Russian Society for Ecological Economics (RSEE) has initiated its activities in 1989 in Irkutsk on the basis of the Irkutsk Computing Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, as an independent informal group of academic researchers, focusing mainly on ecological-economic modeling of regional development. First and most important applications of this approach were implemented at the Lake Baikal region. Two All-Russia Conferences were held (1989, 1991) near Irkutsk, and several publications appeared, advertising the ecologically sustainable approaches to economic development in a region.

In August 1992, at the Stockholm Meeting of the International Society for Ecological Economics, a discussion between Robert Costanza (ISEE President) and Paul Safonov took place and the plans for joint activities were drawn. The By-Laws of the Russian regional branch of ISEE were drafted, and they were adopted by the ISEE Board of Directors in the beginning of 1993. Finally, through a publication in the ISEE Newsletter in April 1993, the Russian Society for Ecological Economics has obtained the international status as the ISEE Russian Chapter (ISEE/RC), and became a member of the international community of ecological economists.

The initial staff of the ISEE/RC officers was:

President: Prof. Vladimir I. Gurman, Deputy Director of the Program Systems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (Pereslavl-Zalessky)
Vice-President: Dr. Renat A. Perelet, Institute for Systems Analysis, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow)
Executive Director: Dr. Paul I. Safonov, Institute of Control Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow)
Secretary-Treasurer: Dr. Tatyana V. Chemezova, Irkutsk State University (Irkutsk).

Also the Russian Regional Council for Ecological Economics was created, as a consultative body of the RSEE, aimed at independent assessment and advisory support for activities in the field of ecological economics in Russia and cooperation with other states of the NIS. The members of the first Council included Prof. Victor I. Danilov-Danilian, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Russia, Prof. Nikita N. Moiseev, Russian Academy of Sciences, a Member of the President’s Advisory Council, Prof. Ivery V. Prangishvily, Director of the Institute of Control Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences.

The Secretariat of the Russian Chapter is located at the Institute of Control Sciences (ICS), Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow. Several local centers were created in Russia (Pereslavl-Zalessky, Irkutsk, Rostov-on-Don, Tyumen’, Krasnoyarsk, Chita, Novgorod, Saratov, St.Petersburg, and other), and in NIS (Kirgizstan, Turkmenistan). Since spring 1993 the ISEE/RC has enrolled numerous members, over 50 of whom were also the members of the ISEE at different time.

The First International Conference of ISEE/RC took place in Moscow and Pereslavl-Zalessky (1993). In his greeting to the Conference the Russian Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Prof. Victor Danilov-Danilian has emphasized the role the Russian Society for Ecological Economics and its cooperation with ISEE for the broadest understanding in the society of the major principles and strategies of the rational economic usage of Russian natural resources. The establishment of science/technoparks and ecopolises in different regions of Russia was encouraged by the minister who considered them important sources of new, environmentally sound and sustainable socio-economic systems based on ecological economic principles, monitoring of the natural environment and socio-economic processes. Professor Ann-Mari Jansson (Stockholm University), former ISEE Vice-President, has discussed the emergence of the ecological economics paradigm at her invited plenary talk at this Conference and has welcomed RSEE members to the activities of ISEE.

Since 1993, ISEE/RC holds International Conferences every odd year (Moscow and Pereslavl-Zalessky in 1993, Pereslavl-Zalessky in 1995, Novgorod in 1997, and Saratov in 1999). The results of the last conferences are being prepared for publication in English and Russian. Next Conference is preliminary planned to be held in Moscow (2001), and negotiations are in process to organise the following meetings in Siberia and/or in Crimea.
.
Among ISEE/RC activities there was also an expedition to Lake Baikal and its basin in summer 1993, aimed at attracting the attention of the international community to the urgency of solving ecological and economic problems of this region which is a unique natural system of world significance.

In 1994 ISEE/RC undertook a joint project with ISEE (supported by Charles Mott Foundation, Flint, Michigan) to translate four books in the field of ecological economics.from English into Russian.

In November 1997, upon the decision of the ISEE/RC Business meeting at the Third biannial conference in Novgorod (July 1997), the elections of ISEE/RC officers were held and the new officers were elected for the period 1998-2001.


