ecological economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty strong sustainability according to the common definition requires that different natural and economic capital stocks be maintained as physical quantities separately yet in a world of uncertainty this cannot be guaranteed to therefore define strong sustainability under uncertainty in an operational manner we propose to use the concept of viability viability means that the different components and functions of a dynamic stochastic system at any time remain in a domain where the future existence of these components and functions is guaranteed with sufficiently high probability we develop a unifying and general ecological economic concept of viability that encompasses the traditional ecological and economic notions of viability as special cases it provides an operational criterion of strong sustainability under a mild form of uncertainty and for medium spatial and temporal scales we illustrate this concept and demonstrate its usefulness by applying it to livestock grazing management in semi arid rangelands publication ecological economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty available from https www researchgate net publication 46490456 ecological economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty accessed apr 3 2017

storage and viability of a fishery with resource and market dephased seasonalities in this study we analyse the role of the storageregulation in a fishery s production process when theresource exploited and the market to which theproduction is exported are characterized by seasonaldephased oscillations for this purpose we built up adynamic model drawn from the french guyana shrimpfishery example the underlying objective of the modelis not the maximisation of a given criterion as wouldbe in the optimal control approach but merely themaintenance of the fishery s economical viability thefundamental principle is here to try to preserve asmany as possible viable control options theconditions to achieve and maintain this viability arecaptured in a certain number of constraints theanalysis points out periods and situations within theseason where the fishermen must anticipate theevolution of their storage to avoid violating thoseviability constraints the study also indicates howthe fishery s viability can be ensured even if theexploitation costs exceed the commercial value of thelandings for a finite part of the year however whenthe resource s and or market s oscillations are toolarge the fishery may be not viable any longer and itappears that the crisis can not be removed byinvesting in larger storage capacities

the rationality of a safe minimum standard the safe minimum standard sms is a policy shift to safety defaults to forestall irreversible outcomes critics charge an inconsistency what justifies business as usual cannot also justify switching to the sms currently the sms is only a procedural shift where economic optimality procedures are buttressed by extra special focus on uncertainty yet social welfare function may not be complete enough warranting a more fundamental sms shift numerous moral positions support this sms approach this sms also operationalizes the intolerable cost as a trigger point noting societies with lower tolerance for sacrifice must trigger the sms earlier

a viability analysis for a bio economic model abstract this paper presents a simple dynamic model dealing with the management of a marine renewable resource but instead of studying the ecological and economic interactions in terms of equilibrium or optimal control we pay much attention to the viability of the system or in a symmetric way to crisis situations these viability crisis situations are defined by a set of economic and biological state constraints the analytical study focuses on the compatibility between the state constraints and the controlled dynamics using the mathematical concept of viability kernel we reveal the situations and if possible management options to guarantee a perennial system going further we define overexploitation indicators by the time of crisis function in particular we point out irreversible overexploitation configurations related to the resource extinction

resilience in the dynamics of economy environment systems the ecological concept of resilience has begun to inform analysis of change in economy environment systems the linkages between resilience and the stability of dynamical systems are discussed along with its role in understanding of the evolution of such systems particular linkages discussed include those between resilience biodiversity and the sustainability of alternative states recent developments in modelling the resilience of joint economy environment systems suggest the advantages of analysing change in the system as a markov process the transition probabilities between states offering a natural measure of the resilience of the system in such states it is argued that this emergent property of the collaboration between ecology and economics has far reaching implications for the way we think about model and manage the environmental sustainability of economic development

a framework for the practical application of the concepts of critical natural capital and strong sustainability this paper develops a methodology for identifying that natural capital called critical natural capital cnc the maintenance of which is essential for environmental sustainability by consideration of the characteristics of natural capital of the environmental functions that these characteristics enable natural capital to perform and of the importance of these functions to humans and the biosphere it shows how sustainability standards in respect of these environmental functions may be derived the difference between the current situation and these standards is termed the sustainability gap the methodology that emerges from bringing these ideas together into a single analytical framework enables policy makers to identify the extent of current unsustainability the principal causes of it the elements and processes of natural capital the cnc which need to be maintained or restored to close the sustainability gap and the costs of so doing the framework should therefore be of use in identifying priorities and policies for moving towards environmental sustainability

on the joint determination of biological and economic systems abstract scarce natural resources and our choices to protect or develop them make ecological and economic systems jointly determined human choices affect nature nature affects human choices this essay considers whether a dynamic model that integrates details of an economic system and an ecosystem with explicit feedback links between them yields significantly different results than does ignoring these links we focus on the case of exotic invaders that put native species at risk in yellowstone national park the results suggest that integration does matter in each scenario cutthroat trout populations differ in both magnitude and survival rates depending on whether feedback is allowed between the two systems

