tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/ecological-economics-15916/articlesecological economics – The Conversation2023-07-19T00:50:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2098682023-07-19T00:50:02Z2023-07-19T00:50:02ZAustralia’s first wellbeing framework is about to measure what matters – but it’s harder than counting GDP<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538181/original/file-20230719-21-h41mg3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=388%2C163%2C1304%2C635&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">MickTsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In an implicit admission that the Commonwealth budget may not measure what really matters, Treasurer Jim Chalmers is about to release what he is calling “<a href="https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/measuring-what-matters-2022">Measuring What Matters</a>” – Australia’s first national wellbeing framework.</p>
<p>The statement was to have been released as part of this year’s May budget, and an earlier <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2749/Measuring_What_Matters_October_budget_2022.pdf">hurriedly-prepared</a> attempt was included in Chalmers’ 2022 budget.</p>
<p>Chalmers’ description of it as Australia’s “<a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/speeches/address-2023-sambell-oration-melbourne">first</a>” national wellbeing framework is an acknowledgement that first wellbeing statement didn’t amount to a framework. Chalmers says he is “up for the necessary conversations” needed to improve the framework further.</p>
<p>The one he is about to release has benefited from more than <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/speeches/address-2023-sambell-oration-melbourne">280</a> submissions and the time needed to distil everything that matters for wellbeing into five broad themes, made up of about 50 indicators the treasury will track through time.</p>
<p>Chalmers says the themes are the extent to which Australia is </p>
<ul>
<li><p>healthy</p></li>
<li><p>secure</p></li>
<li><p>sustainable</p></li>
<li><p>cohesive</p></li>
<li><p>prosperous.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In what turned out to be a parallel process, we have been developing what we call an “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/46095">integrated science of wellbeing</a>” and have just published a book with 21 contributions on the subject through Oxford University Press.</p>
<p>One of us has a background in psychology, one in medicine, and two in social sciences, ecology, and economics. </p>
<p>Among the 45 authors who have contributed chapters are specialists in a range of topics, including ageing, architecture, biodiversity, compassion, governance, Indigenous studies, population, psychology, sustainability, and trauma.</p>
<h2>Everything is connected</h2>
<p>All of the authors were asked to relate their work to other aspects of wellbeing, so that each chapter considered interconnections.</p>
<p>Behind this was an understanding that things depend on each other – meaning that giving a score to one element of wellbeing, without examining how it impacts on other elements of wellbeing, can give us the wrong idea about how to make things better.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537600/original/file-20230716-15992-rpfbuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537600/original/file-20230716-15992-rpfbuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537600/original/file-20230716-15992-rpfbuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537600/original/file-20230716-15992-rpfbuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537600/original/file-20230716-15992-rpfbuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537600/original/file-20230716-15992-rpfbuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537600/original/file-20230716-15992-rpfbuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537600/original/file-20230716-15992-rpfbuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://academic.oup.com/book/46095">Oxford University Press</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As an example, anger is generally regarded as deleterious to wellbeing and worth minimising. But if minimising anger meant less action on climate change, minimising it might make us worse off.</p>
<p>And some of the things that are incredibly important for wellbeing are hard to measure, including what happens within relationships or access to sunlight.</p>
<p>Related to these are the design of cities and their integration with hospital and health services. These matter for the quality of dying, as well as living.</p>
<p>Lying behind much of what matters is inequality – which can be worsened by a misplaced focus on GDP growth at all costs – and the natural environment, most of which is missing from standard measures of GDP.</p>
<h2>Global work on wellbeing</h2>
<p>At the government level, wellbeing is being espoused by the <a href="https://wellbeingeconomy.org/wego">Wellbeing Economy Governments</a> (which so far includes Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales, Finland, and Canada). </p>
<p>It’s also being coordinated across the hundreds of groups working on this issue by the <a href="https://weall.org/about-weall">Wellbeing Economy Alliance</a>, funded by philanthropic foundations.</p>
<p>While their objectives are still being refined, they (and Chalmers’ objectives) don’t differ much from the five goals identified more than 30 years ago by pioneers in the field of <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Ecological_Economics/3b43BAAAQBAJ?hl=en">ecological economics</a>: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>to stay within planetary biophysical boundaries</p></li>
<li><p>to meet all fundamental human needs</p></li>
<li><p>to create and maintain a fair distribution of resources, income, and wealth</p></li>
<li><p>to bring about an efficient allocation of resources that allows human development and flourishing </p></li>
<li><p>to create governance systems that are transparent, fair, responsive, just and accountable.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We are about to find out how well Chalmers and his department have integrated these objectives, and how well they think Australia is doing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-wellbeing-budget-what-we-can-and-cant-learn-from-nz-186725">Australia's wellbeing budget: what we can – and can't – learn from NZ</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209868/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new wellbeing framework, set to be released, has five broad themes and about 50 indicators treasury will track over time. Our new book shows how important but difficult measuring wellbeing can be.Robert Costanza, Professor of Ecological Economics, UCLElizabeth Rieger, Associate Director Education (Psychology), School of Medicine & Psychology, Australian National UniversityIda Kubiszewski, Associate Professor, Institute for Global Prosperity, UCLPaul Dugdale, Director ANU Centre for Health Stewardship, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1708202021-12-13T14:19:16Z2021-12-13T14:19:16ZGDP ignores the environment: why it’s time for a more sustainable growth metric<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436964/original/file-20211210-149721-10wthgw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C5975%2C3950&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers have estimated the gross ecosystem product (GEP) of Qinghai province in China.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jiaye Liu / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For more than 70 years, Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, has been the key yardstick by which nations have measured economic progress. But GDP is designed to exclusively account for the monetary benefits accrued from economic activity. It is blind to the degradation of the natural environment, finite resources and human wellbeing. It’s time we came up with something better.</p>
<p>Without ever having to acknowledge how nature has contributed to economic growth, GDP has promoted unsustainable practices that have contributed to the climate and biodiversity emergencies. To put it another way, GDP is like a ledger that will not accept red ink. Like an accounting trick, it has allowed us to vent greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, destroy habitats and neglect human wellbeing without ever having to worry about the consequences.</p>
<p>Of course, the current environmental disaster was something that the economist Simon Kuznets did not have to consider when he <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/01/03/gdp-a-brief-history/">developed the concept</a> in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s. But notwithstanding its limitations, something Kuznets was himself aware of, GDP has become the main economic indicator in use today. This puts policy makers who are trying to limit global warming in somewhat of a bind.</p>
<h2>Gross Ecosystem Product</h2>
<p>As such, we need to start looking at alternative metrics such as Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) so that we can account for nature’s contribution to economic activity and human wellbeing.</p>
<p>Although research into <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/25/14593">calculating GEP</a> is only in its infancy, it attempts to place a monetary value on things like clean water, soil quality, food security, healthcare and the culturally-significant landscapes that contribute to our happiness. In other words, GEP assigns a dollar value to the work of bees who act as nature’s pollinators, bogs that sequester carbon, and the stimulating effect nature has on our mental health.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437216/original/file-20211213-13-3f7s4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two bees and a yellow flower" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437216/original/file-20211213-13-3f7s4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437216/original/file-20211213-13-3f7s4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437216/original/file-20211213-13-3f7s4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437216/original/file-20211213-13-3f7s4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437216/original/file-20211213-13-3f7s4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437216/original/file-20211213-13-3f7s4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437216/original/file-20211213-13-3f7s4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bees: good for GEP.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RUKSUTAKARN studio / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While GDP looks exclusively at the value of production – or outputs – GEP instead places a value on nature’s input and incentivises policy makers to invest in nature. It would be naive to simply add both measures together and come up with an overall figure, since both metrics overlap in numerous areas. But the two measures can still provide decision makers with complementary information that could help allow for sustainable economic growth into the future.</p>
<h2>Exporting ecosystem services – and boosting GEP</h2>
<p>For example, the Chinese government has been experimenting with the implementation of GEP in Qinghai province – a remote region of the Tibetan plateau that contains the source of the Mekong, Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.</p>
<p>There, researchers found that GEP was far greater than GDP in the year 2000, 81.5 vs. 26 billion Yuan. At that point, there was considerably more useful ecosystem activity than human economic activity. </p>
