Congratulations to Catalina, who has been awarded the University of Montpellier Doctoral College Award (CDUM). This prize recognizes three PhD graduates from the 2025 graduating class whose research stands out for its interdisciplinary nature.

How can tropical forests—essential for mitigating climate change and maintaining ecosystem stability—be conserved while also supporting economic development in fragile contexts? This is the central question addressed in Catalina's PhD research. Her work explores ways to reconcile these two objectives in countries facing multiple challenges, including insecure land tenure, weak law enforcement, armed conflicts, poverty, limited technological capacity, and insufficient financial resources. The research adopts a multi-scale approach, combining local case studies in the Amazon, national-level analysis in the Congo Basin, and an intertropical perspective based on five regional studies.

Catalina completed her PhD at the CEE-M under the supervision of Sébastien Roussel and Emmanuelle Lavaine, , both members of the CEE-M. She successfully defended her dissertation in November 2025.

The award was granted following an evaluation by the doctoral schools and an oral presentation before an interdisciplinary selection committee.

The award ceremony took place on 6 July 2026, following the meeting of the Research Commission of the University of Montpellier, in the presence of the University's President, the Vice-President for Research, and members of the selection committee.

Article Congratulations to Catalina, Recipient of the University of Montpellier Doctoral College Award appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

The 6th Workshop on Experimental Economics will take place in Montpellier on 25 and 26 September 2026. Jointly organized by the CEEM, CREST, ESSEC Business School, and Waseda University (Japan), the workshop will bring together around 30 international researchers working in the field of experimental economics.

• Venue

25 September
Faculty of Medicine
2 Rue de l'École de Médecine
34000 Montpellier, France

26 September
Saint-Charles Campus, Paul Valéry University Montpellier
71 Rue Henri Serre
34000 Montpellier, France

• Organising Committee

  • Marc Willinger (CEEM)

  • Angela Sutan (ESSEC)

  • Matías Núñez (CREST)*

  • Yukihiko Funaki (Waseda)

  • Guillaume Hollard (CREST)$

  • Yukio Koriyama (CREST)

Further information will be available soon.

Article Save the date : CEEM / CREST / ESSEC 2026 Workshop in Experimental Economics, September 25th-26th 2026, Montpellier appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

The recent heatwaves in Europe caught both populations and public authorities off guard—but not scientists, who have been warning about global warming for decades. Why, then, have they not been listened to more closely?

One of the founding moments in the modern history of environmental warnings was the publication of Silent Spring in 1962 by Rachel Carson (1907–1964).

Since then, warnings have multiplied: acid rain, ozone layer depletion, climate change, desertification, biodiversity loss, and chemical pollution. Yet despite the accumulation of scientific knowledge, these warnings are often challenged, ignored, or met with skepticism.

Environmental warnings do not always go unheeded. Silent Spring, for example, led to the widespread banning of DDT. The work of chemists Mario Molina and Frank Rowland contributed to the gradual phase-out of CFCs, the main substances responsible for ozone depletion. In both cases, relatively simple substitute solutions quickly became available, which may have reduced the cost of change while also creating economic actors supportive of the transition.

However, even these changes did not occur without resistance. In most cases, we must ask why it remains so difficult for environmental warnings to be heard.

An article by :

•  Guy Richard (INRAE, DEPE),
• Jean-Michel Salles (CNRS Research Director, CEE-M)
• Michel Colombier (IDDRI).

Read the article >>> (in french)

Article “Why Are Environmental Warnings So Difficult to Hear?”: A New Article in The Conversation appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

Article Looking Back at the FAST Annual Meeting 2026, Hosted by the CEE-M on 11–12 June 2026 appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

On the occasion of a scientific exchange day between the CEE-M and the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences of Montpellier (ISEM), held in April 2026, researchers compared their work around a common question: "How to detect vulnerabilities in biological, ecological, and socio-economic systems in the face of environmental changes?"

The presentations highlighted the complementarity of approaches in economics, biology, ecology, and epidemiology, while opening up new perspectives for interdisciplinary collaborations to better understand and anticipate the effects of global change.

A synthesis of these reflections is now available: Health in Biology: Detecting Vulnerability in a Changing World >>>

Article Health in Biology: Detecting Vulnerabilities in a Changing World appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

In June, the CEE-M participated in two major events organized by the Montpellier Metropolis and the Occitanie Region focusing on pro-environmental behaviors.

• "Changing Behaviors in the Face of Urgency Through Behavioral Sciences" June 11, 2026 – Organized by the City of Montpellier, Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, and the Municipal Social Action Center (CCAS)

This meeting, dedicated to behavioral sciences, aimed to address a major challenge: how to design public policies capable of overcoming our individual and collective resistances to environmental issues?

Several CEE-M members participated in this event: Cécile Bazart, Dimitri Dubois, and Lisette Ibanez, thereby contributing to exchanges between researchers, public decision-makers, and field actors.

