Degradation Of Natural Capital Research Articles

User willingness to pay for natural resource conservation at Bach Long Vy Island, Vietnam

Tourism development plays a crucial role in creating employment, boosting the revenue of the economy, supporting to improve the living standard. While tourism provides many opportunities to improve the well-being of local communities, the expansion of tourism needs to be effectively managed to avoid the degradation of natural capital. Assessing resource awareness and use behavior is an effective way to determine the public’s commitment to natural resource conservation and restoration in protected areas. The research was performed in Bach Long Vy Island (BLVI) in Hai Phong city, Viet Nam which is the first National Marine protected area designated by the Vietnamese Government. The aim of this study was to estimate tourists’ Willingness to pay (WTP) for natural resource conservation at BLVI through using Contingent valuation method (CVM) with the single-bounded dichotomous choice technique and the random utility model. We estimate the average visitor WTP is VND 153 370 per year (approx. US$6.58), while the aggregate WTP of tourists for the environmental conservation is VND 7.67 million per year (approx. US$32 900) (currency conversions taken as the average rate in September 2020; US$1 to VND 23280). The calculated results show that income and gender factors have significant effects visitors WTP whereas age and education have opposite effects. The outcomes of this research demonstrate the potential tourism value of this island due to the natural amenities and high biodiversity, particularly originating from its marine ecosystems. This result provides valuable scientific information for decision makers and local authorities and should be useful in establishing strategies to prevent the deterioration of ecosystems at BLVI (e.g., an environmental charge or entrance fee), thus contributing to sustainable tourism development.

A versatile approach to assess circularity: The case of decoupling

Abstract Building on the empirical use of the IPAT, we develop a versatile approach to assess the environmental performance of circular economy (CE) strategies. Our proposition can distinguish activities by region, industry, process, or any other, and the product of environmental efficiency factors illustrating key drivers for CE implementation, e.g. GHG/materials and materials/product. CE is often linked to decoupling the economic activity from the degradation of natural capital. Hence, we illustrate our approach through the specific case of decoupling assessment. When combined with the Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA), we can quantify how much a single improvement towards material circularity contributes to an overall decoupling pathway. We tested the results provided in a Material Economics’ report to assess the potential for CE opportunities to reduce GHG emissions in four industries by 2050 in the EU. Our results reveal the progress expected from each CE opportunity in each industry to reach the reported conclusions, e.g., the contribution to reducing GHG emissions by 69 MtCO2 from the steel industry requires the overall environmental efficiency to improve by 67% from the baseline scenario. We also deduce the maximal increase in production for each material that would offset the benefits from implementing CE strategies.

Circular patterns of waste prevention and recovery

The growth of modern societies with their scientific, economic and social achievements was made possible by the cheap availability of fossil fuels. Side effects of fossil energy resources were the development of unsustainable production and consumption patterns, the degradation of natural capital, and the release of airborne, waterborne and solid waste. Consumption and environmental loading are not only related to fuels, but also to other material resources, such as minerals in general and rare earths in particular. The increasing shortage of crucial resources affects and constrains important economic sectors (e.g., electronic sectors, renewable energies, food production), thus placing a limit on further development and wellbeing. Concepts of sustainable economies and communities, with focus on the social dimension of development and also on the ecological and economic aspects at the same time, are gaining the attention of policy makers, managers, and investors, as well as local stakeholders (organisations, small and medium enterprises, individual citizens) and encouraging new development and business models globally referred to as the “circular economy”. The circular economy (CE) is a production and consumption system that is restorative by intention and design. Although there has been a relative decoupling of economic growth from resource use in recent decades, the gains made so far have been eaten up by a combination of economic growth and the rebound effect. There are two questions: (i) why has it been so hard to move from theory(most often from rhetoric) to practice and implementation, and (ii) how is it possible to promote an innovative and effective CE strategy in urban systems where 60% of world population is concentrated. This shift (design, networking, organisation, implementation, community planning) and related monitoring tools constitute the skeletonof the transition that needs to occur within both urban systems and economies. The point we make is that a society without waste is not only desirable, but also possible and necessary. We cannot wait longer and we cannot just accept small adjustments, increased end-of-pipe technologies and the usual interplay of promises and conflicts. The time for a massive and successful effort towards a radical change of lifestyles and production/consumptionpatterns is now, where the term "waste" itself is considered a symptom of societal illness, an indicator of immature economies, poor science and old-fashioned technology.

Principles for sustainable governance of the coastal zone: In the context of coastal disasters

As increasing numbers of the global population gravitate toward the coasts, pressure mounts on ecosystems and the infrastructure at coastal locations. In the coastal zone many problems have arisen, including coastal population growth and degradation of natural capital, from the neglect of the four capitals that enhance sustainability: natural, built, social and human. New strategies need to be devised that will allow coastal communities to continue to live in these regions without further degrading natural capital. The Brundtland Report initiated the idea of sustainability, which was further advanced at United Nations meetings in Stockholm (1972) and Rio de Janeiro (1992). Following these meetings and the adoption of Agenda 21, concern about growing pressures on the oceans lead to an Independent World Commission on the Oceans (IWCO) workshop where a number of Principles for Sustainable Governance of the Oceans ( Costanza, R., Andrade, F., et al., 1998) were developed. In the light of recent coastal disasters such as the Indonesian Tsunami (2004) and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (2005), this paper examines the current problems inherent in the coastal zone and attempts to develop new principles for sustainability using the IWCO derived principles as a springboard.