<p>However by 2015 GEP had shrunk to three quarters the size of GDP, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/25/14593">185.4 vs. 242 billion Yuan</a>. This suggests greater investment had been made in traditional economic growth at the expense of the environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437218/original/file-20211213-13-4xfcmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="River winds through large valley" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437218/original/file-20211213-13-4xfcmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437218/original/file-20211213-13-4xfcmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437218/original/file-20211213-13-4xfcmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437218/original/file-20211213-13-4xfcmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437218/original/file-20211213-13-4xfcmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437218/original/file-20211213-13-4xfcmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437218/original/file-20211213-13-4xfcmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Several huge rivers begin on the high plateaus of Qinghai province.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DMHJ / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Intriguingly, as Qinghai is the source of three major rivers, the study also found that the province “exports” ecosystem services like drinking water and fertilising nutrients, which show up in the GEP accumulated by other Chinese provinces and neighbouring countries. </p>
<p>The ability to measure the value of Qinghai’s ecosystem “export” could set in train a process whereby financial compensation is paid to the province by neighbouring regions. Such a programme could create the economic incentive for communities to conserve and grow ecosystem assets. To put this in a global perspective, imagine if Brazilian farmers were paid by European countries to manage the rainforest based on the amount of carbon it sequesters.</p>
<p>Similarly, in Ireland where I live, GEP would allow bogs and woodlands to contribute to the economy. In such a scenario, Irish cities could be compelled to pay rural regions to store some of the carbon they produce or to maintain culturally significant landscapes that enhance mental health and wellbeing.</p>
<p>By placing a value on the benefits that we derive from our natural environment, GEP would also encourage us to think differently about how we manage, maintain and grow those regions that have been neglected in favour of centralised growth strategies.</p>
<p>However, for now at least, it would be impractical to implement a system like GEP or the UN’s <a href="https://seea.un.org/">System of Environmental-Economic Accounting</a>. Apart from being hugely complex and largely unproven, adopting it would require a global economic consensus on a scale not seen since the international financial order was devised <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/bretton-woods-11536">after the second world war</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, if we are to manage the complex trade-offs needed to mitigate the climate crisis, then radical new thinking is required.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170820/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Onakuse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Radical new thinking is required to fight climate change, and ‘gross ecosystem product’ might help.Stephen Onakuse, Senior Lecturer, Department of Food Business and Development, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Sustainable Livelihoods, University College CorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1586282021-04-18T20:08:08Z2021-04-18T20:08:08ZAttack of the alien invaders: pest plants and animals leave a frightening $1.7 trillion bill<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395272/original/file-20210415-14-jzhiyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4193%2C2785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>They’re one of the most <a href="http://ipbes.net">damaging environmental forces</a> on Earth. They’ve colonised pretty much every place humans have set foot on the planet. Yet you might not even know they exist.</p>
<p>We’re talking about alien species. Not little green extraterrestrials, but invasive plants and animals not native to an ecosystem and which become pests. They might be plants from South America, starfish from Africa, insects from Europe or birds from Asia. </p>
<p>These species can threaten the health of plants and animals, including humans. And they cause huge economic harm. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03405-6">Our research</a>, recently published in the journal Nature, puts a figure on that damage. We found that globally, invasive species cost US$1.3 trillion (A$1.7 trillion) in money lost or spent between 1970 and 2017. </p>
<p>The cost is increasing exponentially over time. And troublingly, most of the cost relates to the damage and losses invasive species cause. Meanwhile, far cheaper control and prevention measures are often ignored.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Yellow crazy ants attacking a gecko" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395275/original/file-20210415-15-1pn4p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395275/original/file-20210415-15-1pn4p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395275/original/file-20210415-15-1pn4p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395275/original/file-20210415-15-1pn4p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395275/original/file-20210415-15-1pn4p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395275/original/file-20210415-15-1pn4p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395275/original/file-20210415-15-1pn4p4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yellow crazy ants, such as these attacking a gecko, are among thousands of invasive species causing ecological and economic havoc.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dinakarr, CC0, Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An expansive toll</h2>
<p>Invasive species have been invading foreign territories for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14435">centuries</a>. They hail from habitats as diverse as tropical forests, dry savannas, temperate lakes and cold oceans. </p>
<p>They arrived because we brought them — as pets, ornamental plants or as stowaways on our holidays or via <a href="https://theconversation.com/global-trade-increases-exotic-species-incursion-4208">commercial trade</a>. </p>
<p>The problems they cause can be:</p>
<ul>
<li>ecological, such as causing the extinction of native species</li>
<li>human health-related, such as causing allergies and spreading disease</li>
<li>economic, such as reducing crop yields or destroying human-built infrastructure. </li>
</ul>
<p>In Australia, invasive species are one of our <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/publications/factsheet-invasive-species-australia">most serious</a> environmental problems – and the biggest cause of extinctions.</p>
<p>Feral animals such as rabbits, goats, cattle, pigs and horses can degrade grazing areas and compact soil, damaging farm production. Feral rabbits take over the burrows of native animals, while <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-cat-one-year-110-native-animals-lock-up-your-pet-its-a-killing-machine-138412">feral cats</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-too-late-to-bring-the-red-fox-under-control-11299">foxes</a> hunt and kill native animals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-species-are-australias-number-one-extinction-threat-116809">Invasive species are Australia's number-one extinction threat</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394171/original/file-20210409-13-1bznl7v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394171/original/file-20210409-13-1bznl7v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394171/original/file-20210409-13-1bznl7v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394171/original/file-20210409-13-1bznl7v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394171/original/file-20210409-13-1bznl7v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394171/original/file-20210409-13-1bznl7v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394171/original/file-20210409-13-1bznl7v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394171/original/file-20210409-13-1bznl7v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wetlands in the Northern Territory damaged by invasive swamp buffalo (<em>Bubalus bubalis</em>)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warren White</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Introduced insects, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tiny-wasp-could-save-christmas-islands-spectacular-red-crabs-from-crazy-ants-69646">yellow crazy ants</a> on Christmas Island, pose a serious threat to a native species. Across Australia, <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/insects-and-other-invertebrates/invasive-bees">feral honeybees</a> compete with native animals for nectar, pollen and habitat.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/aquatic-biosecurity/pests-diseases/freshwater-pests">Invasive fish</a> compete with native species, disturb aquatic vegetation and introduce disease. Some, such as <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/threatened-species/nsw-threatened-species-scientific-committee/determinations/final-determinations/1996-1999/predation-by-the-plague-minnow-gambusia-holbrooki-key-threatening-process-listing">plague minnows</a>, prey on the eggs and tadpoles of frogs and attack native fish. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.anbg.gov.au/weeds/weeds.html">Environmental weeds</a> and invasive <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/diseases-fungi-and-parasites">fungi and parasites</a> also cause major damage.</p>
<p>Of course, the problem is global – and examples abound. In Africa’s Lake Victoria, the huge, carnivorous <a href="https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatic/fish-and-other-vertebrates/nile-perch">Nile perch</a> — introduced to boost fisheries – has wiped out <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00004782">more than 200</a> of the 300 known species of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/cichlid">cichlid fish</a> — prized by aquarium enthusiasts the world over.</p>
<p>And in the Florida Everglades, thousands of five metre-long <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1115226109">Burmese pythons</a> have gobbled up small, native mammals at alarming rates.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-predators-are-eating-the-worlds-animals-to-extinction-and-the-worst-is-close-to-home-64741">Invasive predators are eating the world's animals to extinction – and the worst is close to home</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="cichlid fish" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395273/original/file-20210415-17-uge3g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395273/original/file-20210415-17-uge3g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395273/original/file-20210415-17-uge3g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395273/original/file-20210415-17-uge3g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395273/original/file-20210415-17-uge3g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395273/original/file-20210415-17-uge3g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395273/original/file-20210415-17-uge3g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Africa, numbers of the beautiful cichlid fish have been decimated by Nile perch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Money talks</h2>
<p>Despite the <a href="https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/catalog/61">serious threat</a> biological invasions pose, the problem receives little political, media or public attention.</p>
