Robert Costanza

**Robert Costanza** (born 14 September 1950) is an American ecological economist and the Gund Professor of Ecological economics and Director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont.

## Biography

Robert Costanza was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied architecture and urban and regional planning from the University of Florida and got a Masters degree. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1979 in systems ecology, with a minor in economics.

In 1982, he was selected as a Kellogg National Fellow, in 1992 he was awarded the Society for Conservation Biology Distinguished Achievement Award and in 1993 he was selected as a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment. In 1998, he was awarded the Kenneth Boulding Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions in Ecological Economics. In 2000, he received an honorary doctorate in natural sciences from Stockholm University.

Before he moved to Vermont in August 2002, he was director of the University of Maryland, College Park Institute for Ecological Economics, and a professor in the Center for Environmental Science, at Solomons, and in the Biology Department at College Park.

Costanza is co-founder and past-president of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) and was chief editor of the society’s journal _Ecological Economics_ from its inception until 9/02. He serves on the editorial board of eight other international academic journals. He is president of the International Society for Ecosystem Health.

## Work

Dr. Costanza's research has focused on the interface between ecological and economic systems. This includes landscape level spatial simulation modeling; analysis of energy and material flows through economic and ecological systems; valuation of ecosystem services, biodiversity, and natural capital; and analysis of dysfunctional incentive systems and ways to correct them.

## Literature

Costanza is the author or co-author 16 books. and over 300 scientific papers. Books, a selection:
- 1991, _Ecological economics: The science and management of sustainability_.
- 1992, with Bryan Norton and Ben Haskell,_Ecosystem health: new goals for environmental management_.
- 1996, with Olman Segura and Juan Martinez-Alier, _Getting down to earth: practical applications of ecological economics_
- 1997, with John Cumberland, Herman Daly, Robert Goodland and Richard Norgaard, _An Introduction to Ecological Economics_
- 2000, with Tom Prugh and Herman Daly and _The local politics of global sustainability_.

- Articles, a selection
- 1998, Costanza et al. Principles for sustainable governance of the oceans. Science  281:198-199 (1998))
- 2008, Costanza, R. Current History (January 2008) An excellent six-page (including a concise chart) exposition of ecological economics.

- About Robert Costanza
His work has been cited in more than 1700 scientific articles since 1987 (according to the Science Citation Index) and more than 80 interviews and reports on his work have appeared in various media, including Newsweek, US News and World Report, the Economist, the New York Times, Science, Nature, National Geographic, and National Public Radio.

## Other websites

- Homepage Robert Costanza at the University of Vermont:
- Curriculum vitae of Robert Costanza, May 2008