on the foundation of a general theory of stocks abstract this essay develops the concept of stocks a conceptual notion designed to enable a clearer understanding of the interaction between the dynamics of ecosystems and the economy the notion of stocks is formulated in a general manner based on set theory the central attribute of a stock is its temporal durability seen thus stocks are suitable for depicting the influences a system s history has on its present and hence for analysing temporal developments since permanency is a temporal attribute the concept of stocks is not specifically limited to individual scientific disciplines and is suitable for interdisciplinary analysis the notion is applied to economic and ecological examples and generalised for stochastic sets the hierarchical structure of actual ecological economic systems can be analysed by distinguishing the stock perspective from a system view a theory of stocks may be a building block for the conceptual foundations of ecological economics

on the conceptual foundations of ecological economics a teleological approach abstract nature is characterised by the emergence and continued existence of far from equilibrium self organizing dissipative structures ffesods which can be described in terms of their genotypes potentialities and phenotypes realizations if a ffesods genotype is contained within its phenotype we call it an organism we can describe the behaviour of organisms as being teleological we offer three tele for organisms first telos self maintenance development and self realization second telos replication and renewal third telos service to other organisms to other species or to the whole of nature sustainability of an ecosystem requires a balance and harmony between these mutually supporting tele we define the related concepts of stock store and fund we can interpret all living activity be it natural or economic in terms of relationships between funds through the three tele we can characterise the environmental problems in the first world as stemming from too great an emphasis by humans on the first telos through consumerism and too little emphasis on the third telos in the third world we can identify environmental problems with an imbalance towards the second telos reproduction leading to a de emphasis of the third telos the long run solution to global environmental problems must lie in the re establishment of global harmony between the three tele of both humans and non humans

net national product as an indicator of sustainability net national product nnp can potentially serve several objectives among others to measure value added and to be an indicator of welfare in the aftermath of the world commission on environment and development however it also seems important to investigate whether the concept of nnp can serve as an indicator of sustainability my point of departure following hicks 1946 ch 14 is therefore to require that nnp should measure what can be consumed in the present period without reducing future consumption possibilities and in line with this to argue that the nnp should equal the maximum per capita consumption level that can be sustained if sufficiently many facilitating assumptions are made then a concept of nnp that serves as an exact indicator of sustainability can easily be constructed for instance for a closed economy with a constant population a stationary technology and with only one capital good it follows that the present does not reduce future consumption possibilities if and only if it does not decrease the stock of the single capital good hence under the assumption that the one capital good k is identical to the one consumption good x nnp defined as y x k measures the maximal sustainable consumption at time t because then x y is equivalent to k the purpose of this note is to establish that with multiple capital goods it is not in general possible to construct an exact indicator of sustainability on the

capital theory and the measurement of sustainable development an indicator of weak sustainability the measurement of sustainable development is not without considerable difficulties yet this should not detract from the positive advances that can be made in this direction in this paper we present one form that a weak sustainability indicator can take derived from a simple but intuitive savings rule it incorporates the idea that the level of overall capital stock should be non decreasing although subject to qualification at this stage some interesting results emerge from the application of the rule to 18 countries

sustainability as intergenerational fairness efficiency uncertainty and numerical methods this paper presents an economic model of sustainability defined as intergenerational fairness assuming that intergenerational fairness is an obligation of each generation a recursive optimization problem is obtained the problem has the advantage that uncertainty can readily be incorporated in the model and it can be solved numerically for a wide range of specifications the possibility of trade offs between efficiency and sustainability are discussed under plausible conditions it is shown that a sustainability obligation is met only if there is the expectation of economic growth

regulating district heating in romania legislative challenges and energy efficiency barriers abstract many states in eastern and central europe ece possess extensive district heating dh networks that were constructed during the days of communist rule in order to provide a universally accessible energy service that supported soviet development policies but the post communist transition was marked by the exacerbation of the sector s numerous technical economic regulatory and environmental problems accompanied by its abandonment in favour of alternative methods of domestic heating recent efforts to increase the use of dh in ece as a result of environmental and energy security concerns have taken place in an absence of critical context sensitive research the purpose of this paper is to explore the legal aspects of post communist dh reforms in romania with the aim of identifying some of the governance challenges faced by state authorities in managing the sector in broader terms we seek to explore the extent to which the romanian legislative framework is in a position to promote energy efficiency in dh this has been achieved via an analysis of formal policy documents government decrees strategic documents and laws pertaining to this sector as published and subsequently amended in the official gazette the conclusions of the paper identify the key regulatory issues in the sector especially with respect to the tariff setting process and the division of competences among different organisations in it while suggesting a set of policy steps and general restructuring approaches that could help overcome the current situation

environmental financing in european economies in transition the paper offers a perspective on environmental predicament of economies in transition emphasis is put on how these economies finance their environmental needs it is observed that the demand for environmental financing can be affected both by environmental policy measures such as internalization of externalities and by other factors such as the softness of budget constraints faced by firms the role of subsidies in many countries of the central and eastern european region provided through special purpose environmental funds is then scrutinized in particular the question is asked whether such funds crowd out commercial capital from the market conditions are discussed that would allow the funds to play their constructive environmental roles without crowding out private financing