<p>Our research sought to reframe the problem of invasive species in terms of economic cost. But this was not an easy task. </p>
<p>The costs are diverse and not easily compared. Our analysis involved thousands of cost estimates, compiled and analysed over several years in our <a href="https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/InvaCost_References_and_description_of_economic_cost_estimates_associated_with_biological_invasions_worldwide_/12668570">still-growing</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-020-00586-z"><em>InvaCost</em></a> database. Economists and ecologists helped fine-tune the data.</p>
<p>The results were staggering. We discovered invasive species have cost the world US$1.3 trillion (A$1.7 trillion) lost or spent between 1970 and 2017. The cost largely involves damages and losses; the cost of preventing or controlling the invasions were ten to 100 times lower.</p>
<p>Clearly, getting on top of control and prevention would have helped avoid the massive damage bill. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/global-agriculture-study-finds-developing-countries-most-threatened-by-invasive-pest-species-61280">Global agriculture study finds developing countries most threatened by invasive pest species</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Average costs have been increasing exponentially over time — trebling each decade since 1970. For 2017 alone, the estimated cost of invasive species was more than US$163 billion. That’s more than 20 times higher than the combined budgets of the <a href="https://www.who.int">World Health Organisation</a> and the <a href="https://www.un.org">United Nations</a> in the same year.</p>
<p>Perhaps more alarming, this massive cost is a conservative estimate and likely represents only the tip of the iceberg, for several reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>we analysed only the most robust available data; had we included all published data, the cost figure would have been 33 times higher for the estimate in 2017</p></li>
<li><p>some damage caused by invasive species cannot be measured in dollars, such as carbon uptake and the loss of ecosystem services such as pollination</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144441">most</a> of the impacts have not been properly estimated</p></li>
<li><p>most countries have little to no relevant data. </p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bucket by a lake with a sign reading 'Biosecurity station. Please dip your feet and nets'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395276/original/file-20210415-19-10m8e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395276/original/file-20210415-19-10m8e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395276/original/file-20210415-19-10m8e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395276/original/file-20210415-19-10m8e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395276/original/file-20210415-19-10m8e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395276/original/file-20210415-19-10m8e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395276/original/file-20210415-19-10m8e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prevention strategies, such as biosecurity controls, are a relatively cheap way to deal with invasive species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prevention is better than cure</h2>
<p>National regulations for dealing with invasive species are patently <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/geb.12517">insufficient</a>. And because alien species do not respect borders, the problem also requires a global approach.</p>
<p>International cooperation must include financial assistance for developing countries where invasions are expected to increase substantially in the coming decades, and where regulations and management are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12485">most lacking</a>. </p>
<p>Proactive measures to prevent invasion must become a priority. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. And this must happen early – if we miss the start of an invasion, control in many cases is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320702001611">impossible</a>. </p>
<p>More and better research on the economic costs of biological invasions is essential. Our current knowledge is fragmented, hampering our understanding of patterns and trends, and our capacity to manage the problem efficiently. </p>
<p>We hope quantifying the economic impacts of invasive species will mean political leaders start to take notice. Certainly, confirmation of a A$1.7 trillion bill should be enough to get the ball rolling.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/worried-about-earths-future-well-the-outlook-is-worse-than-even-scientists-can-grasp-153091">Worried about Earth's future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists can grasp</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corey J. A. Bradshaw receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Franck Courchamp a reçu des financements de Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and AXA Research Fund</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Boris Leroy, Camille Bernery, and Christophe Diagne do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Invasive species have been invading foreign territories for centuries. By quantifying the mammoth economic impacts, we hope political leaders will start to take notice.Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders UniversityBoris Leroy, Maître de conférences en écologie et biogéographie, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Camille Bernery, Doctorante en écologie des invasions, Université Paris-SaclayChristophe Diagne, Chercheur post-doctorant en écologie des invasions, Université Paris-SaclayFranck Courchamp, Directeur de recherche CNRS, Université Paris-SaclayLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239172019-11-07T19:02:36Z2019-11-07T19:02:36ZRemote Indigenous Australia’s ecological economies give us something to build on<p>Land titling in Australia has undergone a revolutionary shift over the past four decades. The return of diverse forms of title to Indigenous Australians has produced some semblance of land justice. About <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=45675035-0fd3-4698-b1a6-0e3883f82369&subId=669953">half the continent</a> is now held under some form of Indigenous title. </p>
<p>Forms of title range from inalienable freehold title to non-exclusive (or shared) native title. Much of this estate is in northern Australia, as this recent map shows. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299083/original/file-20191029-183132-1uvwvw6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299083/original/file-20191029-183132-1uvwvw6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299083/original/file-20191029-183132-1uvwvw6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299083/original/file-20191029-183132-1uvwvw6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299083/original/file-20191029-183132-1uvwvw6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299083/original/file-20191029-183132-1uvwvw6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299083/original/file-20191029-183132-1uvwvw6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299083/original/file-20191029-183132-1uvwvw6.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Status of Indigenous title across Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">K. Jordon, F. Markham and J. Altman, Linking Indigenous communities with regional development: Australia Overview, report to OECD (2019)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another <a href="https://theconversation.com/remote-indigenous-communities-are-vital-for-our-fragile-ecosystems-38700">map</a> from 2014 shows over 1,000 discrete Indigenous communities and the division between north and south.</p>
<h2>What’s different about these lands?</h2>
<p>These lands and their populations have some unusual features.</p>
<p>First, the lands are extremely remote and relatively undeveloped in a capitalist “extractive” sense. These are <a href="https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p34501/pdf/book.pdf">the largest relatively intact savannah landscapes</a> in Australia — and possibly the world. </p>
<p>Much of this estate is included in the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/land/nrs">National Reserve System</a> as <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/land/indigenous-protected-areas">Indigenous Protected Areas</a> because of its high environmental and cultural values, according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/categories-and-criteria">criteria</a>.</p>
<p>These areas still face threats from <a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-species-are-australias-number-one-extinction-threat-116809">invasive animal and plant species</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-bringing-a-new-world-of-bushfires-123261">bushfires</a> and <a href="https://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/en/climate-projections/future-climate/regional-climate-change-explorer/super-clusters/">increasingly extreme heat</a>. These threats will lead to further species extinctions. </p>
<p>Indigenous Protected Area management plans address these threats to ensure biodiversity and cultural values are at best restored or maintained, at worst not eroded.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/churches-have-legal-rights-in-australia-why-not-sacred-trees-123919">Churches have legal rights in Australia. Why not sacred trees?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Second, parts of these lands in the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/science/supervising-scientist/publications/eriss-notes/wetlands-australias-wet-dry-tropics">wet-dry tropics</a> are valuable as sources of emissions avoidance and carbon storage.</p>
<p>Many groups are paid through offset markets and voluntary agreements to reduce overall emissions. There are <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Choosing-a-project-type/Opportunities-for-the-land-sector/Permanence-obligations">emerging options</a> for payment for long-term carbon storage – between 25 and 100 years.</p>
<p>These lands have <a href="https://solargis.com/maps-and-gis-data/download/australia">some of the world’s highest solar irradiance</a>. Multi-billion-dollar <a href="https://www.katherinetimes.com.au/story/6285081/plans-for-worlds-biggest-solar-farm-at-tennant-creek/">solar</a> and <a href="https://asianrehub.com/">wind/solar/green hydrogen</a> facilities are being developed.</p>
<p>Third, the Indigenous owners and majority inhabitants are among the poorest Australians. <a href="https://www.5050foundation.edu.au/assets/reports/documents/8117041e.pdf">Only 35% of Aboriginal adults</a> in very remote Australia are formally employed. <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/145053/1/CAEPR_Census_Paper_2.pdf">Over 50% of Indigenous people</a> in these areas live below the poverty line.</p>
<p>Such poverty is explained partly by past colonisation and associated social exclusion and neglect, geographic isolation from market capitalism and labour markets, and different priorities.</p>
<p>Having legally proven continuity of customs, traditions and connection to reclaimed ancestral lands, landowners generally look to care for their country. They use its natural resources for domestic non-commercial purposes as allowed by law.</p>
<p>But Indigenous people continually struggle to inhabit these lands. Their dispersed small settlements range from townships to homelands. Government support is minimal and policy intentionally discouraging.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/building-in-ways-that-meet-the-needs-of-australias-remote-regions-106071">Building in ways that meet the needs of Australia’s remote regions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The problem with official development models</h2>