Read more >>>

• "Regional Forum: Towards Pro-Environmental Behaviors" June 25, 2026 – Organized by the University of Montpellier in partnership with the Occitanie Region

Organized with the support of the Occitanie Region, this forum served as an exchange time between researchers, PhD students, public officials, and public policy actors.

This day offered a great opportunity to cross perspectives between research, public action, education for sustainable development, and ecological transition, in order to promote the sharing of knowledge and best practices regarding levers that foster pro-environmental behaviors

Program >>>

Article CEE-M Present at Two Events in Montpellier Dedicated to Pro-Environmental Behaviors appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

To be published: “Introduction to Environmental Economics: How Economists View the Environment” by Philippe Mahenc.
Targeted at undergraduate students in economics, this textbook (published by Éditions Ellipses) presents the principles of environmental economics, a discipline dedicated to studying the impacts of human activity on nature, analysing pollution problems and seeking solutions to preserve the environment.

Covering diverse topics such as externalities, public goods, natural resources, and environmental labels, the book tackles contemporary issues like air‑quality, the tragedy of the commons, and eco‑responsible differentiation strategies. It also includes questionnaires and case studies to illustrate key concepts – a comprehensive tool for understanding environmental challenges from an economic perspective.

• Philippe Mahenc is a professor of economics at the University of Montpellier and a member of CEE‑M (Center for Environmental Economics – Montpellier). He has taught economics at the universities of Toulouse, Angers, Perpignan, Montréal and in Africa, and has published research articles in environmental, industrial and agricultural economics. From the autumn of 2026, this work will serve as the core textbook for his first‑year Bachelor course in the Faculty of Economics, Montpellier.

Publication date: 27 October 2026

• Download the table of contents and the preface of the book >>>
• View the book presentation on the publisher’s website >>>

Article To be published: “Introduction to Environmental Economics: How Economists View the Environment” by Philippe Mahenc. appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

• The delayed disaster: understanding the “environmentalist paradox” – new article in The Conversation.
  “Climates are destabilising, ecosystems are degrading and yet, on a global scale, average per‑capita income, life expectancy and education levels continue to rise. This gap constitutes one of the most unsettling paradoxes in contemporary environmental debate. Exploring all explanatory factors is essential for thinking about ways to act and communicate in the age of climate change.”.

Since the 1960s, warnings about the ecological consequences of economic growth and industrialisation have multiplied. Ecosystem degradation, resource depletion, pollution, climate disruption or the breaching of planetary boundaries: many scientific studies describe dynamics that could permanently alter human living conditions.

And yet: global life expectancy is increasing, extreme poverty has receded (at least until recent crises), education levels are rising, and average per‑capita income continues its long‑term upward trend worldwide.

This gap corresponds to what researchers called, around the 2010s, the “environmentalist paradox”: how can human well‑being, measured by dominant indicators, improve while ecosystems deteriorate?

• An article written by  Jean-Michel Salles (Director of Research, CNRS, CEE‑M), Guy Richard (INRAE, DEPE) and Michel Colombier (IDDRI).

Read the article >>> (in french)

Article “The delayed disaster: understanding the “environmentalist paradox” – new article in The Conversation. appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

Europe has unveiled an ambitious plan to secure its supply of critical raw materials, which are essential for strategic industries. However, several economists have warned about the risks of a rushed approach that could fragment the European market and hinder innovation.

Published in the newspaper L'Echo, this op-ed, co-authored by Stéphane Auray (CREST-Ensai and Rennes School of Business), Federico Di Pace (ENSAI), Aude Pommeret (Université Savoie Mont Blanc and OFCE), and Francesco Ricci (CEE-M), cautions against the creation of fragmented and protected national value chains. According to the authors, such a strategy could limit innovation, increase costs, and discourage investment. The challenge, therefore, is to develop a coordinated industrial policy at the European level, based on targeted public support that facilitates market entry and learning, while avoiding the creation of long-lasting economic rents.

Read the op-ed on the L'Echo website >>> (subscription required).

Article Critical Raw Materials Dependency: “Europe Is Wrong to Rely on Policies Implemented in Haste” appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.

Intervention by Julie Subervie (CEE‑M) at the 2026 annual conference of the Collège des Sociétés Savantes Académiques de France, held in Paris from the evening of February 4 to February 6, 2026.

Julie Subervie spoke during the scientific day titled “In the maelstrom: science, society and political choices,” which took place on February 5, in the session “Breaking the thermometer: data, truth and public knowledge at risk,” chaired by Tamara Ben Ari (INRAE, UMR Innovation).

Her presentation focused on the role of science in public debate and decision‑making, and on the interplay between political freedoms and scientific freedoms.

During her talk, Julie Subervie explained how economic and political pressures can bias or hide data concerning the health impact of pesticides.

• PEvent web page>>>

Article Pesticides and health: when access to data conditions scientific proof appeared first on Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier.