Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability

Ecological economics is a new cross-disciplinary approach to understanding and managing the ecology and economics of our world for sustainability, on local, regional, and global scales. Representing work from scholars around the globe, the thirty-two chapters in this volume cover the basic world view of ecological economics; accounting, modeling, and analysis of ecological economic systems; institutional change and case studies.Part I focuses on defining the basic world view of ecological economics, and how and why it differs from conventional approaches. This section includes the historical precedents for ecological economics; discussions of the root cause of the problems facing humanity; insights into the problems of sustainability, discounting, and valuation; and ways to deal with the uncertainty inherent in ecological economics. Part II focuses on accounting, modeling, and analysis of ecological economic systems. Methods fro incorporating natural capital and services national income accounting are given along with an elaborate modeling system for regional analysis. An analysis of resource scarcity rounds out this segment. Part III explores institutional changes necessary to achieve sustainability and presents case studies of ecological engineering in the U.S. and China, the Baltic Sea region, agro-industrial ecosystems, Brazil, and the management of moist tropical forests.

Robert Costanza is Associate Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies, Coastal and Environmental Policy Program.