<p>Since federation, many government policy proposals to “develop the north” have sought to replicate the economic growth trajectory of the temperate south. Such plans are based on state-sanctioned, often environmentally damaging, market capitalism.</p>
<p>The latest version is the 2015 <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/our-north-our-future-white-paper-on-developing-northern-australia">Our North, Our Future</a> white paper, released after a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Former_Committees/Northern_Australia/Inquiry_into_the_Development_of_Northern_Australia/Tabled_Reports">parliamentary inquiry</a>. In <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Former_Committees/Northern_Australia/Inquiry_into_the_Development_of_Northern_Australia/Submissions">submission 136</a>, Francis Markham and I asked, “developing whose north for whom and in what way?” We pointed out 48% of the north’s <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/1308.7%7EMar+2009%7EMain+Features%7ENorth+Australia+Unit+Update?OpenDocument">3 million square kilometres</a> was under Indigenous title at that time, and Indigenous ideas about the land are often very different from those of the government and corporate, mainly extractive, interests.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-keys-to-unlock-northern-australia-have-already-been-cut-69713">The keys to unlock Northern Australia have already been cut</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Four years on, a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/NorthernAustraliaAgenda/NorthernAustraliaAgenda/Terms_of_Reference">Senate select inquiry</a> is examining how the Our North, Our Future agenda is progressing. A specific reference to First Nations people has been added. In <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/NorthernAustraliaAgenda/NorthernAustraliaAgenda/Submissions">submission 13</a>, we highlighted four fundamental changes over the past five years.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>the Indigenous land share of northern Australia has <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=45675035-0fd3-4698-b1a6-0e3883f82369&subId=669953">grown to 60%</a></p></li>
<li><p>Indigenous people are living in deeper poverty partly <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/145053/1/CAEPR_Census_Paper_2.pdf">due to punitive changes to income-support arrangements</a> </p></li>
<li><p>growing scientific consensus that global warming will have escalating <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=45675035-0fd3-4698-b1a6-0e3883f82369&subId=669953">negative impacts on northern Australia</a> </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=45675035-0fd3-4698-b1a6-0e3883f82369&subId=669953">slowing population growth</a> suggests the white paper’s <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/our-north-our-future-white-paper-on-developing-northern-australia">goal of a population of 4–5 million by 2060</a> (from just over 1 million now) lacks realism.</p></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/you-cant-boost-australias-north-to-5-million-people-without-a-proper-plan-125063">You can't boost Australia's north to 5 million people without a proper plan</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We are at a critical crossroads in policy thinking about northern Australia.</p>
<p>The dominant approach sees it as ripe for capitalist development, extraction and associated economic growth, irrespective of environmental consequences. Corporate pressure to undertake <a href="https://theconversation.com/expanding-gas-mining-threatens-our-climate-water-and-health-113047">risky fracking</a> for oil and gas and to develop <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/our-north-our-future-white-paper-on-developing-northern-australia">industrial-scale agriculture and aquaculture projects</a> epitomises such thinking.</p>
<h2>The zero-emissions alternative</h2>
<p>The holistic focus of ecological economics informs an alternative approach. It’s based on the tenet that everything connects to everything else: the economy is embedded in society and society is embedded in the environment, the natural order.</p>
<p>This line of reasoning resonates with the focus of many Indigenous landowners on the need to nurture kin, ancestral country and living, natural resources.</p>
<p>Ecological economics distinguishes between economic growth that depletes non-renewable resources irrespective of environmental harm, and forms of development that focus on human well-being, cultural and environmental values.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-ecological-economics-and-why-do-we-need-to-talk-about-it-123915">What is ‘ecological economics’ and why do we need to talk about it?</a>
</strong>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Development in the north might take many transformational forms as we strive for a <a href="https://vimeo.com/337193985">zero-emissions economy</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/337193985" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Economist Ross Garnaut discusses the potential of a zero-emissions economy in Australia.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indigenous-titled and peopled lands are well positioned to drive this in three proven ways:</p>
<ol>
<li>by intensifying projects that reduce emissions and sequester carbon</li>
<li>by increasing efforts to conserve biodiversity by managing and potentially reversing impacts of invasive species</li>
<li>by becoming key players in the renewables sector through massive projects for domestic energy use and export.</li>
</ol>
<p>The same landscapes can be used for sustainable wildlife harvesting for food and diverse forms of cultural production for income. These uses accord with Indigenous tradition and leave minimal environmental footprints.</p>
<p>Policy and practice must be informed by the environmental perspectives of Indigenous landowners, which are highly compatible with the core concepts of ecological economics.</p>
<p>In these ways, the North could emerge as a powerhouse region beyond current imaginaries. The climate crisis makes this transformation essential. </p>
<p>As ecological economies, remote Indigenous lands could deliver sustainable livelihoods to Indigenous people and contribute significantly to a zero-emissions economy of critical benefit to national and global communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123917/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Altman if a director of a number of not-for-profits including the Karrkad Kanjdji Trust and Original Power. He is the chair of the research committee of The Australia Institute. </span></em></p>Expanding on sustainable practices in remote parts of Australia can deliver great benefits to both local Indigenous owners and national and global communities.Jon Altman, Emeritus professor, School of Regulation and Global Governance, ANU, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239192019-11-05T18:58:02Z2019-11-05T18:58:02ZChurches have legal rights in Australia. Why not sacred trees?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299815/original/file-20191101-102224-1otykcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C125%2C2385%2C1325&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The traditional owners have won widespread support for their fight to protect Djab Wurrung Country and their sacred trees.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dwembassy.com/numbers-flock-to-djab-wurrung-embassy/">Djab Wurrung Embassy</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/anzsee-78179">series</a> on rebalancing the human–nature interactions that are central to the study and practice of ecological economics, which is the focus of the <a href="https://anzsee.org.au/2019-anzsee-conference/">2019 ANZSEE Conference</a> in Melbourne later this month.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/we-all-have-to-compromise-western-highway-works-to-start-in-days-20191003-p52xa3.html">Work has resumed</a> on widening the Western Highway near Ararat, Victoria, which will destroy thousands of trees. This includes around 250 sacred trees, some up to 800 years old. These trees are a <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/july/1561989600/sophie-cunningham/djab-wurrung-birthing-tree">living heritage of deep cultural significance and practice</a> for the Djab Wurrung traditional owners.</p>
<p>In Australia, corporations such as Coles and Westpac and even some churches operate as legal entities entitled to most of the rights and responsibilities that individuals possess. Why don’t the Djab Wurrung sacred trees have legal standing? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-kind-of-state-values-a-freeways-heritage-above-the-heritage-of-our-oldest-living-culture-122195">What kind of state values a freeway's heritage above the heritage of our oldest living culture?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>In New Zealand, the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/nz-whanganui-river-gets-legal-status-as-person-after-170-years/8358434">Whanganui River</a> now has it. Even in Victoria <a href="http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubStatbook.nsf/51dea49770555ea6ca256da4001b90cd/DD1ED871D7DF8661CA2581A700103BF0/$FILE/17-049aa%20authorised.pdf">legislation to protect the Yarra River</a> recognises the connection of the traditional owners to the river and surrounding land, Birrarung Country. </p>
<h2>It’s not just people who have legal standing</h2>
<p>Australian law has long accorded legal standing to other entities such as businesses. Under the <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/">Corporations Act 2001</a>, a corporation is a legal entity that can enter contracts, lend and borrow money, sue and be sued, hire employees, own assets, and pay taxes. Over the past few decades corporate rights have expanded, and the process of incorporation has been simplified.</p>
<p>Corporations exist now as private enterprises for churches, not-for-profits and lobby groups. A corporation is separate and distinct from its owners, which minimises the risk for stakeholders and investors. It operates as a living person who can assert their rights in relation to economic (self)-interest. </p>
<p>The logic of <em>Homo economicus</em> and the utilitarian maximisation of profit is central to settler societies such as Australia’s. The settler colonial approach to nature decouples people from country. There is a hierarchy of rights that favours and reinforces settler property rights in the quest for new towns, farms, fences, and transportation lines. </p>
<p>If trees had rights this would be very costly for development. Trees are seen as resources, classified according to their utilitarian value. </p>
<h2>Who speaks for the trees?</h2>
<p>In Australia, the law protects trees if they are considered threatened, endangered or vulnerable. Indigenous plant species, for example, may be protected under the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about">Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999</a>. </p>
