[PDF] Weak Versus Strong Sustainability eBook

Author : Eric Neumayer
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 46,4 MB
Release : 2010-01-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1849805431

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This third edition of an enduring and popular book has been fully updated and revised, exploring the two opposing paradigms of sustainability in an insightful and accessible way. Eric Neumayer contends that central to the debate on sustainable development is the question of whether natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital. Proponents of weak sustainability maintain that such substitutability is possible, whilst followers of strong sustainability regard natural capital as non-substitutable. The author examines the availability of natural resources for the production of consumption goods and the environmental consequences of economic growth. He identifies the critical forms of natural capital in need of preservation given risk, uncertainty and ignorance about the future and opportunity costs of preservation. He goes on to provide a critical discussion of measures of sustainability. Indicators of weak sustainability such as Genuine Savings and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare also known as the Genuine Progress Indicator are analysed, as are indicators of strong sustainability, including ecological footprints, material flows and sustainability gaps. This book will prove essential reading for students, scholars and policymakers with an interest in ecological and environmental economics and sustainable development.

Author : Eric Neumayer
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 36,67 MB
Release : 2010
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN :

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This insightful book explores the limits of the two opposing paradigms of sustainability in an accessible way. It examines the availability of natural resources for the production of consumption goods and services, and the environmental consequences of economic growth. The critical forms of natural capital in need of preservation given risk, uncertainty and ignorance about the future are also examined. The author provides a critical discussion of measures of sustainability. As indicators of weak sustainability, he analyses Genuine Savings and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, also known as the Genuine Progress Indicator. Indicators of strong sustainability covered include ecological footprints, material flows, sustainability gaps and other measures, which combine the setting of environmental standards with monetary valuation.

Author : Sylvie Faucheux
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 50,48 MB
Release : 1998
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN :

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This important new book develops an ecological-economics perspective on sustainability at the regional, national and international level. It explores prospects for sustainable development using methods firmly grounded in empirical reality, as well as emphasizing scientific, economic and socio-political concerns. This approach is based on the construction of non-monetary indicators for sustainability, and the application of cost-effectiveness analyses to identify robust alternatives for the achievement of specified policy norms. In calculating the requirements for sustainability the contributors attach importance to multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA) methods of analysis to evaluate the key components of sustainability and help assess the sustainability of aregional or national economic development trajectory. Case studies of water pollutants in the Bretagne region in France and greenhouse gas reduction in Europe are used to investigate resource allocation from this perspective. The contributors utilize the M3ED model - a structural economy-environment simulation model which gives a multi-sectoral representation of a national economy's production, final consumption and environmental pressures - to explore feasible economic futures. It is applied to scenarios in France to demonstrate ways that prospects for sustainability can be investigated at a national level. The contributors compare and contrast these models with the aims of more typical neoclassical modelling in their search for the most effective approaches to defining operational measures for sustainability. This book will be of great interest to academics in the field of ecological and environmental economics and to policymakers and planners in government and industry.

Author : Ignacio Ayestaran
Publisher : KIT Scientific Publishing
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 43,30 MB
Release : 2011
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 3866446276

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The emergence of a global and technological world and its accelerating, dissemination before the beginning of the 21st century does not only give rise to technological, economic, social, environmental, political, and educational tasks. Significant philosophical questions, epistemic reflections, and cultural debates result. The aim of this book is to provide information about epistemic, ethical, and cultural implications of sustainable development on an interdisciplinary and international level.

Author : Mohan Munasinghe
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 689 pages
File Size : 41,87 MB
Release : 2019-05-23
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1108404154

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Provides a rigorous analysis of sustainable development that includes practical, policy-relevant, global case studies, explained concisely and clearly.

Author : Alan James Bond
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 12,61 MB
Release : 2013
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 0415598486

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Currently the writing on the subject is limited and comprises, for the most part, guidance documents and completed assessments.

Author : Sylvie Faucheux
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 16,83 MB
Release : 2013-03-14
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9401731888

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3 decision support techniques that do not depend exclusively on market incentives and monetary valuation. The World Conservation Strategy published by the mCN (1980) recognised the full dimensions of these problems, and introduced the concept of sustainable development, placing the emphasis on the exploitation of natural systems and the use of biological natural resources within limits so that the availability of these resources for use by future generations would not be jeopardised by the current use of them. At this time, the imposition of quotas and the definition of critical loads and environmental standards were suggested as the sorts of instruments necessary to cope with the problems of limited availability of environmental resources. Although the mCN publication did not obtain a high international profile, the idea of policy norms to respect critical loads has become quite widely accepted in the environmental policymaking of Western countries. This has often put the policy agencies in difficult situations. Polluting industries are inclined to argue that the critical loads are defined too restrictively. The complexity and time lags of ecological effects makes it hard to say exactly what constitutes a critical load beyond which there will be irreversible damage, and lobbying interests can play on these uncertainties to try and weaken the environmental standards. In addition, polluting industries can use the argument of negative impacts on "the economy" (particularly as regards employment and export prospects) to blackmail governments, regulatory agencies and the general public.

Author : David William Pearce
Publisher : Earthscan
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 47,82 MB
Release : 1993
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781853831522

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The author looks at the challenge facing agriculture today and details the concepts and characteristics of alternative, sustainable agricultural practices. Empirical evidence from a diverse range of agro-ecological and community setting show the impact of more sustainable practices. In addition existing policy frameworks and institutional processes are considered and alternatives, which are known to work, are presented

Author : Karl Johan Bonnedahl
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 33,44 MB
Release : 2018-09-27
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1351173626

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The response of the international community to the pressing socio-ecological problems has been framed around the concept of ‘sustainable development’. The ecological pressure, however, has continued to rise and mainstream sustainability discourse has proven to be problematic. It contains an instrumental view of the world, a strong focus on technological solutions, and the premise that natural and human-made ‘capitals’ are substitutable. This trajectory, which is referred to as ‘weak sustainability’, reproduces inequalities, denies intrinsic values in nature, and jeopardises the wellbeing of humans as well as other beings. Based on the assumptions of strong sustainability, this edited book presents practical and theoretical alternatives to today’s unsustainable societies. It investigates and advances pathways for humanity that are ecologically realistic, ethically inclusive, and receptive to the task’s magnitude and urgency. The book challenges the traditional anthropocentric ethos and ontology, economic growth-dogma, and programmes of ecological modernisation. It discusses options with examples on different levels of analysis, from the individual to the global, addressing the economic system, key sectors of society, alternative lifestyles, and experiences of local communities. Examining key topics including human–nature relations and wealth and justice, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental and development studies, ecological economics, environmental governance and policy, sustainable business, and sustainability science.

Author : Peter Glynn
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 49,3 MB
Release : 2017-04-28
Category : Climatic changes
ISBN : 1786430126

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This impartial study analyses the role of employer’s organisations and trade unions in climate change policy and its impacts on the labour market. The policies of government to manage greenhouse gas emissions will require business to change its product and service delivery arrangements, which in turn means labour requirements will also change. The book also considers whether labour market issues should be explicit in the theoretical framework of ecological modernisation as it guides the policy development process.