/societies, a number of suggestions were heard from the members. John Wolfenden suggested cooperation with the Catchment Management and Economic Modelling Conference, Steve Dovers suggested more interaction with the Ecological Society of Australia. Michael Lockwood pointed out that there are more opportunities in store by interacting with social science bodies. Steve Dovers suggested investigating the Joint Academy of Sciences, through which different research bodies can cooperate. A suggestion from Luca Tacconi of ANU to hold 1999 and 2000 conferences jointly with other bodies was discussed. Cath Wallace of New Zealand pointed out that the 1997 conference essentially ignored New Zealand issues. Young assured her that an effort would be made to be more inclusive of New Zealand in future.
It was agreed that the Executive Committee should encourage interaction with other societies and pursue opportunities to do this in a manner that complements our own goals and strategies.
b. 1999 ANZSEE Conference
A suggestion to hold a conference in 1999 in New Zealand, possibly in association with other societies was deliberated upon in detail. Common emphasised the necessity for individual commitment and proposed that NZ members come forward with a plan of action within four months.. A decision will be finalised by the executive committee after exploring all the options within six months. A general consensus emerged that the Society should carefully evaluate the feasibility of holding the next conference in New Zealand. Final decision will remain with the Executive Committee.
To a point of discussion by Kath Wallace about critically examining the conference outcome, achievement and failures, Young assured the meeting that the step has already been in place and it will duly be attended to. Wolfenden raised a concern about holding the 1999 conference just before ISEE 2000 and suggested to focus on the latter. Stern noted that since the holding of the two conferences will be handled by separate committees there should not be a problem of overload.
c. ISEE 2000 Conference
Young reported that the Centre for Continuing Education of ANU has been awarded the initial responsibility of managing the background work pertaining to holding the ISEE 2000 conference. A draft agreement has already been signed in this regard. ANU has capacity for up to 3000 participants with several runoff seminar facilities for smaller audiences. Young noted that this implied flexibility in terms of ability to handle a conference attendance of various sizes and expressed the view that at this early stage planning was going well. Suggestions from the membership were invited.
It was noted that the Society should try to minimise risk and make decisions as transparent as possible by using a separate legal entity to manage conferences. A motion that the Society form a separate legal entity to manage conferences was moved by Steve Dovers, seconded by Joanne Saleeba. The motion was carried. The Executive Committee is to identify the most cost-effective manner to do this.
d. Encouraging Developing Country Membership
A paper on this topic was tabled by Mike Young on behalf of Padma Lal. It was agreed to correspond and communicate with AusAID, ACIAR, and the Crawford Fund to explore expanding the ANZSEE network in the Asia and Pacific region. The suggestion of holding some workshops with the participation of experts/professionals from the Pacific Island communities with the help of the AusAID program by Wolfenden, will be investigated by the Executive Committee.
8. Any Other Business
The setting up of ANZSEELIST has been finalised using a commercial ISP and Roderic Gill has been assigned the management responsibility. The customisation of the list so that a small group of people did not drown the list was proposed by Phillip Sutton and discussed. The question was left to the organisers to review. The meeting closed at 8-30 pm.