sustainability under uncertainty a deontological approach a deontological or kantian approach to intergenerational fairness suggests that sustainability criteria should be imposed as prior constraints on the maximization of social preferences concerning the distribution of welfare between present and future generations in particular it is plausible to assert that each successive generation holds a duty to ensure that the expected welfare of its offspring is no less than its own perceived well being this moral rule implies a bias against actions that generate present benefits but impose the risk of irreversible future losses if the preservation of options would allow for improved decisions as new information became available

trade capital and the transition in central europe the potential for export oriented growth and the impact of official capital injections is assessed for five central european countries in the years 1990 2000 by means of a neoclassical simulation model export growth is essential for the transition to a market oriented economy and the recovery of central europe implying the need for trade liberalization by both the east and the west if this condition is being met satisfactory gdp growth rates appear possible even without external financial support

conservation in the optimal use of rangelands abstract in previous papers we have considered the optimal mix of biodiversity in semi arid rangelands focusing on the steady state this paper addresses the question of conservation in the optimal use of rangelands where conservation is understood to mean maintenance of the system in a natural state we consider a rangeland that may exist in one of two states in the natural state its dynamics are regulated by fire in the managed state its dynamics are regulated by grazing pressure by livestock we show that the optimal use of rangelands may include its maintenance in both states at different points in time depending on initial conditions and the set of relative prices

the assessment microeconomics of transition in eastern europe the dramatic political events of 1989 and 1990 when almost all the communist governments of eastern europe collapsed and new democratic governments were elected into office gave rise to a brief spell of euphoria the dead or dying hand of communism was lifted from the region and a future of capitalist abundance was supposedly as sured this naive but perfectly understandable euphoria was quickly dispelled by the grim economic reality facing the new governments al though nearly everywhere there was a commit ment more or less strong to bring about a transition to a market type economy a transition typically requiring stabilization extensive liberalization and privatization there was far less agreement on the speed sequencing and precise modalities of the process at the same time in certain countries much needed reform programmes could neither be agreed nor implemented effectively because of political disputes over the very nature and existence of the states concerned table 1 summarizes the economic and political situation in the whole re gion as of summer 1991

are the costs of cleaning up eastern europe exaggerated economic reform and the environment widespread concern has been expressed that the costs of reducing environmental pollution in eastern europe will divert substantial investment resources from the pool available for industrial modernization in fact apart from a number of severely damaged areas the general level of exposure to major pollutants in eastern europe is not high by comparison with the oecd countries even without specific environmental policies the process of general economic reform combined with energy conservation induced by higher energy prices will reduce emissions by nearly 50 percent a modest fraction of general investment in industrial modernization will deal with the remaining problems of current emissions provided that sensible systems of environmental charges are enforced the countries will then be faced with the problem of cleaning up the debris of past industrial activity which can be tackled over an extended period of years as in other industrial economies copyright 1991 by oxford university press

harvesting in an integrated general equilibrium model harvesting of prey biomass is analyzed in an integrated ecological economic system whose submodels a predator prey ecosystem and a simple economy are microfounded dynamic general equilibrium models these submodels are interdependent because the ecosystem responds to harvesting through the reactions of optimizing individual organisms by changing the provision of public ecosystem services to consumers general analytical results are derived regarding the impact of harvesting policies on short run equilibria of both submodels on population dynamics and on stationary states of the integrated model a key insight is that prey biomass carries a positive ecosystem price which needs to be added as a tax mark up to the economic price of harvested biomass to attain allocative efficiency further information on the dynamics is gained by resorting to numerical analysis of the policy regimes of zero harvesting laissez faire harvesting and efficient harvesting it is a matter of weighing costs and benefits of taking action whether the action is the inert one of leaving resources alone in order to conserve them or whether it involves exploiting a resource for so called material ends pearce 1976 p 320

on the north south trade in the americas and its ecological asymmetries there has been a long and intensive debate within the scientific community about the role of international trade in the development of countries during the last decades the focus of attention has moved from the pure economic level to the environmental aspects of international trade establishing a simplified system of north south trade for one reference period 2003 this paper attempts to test empirically the extent of potential asymmetries with regard to extracted material flows and contrasts the results with the economic benefits from trade in terms of value added the south is thereby represented by a selection of latin american countries brazil chile colombia ecuador and mexico the north comprises one of their main commercial partners the united states at the methodological level a multi regional input output analysis is used as the tool of investigation results generally support the hypothesis that the south was feeding the north s societal metabolism south north material exports were 1 6 times larger than north south material exports resulting in a net deficit for the south of 324 million tons moreover material intensity of exported commodities from the south was twice as high as that from the north it is worth highlighting however that part of the north south hypothesis fails for the sample of countries since the larger part of the economic surplus has remained in the south contrarily to what would have been expected