Principles Of Ecological Economics Research Articles

A Different View on the Country’s Sustainable Development Indicators – Latvia’s Example

Abstract The contemporary scientific and technical community claims that the new development paradigm will be based on the priority of the universal laws of nature, the principles of ecological economics and the widespread use of digital transformation. The analysis of the sustainable development strategy Latvia 2030 and the presented changes in the value of indicators showed that, it is quite difficult to put together a common unified picture of Latvia’s movement towards sustainable development. The main goal of the article is to present a new approach to the assessment of sustainable development and to monitoring system, using a system’s power changes analysis method. In the context of a Latvian sustainable development strategy, the authors presented the results of the formalisation of new approach to the sustainable development monitoring, using an invariant coordinate system in units of power (energy flow) in compare with calculated data in monetary terms. Calculations and the initial interpretation of the results of Latvia as well as of the five EU countries from the Baltic Sea region – Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Lithuania – were carried out for the period 1990.-2019. The presented indicators of sustainable development show that achieving the strategic goals of Latvia 2030 would be very difficult without any serious internal and external incentives. The results can provide a basis for creation of the development strategy both the country as a whole and each region separately.

Towards a dynamic and sustainable management of geological resources

Abstract The subsurface provides multiple resources, the exploitation of which has a lasting impact on future potential provision. Establishing sustainability in terms of fundamental principles, and fitting these principles into a practical framework, is an ongoing endeavour focused mainly on surface activities. The principles of ecological economics lead to six challenges that summarize the current limitations of implementing science-based sustainable management of geological resources in the medium to deep subsurface: integrating value pluralism, defining sustainable scale, evaluating interferences in the subsurface, guaranteeing environmental justice, optimizing environmental and economic efficiency and handling uncertainties. Assessing and managing geological reservoirs is particularly challenging because of slow resource regeneration, complex spatial and temporal interactions, concealment and naturally dictated opportunities. In answer to the challenges, visions are proposed that outline how an indicator framework is needed for guidance, how indicators require reservoir models with extended spatial and temporal scope, how differences in social values in relation to the environment are to be considered and how real option games combined with life cycle assessment can be used for optimizing efficiency. These individual solutions relate to different facets of the same problem, and can be integrated into one overarching solution that takes the form of dynamic multi-criteria decision analysis.

Rethinking work for a just and sustainable future

Except for sleep, humans spend more of their lifetimes on work than on any other activity. Many people take for granted the centrality of work in society, conceiving the prevailing 40 h workweeks in high-income countries as a ‘natural’ configuration of time. However, work and working time have been fiercely contested phenomena and have taken many different forms throughout history as they were reshaped by technological development, social struggle, and changing cultural values. Drawing on insight from history, anthropological research, and time use studies, this paper attempts to broaden the frames harnessing current debates about the future of work. First, we examine evolving conceptions of work in different cultures. Second, we review patterns of working time throughout history, contrasting some widely held assumptions against the background of the long durée. Finally, we present ideas and principles to rethink dominant conceptions about the meaning, purpose, volume, content, distribution, and remuneration of work along ecological economic principles of sustainability and justice.

Ecosystem Services and Human Wellbeing-Based Approaches Can Help Transform Our Economies

Despite wider recognition of human interdependence with the rest of nature, our economies continue to fail to adequately value ecosystem services. This failure is largely attributed to the economic frameworks and related measures that focus on the production and consumption of marketed goods and services, but do not consider the other essential elements upon which our lives depend. This paper highlights how the Ecosystem Services approach can shift the focus to human wellbeing while remaining within biophysical planetary boundaries. An Ecosystem Services approach applies three fundamental principles of Ecological Economics: sustainable scale, efficient allocation, and fair distribution, which are vital for sustainable economies and societies. We provide case studies, from both a local and national scale, demonstrating how such an approach offers a holistic perspective of understanding what “development” actually means. Transforming our economies to appropriately consider planetary limits, overcome societal addictions, learn from Indigenous and local communities about ways of sustainable living, and realizing the importance of ecosystem services will contribute to developing economies that are resilient, and that enhance sustainable human wellbeing.

Payment for Environmental Services to Promote Agroecology: The Case of the Complex Context of Rural Brazilian

Modern agriculture has generated complex environmental damages. Sustainable food production models must be encouraged. Agroecology is presented as a more sustainable option, since it brings a holistic view of these complex and interdependent elements: food production and environmental protection. However, this model is challenging to apply, which is intensified by the limitations imposed by environmental command and control instruments. This paper aims to analyze how the economic instrument of Payment for Environmental Services (PES) can be enhanced in order to promote the reproduction of agroecology in Brazil. PES and the main environmental economic theories behind this instrument were briefly analyzed. From the analyses of selected case studies, the core structural and essential issues revolving failures of the current Brazilian PES programs have been identified. The hypothesis states that PES should migrate from the Environmental Neoclassical Economics’ logic and be grounded on the principles of Ecological Economics. Based in our analysis, PES should be able to promote agroecology in Brazil reading 3 key drivers: being mainly non-monetary, public and applying a systemic approach. Following this strategy would mean overcoming the market logic, whilst allowing public participation.

