Introduction

This successful series first started in Peniscola, Spain (1997) and continued in Lemnos, Greece (1999); Alicante, Spain (2001); Siena, Italy (2003); Cadiz, Spain (2005); Coimbra, Portugal (2007); Chianciano Terme, Italy (2009) and Alicante, Spain (2011).

The aim of the conference is to encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary communication between scientists, engineers, economists and professionals working in ecological systems and sustainable development. Emphasis is given to those areas that will benefit from the application of scientific methods for sustainable development, including the conservation of natural systems around the world. The conference objectives have evolved over the years, seeking to integrate thermodynamics, ecology and economics into ‘ecodynamics’.

ECOSUD is a challenge for the creation of a new science in line with Prigogine’s statement that “at all levels we observe events associated with the emergence of novelties and narrative elements, which we may associate with the creative power of nature”.