President		 Paul Safonov
Dr. Paul Safonov is a co-founder of the ISEE Russian Chapter and served as its Executive Director since the Chapter creation (1993) till 1997. He was the principal organizer of ISEE/RC conferences (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001), and manager of ISEE/RC international projects. Dr. Safonov holds a master degree in Economics and Mathematics, and a Ph.D. in Engineering (computer modeling of ecological-economic regional development) from Russian Academy of Sciences, and he is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Control Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. Dr. Safonov was visiting researcher and lecturer in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, USA, and contributed to many international conferences. He has over 40 publications and he is a reviewer of the “Ecological Economics” Journal, and contributing editor of “the ecological economics bulletin“, as well as co-edits a book on the results of ISEE/RC conferences (publication is planned at Edward Elgar Publishers, UK).
Vice-Presidenton Policy and Publications Pavel Kasyanov Dr. Pavel Kasyanov is former Director of the Centre for Preparation and Implementation of International Projects on Technical Assistance (Moscow), and formerly headed a subdivision at Economic Department of Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. He holds Ph.D. in Economics (economic issues of natural resource use and environmental protection) from St-Petersbourg State Mining Institute. Dr. Kasyanov participated in developing a number of State documents, including Draft of the State strategy of Sustainable Development (1997), Draft of the Concept of the State Policy of natural resource use (1997), Draft Federal Law “On state property over natural resources” (1996-97), Decree “On privatization of the environmentally unfavorable enterprises” (1995). He has about 30 publications and he participated in a number of international conferences, working groups and projects, in particular he was a co-ordinator (for NIS and CEE counties) of the UNEP Natural resource valuation Project.
Vice-Presidenton Meeting Planning Anatoly Popov
Dr. Anatoly Popov is doctor of technical sciences, professor of Saratov Technical University, member of the Russian ecological Academy, President of the Saratov Regional affiliate of the Russian ecological Academy. He is a specialist in the field of ecological and industrial security. Dr. Popov has over 150 publications. He is one of the authors of the economic mechanism for the environmental protection at the regional level. He participated in the ecological economic projects in Kazakhstan, and at present he is actively working on the problems of safety statements/declarations and ecological insurance of risky objects. Dr. Popov was a principal local organizer of the Fourth ISEE/RC conference in Saratov (July 1999).
Secretary-Treasurer Sergey Andriushenko
Dr. Sergey Andriushenko is a member of the ISEE Russian Chapter since 1997. He holds degrees of Ph.D. in Economics (economical problems of heat-supply of agricultural enterprises) from Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institute, and Doctor of Economical Sciences from Russian Academy of Sciences (economical and ecological problems of the long-term development of the regional agrosystems). He is Head of the Laboratory of Economical Ecology of Regional Agrosystems of Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex, RAS, Saratov. Dr. Andriushenko has over 40 publications and has obtained scientific experience at numerous conferences and research projects of RAS, Russian federal and region governments.
Executive Director Alexander Mironychev
Dr. Alexander Mironychev is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Systems Analysis, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. He received his M.Sc. at Moscow Physical-Technical Institute, Department of Control and Applied Mathematics, and Ph.D. in Phys-Math. (systems modelling of economic dynamics). Dr. Mironychev has participated in research projects on Simulation of Ecological-Economic Scenarios for Russia Development (1996), Purchasing Power of Dollar in Russian Transitional Economy (1995, funded by Word Bank), Forecast of Ecological Consequences for Socio-Economic Development of Russia (1994); Computer System of Models for Ecological-Economic Simulations (1993), Computer system of Econometric Models for Russia (1992). He had scholarships in Georgia Institute of Technology, USA; University of Bonn, Germany; University of Mannheim, Germany, and is an active member of ISEE/RC since 1993.

The Fourth ISEE/RC Conference took place in Saratov, July 1999. Over 80 papers were presented in front of about 150 participants. The project of preparation of selected works of last ISEE/RC conferences for publication is underway with Edward Elgar Publishers, U.K.
In May 2001 the Administration of the ISEE/RC adopted a decision about future development of the ISEE Russian Chapter more broadly as the Russian Society for Ecological Economics (RSEE). So the name of the Society will be abbreviated as RSEE (ISEE/RC) from now. The new RSEE Consitution and By-Laws are being recently developed to reflect the recent changes in the Russian and the International Societies for Ecological Economics. Fifth RSEE (ISEE/RC) Conference ISEE/RC’2001took place in Moscow in September 2001, where the organisational meeting was held concerning this transition. In February 2002 the new Administrative Board was elected for the period of 2002-2003.

RSEE (ISEE/RC) welcomes the members of ISEE and all those concerned about the ecological economics problems to join their activities and to participate in the joint research projects.