REIMAGINING FOREST POLICY, INSTITUTIONS AND INSTRUMENTS THROUGH CONCEPTS OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND SOCIAL INNOVATIONS: A FOCUS ON UKRAINE

The reality of forest sector in Ukraine doesn't correspond fully to high societal expectations. The issues of illegal logging and corruption, management of multiple ecosystem services, the recent ban on round wood export, a lack of transparency have become a concern not only for NGOs but also for mass-media and local communities. It has caused an increase of forest conflicts and worsening of the attitudes towards forestry profession. Institutional transformations in the sector have started and positive trends are observed, but the rules of the game have not changed substantially so far. Additionally, administrative and financial decentralization has not been achieved. Forest policy is strongly state-oriented and follows a top-down approach of organization, although public boards have been introduced to advise regional and central offices of the Agency of Forest Resources. There is a lack of policy coordination and weak cross-sectoral coordination. Although market instruments have been increasingly applied and certification efforts have been intensified, there is still room for deliberately involving governmental, civil society and private sector actors. Analysis of laws, governmental programs and its practical implementation shows that previous policies and strategies did not take into account full range of ecosystem services and the climate change implications on forest management. The evolution of forest policy as a science and as a process is analysed from different perspectives. It is concluded that the principles of ecological economics should be considered as a theoretical foundation for the creation of effective international, national and regional forest policies. The conditions defined would promote that forest policy would correspond to societal expectations. Especial attention is paid to policiy development which integrate ecosystem services in decision-making and stimulate social innovation to overcome the government and market failures.

Has the World Really Survived the Population Bomb? (Commentary on “How the World Survived the Population Bomb: Lessons From 50 Years of Extraordinary Demographic History”)

In his PAA presidential address and corresponding article in Demography, David Lam (Demography 48:1231-1262, 2011) documented the extraordinary progress of humankind-vis-à-vis poverty alleviation, increased schooling, and reductions in mortality and fertility-since 1960 and noted that he expects further improvements by 2050. However, although Lam briefly covered the problems of global warming and pollution, he did not address several other major environmental problems that are closely related to the rapid human population growth in recent decades and to the progress he described. This commentary highlights some of these problems to provide a more balanced perspective on the situation of the world. Specifically, humans currently are using resources at an unsustainable level. Groundwater depletion and overuse of river water are major problems on multiple continents. Fossil fuel resources and several minerals are being depleted. Other major problems include deforestation, with the annual forest clearing globally estimated to be an area the size of New York State; and species extinction, with rates estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times higher than background rates. Principles of ecological economics are presented that allow an integration of ecology and economic development and better potential for preservation of the world for future generations.

Conserving Mangrove Ecosystems in the Philippines: Transcending Disciplinary and Institutional Borders

Humans are rapidly depleting critical ecosystems and the life support functions they provide, increasing the urgency of developing effective conservation tools. Using a case study of the conversion of mangrove ecosystems to shrimp aquaculture, this article describes an effort to develop a transdisciplinary, transinstitutional approach to conservation that simultaneously trains future generations of environmental problem solvers. We worked in close collaboration with academics, non-government organizations, local government and local communities to organize a workshop in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. The primary objectives of the workshop were to: (1) train participants in the basic principles of ecological economics and its goals of sustainable scale, just distribution and efficient allocation; (2) learn from local community stakeholders and participating scientists about the problems surrounding conversion of mangrove ecosystems to shrimp aquaculture; (3) draw on the skills and knowledge of all participants to develop potential solutions to the problem; and (4) communicate results to those with the power and authority to act on them. We found that the economic and ecological benefits of intact mangroves outweigh the returns to aquaculture. Perversely, however, private property rights to mangrove ecosystems favor inefficient, unjust and unsustainable allocation of the resource-a tragedy of the non-commons. We presented the workshop results to the press and local government, which shut down the aquaculture ponds to conserve the threatened ecosystem. Effective communication to appropriate audiences was essential for transforming research into action. Our approach is promising and can be readily applied to conservation research and advocacy projects worldwide, but should be improved through adaptive management-practitioners must continually build on those elements that work and discard or improve those that fail.

GIS Based Analysis of Growth Management and Environmental Decline of the Central Mississippi Region

This paper examines the changing growth patterns along the Central Mississippi Planning District and then offers growth management strategies for ameliorating the situation. To analyze these trends, the project adopts a time series approach and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping of socio-economic and environmental data from the United States Census across time and space. Existing regional statistics shows that the region has been undergoing some major changes due to growth. The nature of growth in the area is so one dimensional that sustainable growth anchored in ecological economic principles is sacrificed for short-term economic gains. This comes at an era when other counties in the United States are embracing the tenets of sustainable communities as a way of making cities livable for posterity. Not only has the population growth been moving at a geometric progression, but the area's agricultural land base and ecological indicators have experienced a decline over the years.

Grounding the ecological economics paradigm with ten core principles

To date, attempts at determining what ecological economics is have focused on what is required to ensure a correct balance between ecology and economics; that is, on ensuring ecological economics is not too much of one and not too little of the other. This has led to the emergence of process-oriented definitions of ecological economics. While such definitions are useful, they are informative only to the extent that they reveal what the initial conception of ecological economics has involved and what process its continued evolution is likely to entail. For ecological economics to succeed, there is a need for a precept-oriented definition and the establishment of core principles to distinguish it from mainstream economics. Without core principles, and without a general consensus amongst ecological economists as to what these principles are, the confusion regarding what ecological economics is will continue. This paper puts forward a precept-oriented definition of ecological economics. It also outlines how a set of core ecological economic principles might best be established. Finally, it details the likely nature of these principles and what effect they will have on the policies prescribed and indicators employed by ecological economists.