<p>Vegetation may be protected more broadly as part of the public estate (such as in national parks, for instance). Native vegetation on private land may also be protected to conserve biodiversity and preserve habitat for endangered species. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299816/original/file-20191101-102228-1ba7h2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299816/original/file-20191101-102228-1ba7h2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299816/original/file-20191101-102228-1ba7h2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299816/original/file-20191101-102228-1ba7h2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299816/original/file-20191101-102228-1ba7h2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299816/original/file-20191101-102228-1ba7h2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299816/original/file-20191101-102228-1ba7h2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299816/original/file-20191101-102228-1ba7h2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recognition of the role of traditional owners, which includes protection of Country, is a key issue of environmental justice in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dwembassy.com/gallery/">Djab Wurrung Embassy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Federal and state government laws may protect “significant” trees through heritage and/or Aboriginal heritage legislation. Or they may not.</p>
<p>The Djab Wurrung have challenged both state and federal government decisions against heritage protection for the sacred trees and their surrounds. <a href="https://dwembassy.com/">Activists</a> have set up camp to protest the destruction of the trees – grandmother <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/july/1561989600/sophie-cunningham/djab-wurrung-birthing-tree">birthing trees</a>, their companion grandfather trees, and <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/like-losing-my-son-why-trees-threatened-by-western-hwy-are-so-sacred-20190824-p52kcq.html">directions trees</a>. </p>
<p>They reject the rationale that supports the widening of a freeway over the preservation of significant living cultural heritage and <a href="https://www.change.org/p/daniel-andrews-protect-sacred-djapwurrung-birthing-trees-from-expansion-of-the-western-hwy-by-vicroads">ask for its protection</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We ask that this impending destruction as part of VicRoads works be halted immediately, more appropriate respect for the concerns of the Djab Wuurung community be taken into consideration, and that the trees and the site are protected.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Should trees have legal standing?</h2>
<p>In New Zealand, the Whanganui River, which flows 145 kilometres to the sea in the central North Island, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/04/maori-river-in-new-zealand-is-a-legal-person/">now has legal standing</a>. The law recognises the Maori Iwi people’s sacred relationship with land and water. </p>
<p>Through this <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2014/0051/latest/DLM6183601.html">legislation</a> the Whanganui River is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sundayextra/new-zealand-granting-rivers-and-forests-same-rights-as-citizens/7816456">recognised as a person</a> when it comes to the law. The river has “its own legal identity with all the corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person”, the minister for Treaty of Waitangi negotiations <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/16/new-zealand-river-granted-same-legal-rights-as-human-being">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/nz-whanganui-river-gets-legal-status-as-person-after-170-years/8358434">This legislation recognises</a> the deep spiritual connection between the Whanganui Iwi and its ancestral river and creates a strong platform for the future of Whanganui River.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similar “<a href="https://www.earthlaws.org.au/what-is-earth-jurisprudence/rights-of-nature/">rights of nature</a>” laws, which change the legal status of nature, exist in Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, India, and Uganda, to name a few.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-rivers-are-now-legally-people-but-thats-just-the-start-of-looking-after-them-74983">Three rivers are now legally people – but that's just the start of looking after them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Djab Wurrung Dreaming is entitled to protection</h2>
<p>Why isn’t Australia embracing “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-giving-legal-rights-to-nature-could-help-reduce-toxic-algae-blooms-in-lake-erie-115351">rights of nature</a>” legislation? Djab Wurrung trees, and the ancient dreaming cultural landscape of which they are part, need protection.</p>
<p>Communities are starting to advocate for the rights of nature to exist, thrive and evolve. Under the <a href="http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubStatbook.nsf/51dea49770555ea6ca256da4001b90cd/DD1ED871D7DF8661CA2581A700103BF0/$FILE/17-049aa%20authorised.pdf">Yarra River (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act</a>, while the river’s legal status hasn’t changed, there is progressive recognition of the connection between the traditional owners and the river. As the preamble to the act <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/yrpbma2017554/preamble.html">states</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This Act recognises the intrinsic connection of the traditional owners to the Yarra River and its Country and further recognises them as the custodians of the land and waterway which they call Birrarung.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-law-finally-gives-voice-to-the-yarra-rivers-traditional-owners-83307">New law finally gives voice to the Yarra River's traditional owners</a>
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<p>Such Indigenous perspectives, developed on Country in holistic ways incorporating lore/law, have a particularly valuable contribution to make to ecological economies. </p>
<p>We need far better legal recognition of the role of traditional owners, which includes cultural and environmental heritage protection. In the current political environment, deeply locked into a culture and mindset of economic growth and property ownership, “you’d have to be dreaming”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123919/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Steele receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Maloney is Co-Founder and Director of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance and the New Economy Network Australia.</span></em></p>Laws in other countries recognise ‘rights of nature’. But even trees sacred to Indigenous Australian communities have no special protection.Wendy Steele, Associate Professor, Centre for Urban Research and Urban Futures Enabling Capability Platform, RMIT UniversityMichelle Maloney, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Law Futures Centre, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239162019-11-04T19:03:27Z2019-11-04T19:03:27ZNo Australian city has a long-term vision for living sustainably. We can’t go on like this<p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/anzsee-78179">series</a> on rebalancing the human–nature interactions that are central to the study and practice of ecological economics, which is the focus of the <a href="https://anzsee.org.au/2019-anzsee-conference/">2019 ANZSEE Conference</a> in Melbourne later this month.</em></p>
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<p>Australia was already <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44609144?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">one of the most urbanised nations</a> by the end of the 19th century. Unlike European and North American countries, Australia’s pattern of settlement did not have a neat urban hierarchy. The gap between the large and small towns was huge.</p>
<p>These patterns have intensified in the decades since federation, especially after the second world war. International and internal <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3218.0">migration trends have driven rapid growth</a> in the big cities, especially Melbourne and Sydney. This has created major problems with providing adequate <a href="https://theconversation.com/housing-policy-reset-is-overdue-and-not-only-in-australia-112835">housing</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/congestion-busting-infrastructure-plays-catch-up-on-long-neglected-needs-114598">infrastructure</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-suburbs-are-being-short-changed-on-services-and-liveability-which-ones-and-whats-the-solution-83966">services</a>. </p>
<p>The fundamental issue is the reluctance of urban communities and their leaders to discuss what might be sustainable populations. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-we-want-liveable-cities-in-2060-well-have-to-work-together-to-transform-urban-systems-119235">If we want liveable cities in 2060 we'll have to work together to transform urban systems</a>
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<h2>The folly of unlimited growth</h2>
<p>No Australian city has a long-term vision showing how a future stabilised population might be supported with the essential resources of food, water and energy. No Australian city has faced up to the inevitable social tensions of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-did-the-rich-man-say-to-the-poor-man-why-spatial-inequality-in-australia-is-no-joke-73841">increasing inequality</a> between a well-served inner-urban elite and an increasingly under-resourced urban fringe. </p>
<p>Leaders in cities that have not grown as rapidly, such as Adelaide, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/as-the-east-coast-struggles-with-population-numbers-south-australia-is-desperate-for-a-boost/news-story/5ebca065ebe3f975ed83827d2373db37">lament their failure to grow like Sydney and Melbourne</a>, despite all the associated problems. All implicitly believe unlimited growth is possible. </p>
<p>In reality, the expanding ecological footprints of the large cities have created unsustainable demands on land to support urban dwellers. And the wastes the cities produce are straining the capacity of the environment to handle these.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-ecological-economics-and-why-do-we-need-to-talk-about-it-123915">What is ‘ecological economics’ and why do we need to talk about it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Given the many unpriced flow-on effects from dense urban growth and market-led development, governments are struggling to deal with the undesirable consequences. <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-city-workers-average-commute-has-blown-out-to-66-minutes-a-day-how-does-yours-compare-120598">Congestion</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/walking-mightnt-be-good-for-you-if-its-through-australias-polluted-city-streets-88772">pollution</a> threaten to overwhelm the many social and economic benefits of urban life. </p>
<p>The growth and concentration of populations are also driving chronic excess demand for appropriate housing. The result is <a href="https://theconversation.com/affordable-housing-lessons-from-sydney-hong-kong-and-singapore-3-keys-to-getting-the-policy-mix-right-123443">serious affordability problems</a>, which are adding to inequality across society and generations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/50-years-after-the-lucky-country-australias-sustainability-challenge-remains-56506">50 years after The Lucky Country, Australia's sustainability challenge remains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 1970, urban historian <a href="https://theaimn.com/book-review-ideas-for-australian-cities-by-hugh-stretton/">Hugh Stretton pointed</a> to the role of Australia’s widespread owner occupation in offsetting the inequalities generated in labour markets and by inherited wealth. This is no longer the case. </p>
