Environmental governance has come a long way since the green social movement helped put environmental issues on the social and political agenda. There has certainly been an accelerating awareness of the urgency of many environmental problems and, in response, the last 30 years has seen an enormous growth in institutional capacity for environmental governance. There has also been an increasing awareness of the link between environmental and social degradation –catapulting environmental justice centre stage in environmental governance debates in the 21st century. Yet there is a danger in letting our guard down. At a time when many believe the environmental ‘problem’ is being adequately addressed by governments in particular, it is important to refocus our attention on how best to transform 21st century environmental governance so that it more responsive to both nature and cultureand to the intersection between the two.

The Ecopolitics XVI conference continues the collaborative dialogue approach to environmental issues established by the first Ecopoliticsconference at Griffith University in 1986. The conference aims to bring together academics, activists, practitioners, policy makers and the broad community around issues of contemporary importance to those interested in environmental problems. In line with this aim, a range of modes of dialogue are open to those interested in presenting at the conference: workshops, panel discussions, displays or exhibits, short film or documentaries, as well as traditional academic papers. This promises to invite wide interest from presenters and participants alike.

The conference organisers are currently calling for participation proposals and abstracts of 300 words by 4 February 2005. The conference offers a fully refereed stream and a non-refereed stream for participants. Please send your proposals and abstracts to the e-mail address given below.