<p>The dominant neoliberal economic ideology has resulted in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-to-reboot-affordable-housing-funding-not-scrap-it-72861">retreat from providing public housing</a>. Abandoning would-be home-owners to the market has produced a situation in which urban land and house ownership is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-housing-boom-is-remaking-australias-social-class-structure-66976">reinforcing class-based inequalities</a>. Home ownership is increasingly the preserve of the affluent and their children. </p>
<p>Housing-related inequality is also seen in the geography of our cities. <a href="https://theconversation.com/city-by-city-analysis-shows-our-capitals-arent-liveable-for-many-residents-85676">Poorer households are priced out of locations with better access</a> to good jobs, schools, transport, health care and other services.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-big-cities-are-engines-of-inequality-so-how-do-we-fix-that-69775">Our big cities are engines of inequality, so how do we fix that?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Failures of governance</h2>
<p>Governments in Australia’s federation are poorly placed to respond adequately. <a href="https://theconversation.com/metropolitan-governance-is-the-missing-link-in-australias-reform-agenda-55872">Responsibilities and fiscal resources are divided</a>, creating obstacles to effective planning and infrastructure provision.</p>
<p>The main factor driving urban population growth is an unprecedented <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/MigrationStatistics">rate of inward migration</a>. The national government <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/migration-program-planning-levels">sets large migration targets</a> as an easy way of creating economic growth. This leaves state governments with the impossible task of meeting the resulting demand for infrastructure. </p>
<p>Jane O’Sullivan <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/135517/subdr156-infrastructure.pdf">has shown</a> each extra urban citizen requires about A$250,000 of investment. The total sum is well beyond the capacity of state and local governments.</p>
<p>Arguments between federal and state governments are heavily politicised, especially when it comes to major transport investments. Even within single jurisdictions, complex demands and unexpected consequences prevent effective action. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-recycling-crisis-may-be-here-to-stay-112055">waste recycling crisis</a> is a prime example.</p>
<p>State governments must also deal with difficult trade-offs between, for example, allowing further <a href="https://theconversation.com/living-liveable-this-is-what-residents-have-to-say-about-life-on-the-urban-fringe-111339">development on the edges of cities</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/becoming-more-urban-attitudes-to-medium-density-living-are-changing-in-sydney-and-melbourne-84693">encouraging higher density in built-up areas</a>. This often involves <a href="https://theconversation.com/vested-interests-behind-city-shapers-often-subvert-higher-density-policies-74244">conflicts</a> with local governments and communities, concerned to protect their ways of life.</p>
<p>Australian planners and governments have long tinkered with <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-small-cities-bigger-will-help-better-distribute-australias-25-million-people-101180">policies to encourage decentralisation to smaller cities</a>. Despite these attempts, the dominant pattern of urbanisation with its seemingly intractable problems has hardened, a triumph of reality over rhetoric.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-cities-fall-short-on-sustainability-but-planning-innovations-offer-local-solutions-107091">Our cities fall short on sustainability, but planning innovations offer local solutions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What needs to change?</h2>
<p>To get beyond the rhetoric and make our cities more sustainably liveable requires a much more deliberate and interventionist role for government. It also requires residents of our cities and suburbs to be willing to allow their governments to interrupt business as usual. </p>
<p>This, we know from experience, is a big ask. It will step on the toes of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/housing-policy-is-captive-to-property-politics-so-dont-expect-politicians-to-tackle-affordability-55384">property lobby</a> and ordinary home owners. In some cases, for example, the short-term financial interests of property owners are leading local authorities to ignore scientific warnings about the impacts of climate change on coastal development.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-may-soon-lap-at-the-door-but-still-some-homeowners-dont-want-to-rock-the-boat-124289">Water may soon lap at the door, but still some homeowners don't want to rock the boat</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Major changes are also needed in how urban land is taxed and the proceeds invested. “Simple” reforms like <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-way-australia-taxes-housing-is-manifestly-unfair-58421">replacing stamp duty on land transfer with a universal land tax</a>, as the <a href="http://www.taxreview.treasury.gov.au/content/Content.aspx?doc=html/home.htm">Henry Tax Review</a> recommended, will take political courage that has been absent to date. </p>
<p>More complex policies like finding ways of diverting population growth to non-metropolitan regions will take careful thought and experimentation. This might include relocating government agencies to provincial cities. This has been tried sporadically in the past at the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-19/decentralisation-push-for-federal-government-departments/8453816">federal</a> level and in states such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/may/04/victorian-public-service-jobs-to-move-to-ballarat-and-latrobe-valley">Victoria</a> and <a href="https://psa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/NSW-Decentralisation-Taskforce-Report-April-2013-FINAL.pdf">New South Wales</a>. However, such cases tend to be one-offs and do not reflect an overall strategic plan.</p>
<p>Future generations will inevitably be critical of the complete failure of current leaders to plan for sustainable development.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123916/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Berry has received funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, an independent organisation funded by universities and the nine federal, state and territory governments, and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Lowe was president of the Australian Conservation Foundation from 2004 to 2014. He is now chair of the Wakefield Futures Group.</span></em></p>The demands on land and resources from our fast-growing cities are unsustainable, as are the wastes they produce. Yet still our leaders act as if unlimited growth is possible.Mike Berry, Emeritus Professor, RMIT UniversityIan Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Science, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1239152019-11-04T19:03:10Z2019-11-04T19:03:10ZWhat is ‘ecological economics’ and why do we need to talk about it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299603/original/file-20191031-30397-jk8ls0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=234%2C63%2C5583%2C3341&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ecological economics focuses on sustainability and development, rather than the traditional economic concerts of efficiency and growth.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/carbon-footprint-concept-drawn-on-billboard-552925435">thodonal88/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/anzsee-78179">series</a> on rebalancing the human–nature interactions that are central to the study and practice of ecological economics, which is the focus of the <a href="https://anzsee.org.au/2019-anzsee-conference/">2019 ANZSEE Conference</a> in Melbourne later this month.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>As environmental crises and the urgency to create ecological sustainability escalate, so does the importance of ecological economics. This applied, solutions-based field of studies is concerned with sustainability and development, rather than efficiency and growth. Also, given that cities account for <a href="http://nua.unhabitat.org/details1.asp?ProjectId=33&ln=1">70-80% of global economic activity</a> and associated <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/environmental-development/news/urban-resource-flows-and-the-governance">resource use</a>, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cities-pollution.shtml">emissions</a> and <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/09/20/global-waste-to-grow-by-70-percent-by-2050-unless-urgent-action-is-taken-world-bank-report">waste</a>, they are central to finding solutions to the challenge of sustainability.</p>
<p>Ecological economics recognises local to global environmental limits. It ranges from research for short-term policy and local challenges through to long-term visions of sustainable societies. Ecological economists also consider global issues such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-what-each-of-us-can-do-to-reduce-our-carbon-footprint-123851">carbon emissions</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-amazon-is-on-fire-here-are-5-things-you-need-to-know-122326">deforestation</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/plenty-of-fish-in-the-sea-not-necessarily-as-history-shows-84440">overfishing</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/plants-are-going-extinct-up-to-350-times-faster-than-the-historical-norm-122255">species extinctions</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-cities-fall-short-on-sustainability-but-planning-innovations-offer-local-solutions-107091">Our cities fall short on sustainability, but planning innovations offer local solutions</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Core concepts</h2>
<p>You’re probably familiar with some core concepts of ecological economics. These include “steady-state economies”, “carrying capacity”, “ecological footprints” and “environmental justice”.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299762/original/file-20191031-187912-wzwxwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299762/original/file-20191031-187912-wzwxwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299762/original/file-20191031-187912-wzwxwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299762/original/file-20191031-187912-wzwxwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299762/original/file-20191031-187912-wzwxwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299762/original/file-20191031-187912-wzwxwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299762/original/file-20191031-187912-wzwxwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299762/original/file-20191031-187912-wzwxwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen was one of the first economists to argue that an economy faces limits to growth as a result of resource depletion.</span>
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<p>A <strong><a href="https://www.casse-nsw.org.au/">steady-state economy</a></strong> is both relatively stable and respects ecological limits. Drawing on the work of mathematician and economist <a href="https://www.hetwebsite.net/het/profiles/georgescu.htm">Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen</a>, economist <a href="http://np4sd.org/about/herman-daly/">Herman Daly</a> elaborated the model, editing a 1973 anthology, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Daly#Toward_a_Steady-State_Economy">Toward a Steady-State Economy</a>. </p>
<p>In 1990, Daly co-founded the International Society of Ecological Economics (<a href="http://www.isecoeco.org/">ISEE</a>). It had three key principles:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the human economy is embedded in nature, and economic processes are actually biological, physical and chemical processes and transformations</p></li>
<li><p>ecological economics is a meeting place for researchers committed to environmental issues</p></li>
<li><p>ecological economics requires transdisciplinary work to describe economic processes in relation to physical reality.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.uvm.edu/gund/profiles/joshua-farley">Joshua Farley</a>, who has worked with Daly, discusses some of these principles in an opening address to the Australia New Zealand Society of Ecological Economics (<a href="https://anzsee.org.au/">ANZSEE</a>) <a href="https://anzsee.org.au/2019-anzsee-conference/">conference</a> at RMIT University later this month. </p>
<p>In a partnership program of several North American universities, Farley teaches <a href="https://e4a-net.org/what-is-e4a/">Economics for the Anthropocene</a> postgraduates. They apply ecological economics to “real-world environmental solutions”. Some will talk at the conference about their research.</p>
<p>Today overconsumption is measured against Earth’s <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/human-carrying-capacity-and-our-need-for-a-parachute-7160">carrying capacity</a></strong>. </p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/human-carrying-capacity-and-our-need-for-a-parachute-7160">Human carrying capacity and our need for a parachute</a>
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</em>
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<p><a href="http://williamrees.org/biography/">William Rees</a> and <a href="https://www.footprintnetwork.org/about-us/people/?_ga=2.189136171.1872162861.1572564412-1050177602.1571894476">Mathis Wackernagel</a> developed the related concept of the <strong><a href="https://www.footprintnetwork.org/">ecological footprint</a></strong>. It’s an indicator of the ecological impacts of everyday activities and practices. </p>
<p>Ecological footprints are useful ways for industries, <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinese-migrants-follow-and-add-to-australian-city-dwellers-giant-ecological-footprints-103921">governments</a> and <a href="https://www.wwf.org.au/get-involved/change-the-way-you-live/ecological-footprint-calculator#gs.8476ub">people</a> to assess which practices we need to reduce to keep within the limits of Earth’s regenerative capacity.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fACkb2u1ULY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The ecological footprint explained.</span></figcaption>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinese-migrants-follow-and-add-to-australian-city-dwellers-giant-ecological-footprints-103921">Chinese migrants follow and add to Australian city dwellers' giant ecological footprints</a>
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<p>ISEE co-founder <a href="https://ictaweb.uab.cat/personal_detail.php?id=15">Joan Martinez-Alier</a> established the global <a href="https://ejatlas.org/">Environmental Justice Atlas</a>. Activists and scholars developed this online database of around 3,000 <strong>environmental justice</strong> conflicts. It provides open access to many and various ecological and economic value assessments.</p>
<p>Issues of <a href="https://ejatlas.org/country/australia">environmental justice in Australia</a> include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://gards.org/asbestos-related-disease-facts-and-figures-australia-2018/">fatalities from asbestos-related diseases</a></li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/fossil-fuels-are-bad-for-your-health-and-harmful-in-many-ways-besides-climate-change-107771">health and climate impacts of coal mining</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/expanding-gas-mining-threatens-our-climate-water-and-health-113047">natural gas fracking</a></li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-just-blame-government-and-business-for-the-recycling-crisis-it-begins-with-us-121241">ineffective waste systems</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-much-landfill-does-australia-have-78404">landfills</a></li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/logged-native-forests-mostly-end-up-in-landfill-not-in-buildings-and-furniture-115054">clear-felling of Australian forests</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-might-water-down-illegal-logging-laws-heres-why-its-a-bad-idea-86832">timber imports</a> from Asia-Pacific deforestation.</li>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-environmentally-just-city-works-best-for-all-in-the-end-53803">An environmentally just city works best for all in the end</a>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299606/original/file-20191031-187907-9b803j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299606/original/file-20191031-187907-9b803j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299606/original/file-20191031-187907-9b803j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299606/original/file-20191031-187907-9b803j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299606/original/file-20191031-187907-9b803j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299606/original/file-20191031-187907-9b803j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299606/original/file-20191031-187907-9b803j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299606/original/file-20191031-187907-9b803j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mountains of waste are a stark reminder we are consuming more than the Earth can sustain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mountain-garbage-working-backhoe-181863353">ThavornC/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new kind of economics</h2>
<p>Ecological economics partly developed from frustration with the narrowness of environmental and resource economics. These approaches apply mainstream economics to the environment. In doing so, they fail to incorporate critical environmental concerns that arise with inputs, outputs and waste.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-gdp-are-there-better-ways-to-measure-well-being-33414">Beyond GDP: are there better ways to measure well-being?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In addition, ecological economists have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-gdp-are-there-better-ways-to-measure-well-being-33414">broader view about what “progress” is</a> and how to measure it. Ecological econonomists are more sceptical about how much human-made capital improves on the benefits we get from nature. Critically, they ask: “How useful is it to put a monetary value on nature?”</p>
<p>Ecological economist <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/clive-hamilton-195">Clive Hamilton</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-price-of-god-at-coronation-hill-49235">discusses</a> that question in the case of Coronation Hill in Kakadu National Park. He argues that market-based assessments such as “willingness to pay” favour market-based solutions. Similarly, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brian-coffey-162907">Brian Coffey</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/cents-and-sensibility-why-its-unwise-to-put-dollar-figures-on-nature-49508">highlights</a> the conundrum of monetising ecological values: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would rather ask “why is nature important?” and “how can we live with, and within, it?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite this, certain ecological economists use monetary data to make powerful ecological statements. For instance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ida-kubiszewski-142545">Ida Kubiszewski</a> and her co-authors surveyed land uses under different future scenarios. They <a href="https://theconversation.com/without-action-asia-pacific-ecosystems-could-lose-a-third-of-their-value-by-2050-63452">concluded</a> that continuing business as usual could wipe out a third of the value of Asia-Pacific ecosystems by 2050. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/without-action-asia-pacific-ecosystems-could-lose-a-third-of-their-value-by-2050-63452">Without action, Asia-Pacific ecosystems could lose a third of their value by 2050</a>
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<h2>Solutions for sustainable and just futures</h2>
<p>In short, ecological economics has contributors from diverse disciplinary and professional backgrounds. </p>
<p>Presenters to the ANZSEE conference of course include ecologists and economists. But there are also social and physical scientists, sociologists, philosophers, historians, planners and sustainability experts.</p>
<p>Sustainability expert <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/samuel-alexander-102353">Samuel Alexander</a> speaks about <a href="https://theconversation.com/limits-to-growth-policies-to-steer-the-economy-away-from-disaster-57721">living well with degrowth</a>. Others argue that a climate-safe world requires radical forms of economics. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/limits-to-growth-policies-to-steer-the-economy-away-from-disaster-57721">Limits to growth: policies to steer the economy away from disaster</a>
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<p>Contributors will also talk about <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-our-response-to-climate-change-needs-to-be-a-just-and-careful-revolution-that-limits-pushback-123588">just transitions</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/keeping-the-city-cool-isnt-just-about-tree-cover-it-calls-for-a-commons-based-climate-response-120491">commoning</a>, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-search-for-an-alternative-to-gdp-to-measure-a-nations-progress-the-new-zealand-experience-118169">genuine progress indicator</a> (GPI), <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-stand-with-the-climate-striking-students-its-time-to-create-a-new-economy-123893">School Strike for Climate</a> (SS4C), <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-next-after-100-resilient-cities-funding-ends-116734">resilience</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/2050-is-too-late-we-must-drastically-cut-emissions-much-sooner-121512">decarbonisation</a> and ethical investment. Keynote speaker <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jon-altman-2991">Jon Altman</a> presents a model of hybrid economies that’s useful in the context of Indigenous peoples.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anitra Nelson is Vice-President of the Australia New Zealand Society of Ecological Economics (ANZSEE), has been on the ANZSEE executive (2015–19) and is Chair of the Organising Committee for the ANZSEE 2019 Conference at RMIT University. An Australian research team she has led also received funding associated with entries made for the online data-base EJAtlas.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Coffey is on the Organising Committee for the ANZSEE 2019 Conference, which is to be held at RMIT University. </span></em></p>Ecological economics focuses on sustainability and development rather than efficiency and growth. Cities, as home to 70-80% of economic activity, are at the heart of the challenge of being sustainable.Anitra Nelson, Associate Professor, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityBrian Coffey, Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1238932019-09-19T19:29:04Z2019-09-19T19:29:04ZI stand with the climate striking students – it’s time to create a new economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293271/original/file-20190919-22420-1sjildp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C4633%2C3105&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Striking for the climate.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/frankfurt-main-germany-march-22-2019-1347369071?src=ILrV9XEbH-Zue1Ui6ndglQ-1-40">Paapaya/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I initiated a <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf4b6hMPpLf5wiKkmmLCffUpJ0pYFBl0Q7YbvYEM24agJqDjg/viewform?fbzx=-7482936781733200090">letter of support to climate striking students</a> – an English version of the <a href="https://www.scientists4future.org/stellungnahme/statement-text/">German letter coordinated by ecologist Gregor Hagerdorn</a>, signed by more than 1,000 academics – for many reasons.</p>
<p>My role as a university lecturer means that I am committed to fostering better lives and opportunities for each generation. I am also a parent, so when I hear the request from youth, including my students and child to stand with them, I am naturally inclined to give their case fair consideration.</p>
<p>But I am a scientific researcher, too. The first, core demand of the <a href="https://www.fridaysforfuture.org">striking students</a>, led by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, is to “unite behind the science”. How could I not recognise the significance of this demand in a communication landscape too often dominated by short-term sensationalism, rather than the core challenges facing society and the living planet?</p>
<p>But there’s a deeper, more fundamental reason to support the global strike for climate, grounded in my own field of political and <a href="http://www.isecoeco.org/">ecological economics</a>. </p>
<p>My research focuses on how, if at all, we can create an economy that is focused on achieving human well-being and avoiding damage to the environment. The current prospect is not good. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0021-4">No country</a> yet meets most needs of citizens at a sustainable level of resource use.</p>
<p>But my research also shows that it may be possible to do this and more. We have the capability to meet basic needs and achieve high levels of human well-being at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.09.014">modest levels</a> of energy use. And beyond this moderate amount, there is no reliable relationship between energy use and well-being. In many cases, added energy can even harm human health and well-being through air pollution, climate impacts, road accidents, and lack of exercise.</p>
<p>A rapid, radical reduction in energy demand could perhaps fulfil both goals of addressing climate breakdown and enabling our students and children to live good lives: what Kate Raworth calls living <a href="https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/">within the “doughnut”</a>. So why is this option not debated and put forward through an ambitious policy agenda?</p>
<h2>A different future</h2>
<p>The answer is both simple and profound. My research area remains marginal, and its results neglected, because to accept it would require a fundamental transformation of the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2001/htm">prevailing economic philosophy</a>. We would need to pay less attention to growth and profit as the measures of prosperity, and replace them with sufficiency and equity – a fair division of resources to provide what is sufficient for well-being and not more. After centuries of entrenchment, that’s no easy feat.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-neoclassical-thinking-still-dominate-economics-3861">neoclassical economics</a> itself is not the main culprit in our planetary predicament. When we look deeper, and seek to understand the factors underpinning the rise in consumption culture that drives our energy use, we are confronted with a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2001/htm">problem of the way production relates to politics</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/surviving-climate-change-means-transforming-both-economics-and-design-109164">Surviving climate change means transforming both economics and design</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>The production, pricing, and consumption of goods and services are not simply driven by the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/neoclassical.asp#axzz1azmiVtL2">natural balancing of supply and demand</a>. The economy is best understood as a social and political arena. In this arena, highly productive industries invest heavily in advertising to artificially grow consumption. As my upcoming research shows, they coalesce in aligned mega-sectors, such as the automotive, road-building and real estate industries, all of which wield outsize political influence, and have a vested interest in trapping consumers in car-intensive, road-intensive, suburban housing.</p>
<p>The paradox of high resource use that results in little or no human benefits has its roots in the very structure of our political economy, and the industries that are some of its most important mainstays. Transforming this structure means <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2001/htm">challenging these sectors</a>, and finding ways to counter their excessive influence in our democracies.</p>
<p>This is why we must <a href="https://ukscn.org/take-action/">support the students’ strike</a> this Friday, and every Friday for the foreseeable future. Significant change <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2001/htm">will not come into being</a> without protests and solidarity movements that rigorously question unacceptable modes of living and politics. It is time for all of us to wake politicians, businesses, and institutions up to the immense task of transforming our societies.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This article is part of <a href="https://www.cjr.org/covering_climate_now/covering-climate-partnerships.php/">The Covering Climate Now</a> series</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia K. Steinberger receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>Humans consume excessive resources with little or no benefits to well-being – and the politics of our economy are to blame. To counter the influence of industries in democracy, we must strike.Julia K. Steinberger, Professor in Social Ecology and Ecological Economics, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1207852019-08-05T12:48:31Z2019-08-05T12:48:31ZGreen growth is trusted to fix climate change – here’s the problem with that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286934/original/file-20190805-36381-1xdwbdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4016%2C3197&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Greening' our current economic system can only take us so far.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/concept-renewable-energy-81876964?src=-1-0&studio=1">GTS/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You may have missed it, but a recent <a href="https://eeb.org/library/decoupling-debunked/">report</a> declared that the main strategy of world leaders for tackling climate change won’t work. It’s called green growth, and it’s favoured by some of the largest and most influential organisations in the world, including <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/green-economy">the United Nations</a> and <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/05/09/inclusive-green-growth-policies-real-world-challenges">the World Bank</a>. </p>
<p>Green growth is a vague term with <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/green-growth-environmental-scientist-dec12.pdf">many definitions</a>, but broadly speaking, it’s the idea that society can reduce its environmental impacts and slash its emissions, even while the economy continues to grow and the quantity of stuff that’s produced and consumed increases.</p>
<p>This would be achieved by improving the efficiency of production and manufacturing processes, transitioning to cleaner energy sources and developing new technologies to deal with the pollution that economic activity creates. Better yet, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki45Ra8sajA">it’s argued</a>, all of this could be done fast enough to meet the Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming to below 1.5ᵒC.</p>
<p>Fixing the climate crisis without having to compromise on economic growth sounds appealing. But the <a href="https://eeb.org/decoupling-debunked/">Decoupling Debunked</a> report echoes work by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O03Y7NyReYQ">prominent</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2019.1598964">academics</a> in finding that there is no evidence that societies have ever managed to decouple economic growth from emissions at this scale in the past, and little evidence they have the capacity to achieve it in the future.</p>
<p>It’s no surprise that, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116303070">historically</a>, global carbon emissions have gone up as economies have grown. The processes that produce the goods and services we all consume use raw materials as inputs and generate pollution, carbon emissions and waste.</p>
<p>Making these processes more efficient and swapping fossil fuels for renewables can, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518301605">and has</a>, reduced the average emissions that come with each additional dollar of economic growth. This is known as “relative decoupling”, because each dollar of new economic growth has fewer emissions attached to it, relative to each dollar of past growth. But, emissions still rise in absolute terms because the economy is still growing.</p>
<p>Since it is the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere that matters in the race against climate change, we need to contrast this idea of “relative decoupling” with the stronger concept of “absolute decoupling”. Absolute decoupling means that even as the economy grows, total carbon emissions fall year-on-year.</p>
<p>With this distinction in mind, the question becomes: is absolute decoupling of economic growth from carbon emissions possible? And can it be done fast enough to prevent catastrophic climate change?</p>
<h2>The scale of the challenge</h2>
<p>According to the IPCC, there is a <a href="https://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_spm_final.pdf">66% likelihood</a> that the world can remain under the Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C of warming if we emit no more than 420 billion additional tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, from early 2018.</p>
<p>Humans currently emit about <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-fossil-fuel-emissions-in-2018-increasing-at-fastest-rate-for-seven-years">37 billion tonnes</a> of carbon every year, and that number is still growing. Even the most <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-much-carbon-budget-is-left-to-limit-global-warming-to-1-5c">generous projections</a> suggest that if emissions continue at this rate, the carbon budget will be used up in less than 20 years.</p>
<p>The rate of decarbonisation that’s needed is huge, and far in excess of anything that’s been <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf303/pdf">seen previously</a>. Economic growth makes that challenge even harder, as gains in decarbonisation may be outweighed by increases in production and consumption. But green growth advocates insist it’s possible.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-protesters-should-be-wary-of-12-years-to-climate-breakdown-rhetoric-115489">Why protesters should be wary of '12 years to climate breakdown' rhetoric</a>
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<p>The IPCC’s Special Report, released in October 2018, gives <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/2-0/">90 scenarios</a> that would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C, while also continuing with economic growth. So far, so good. But almost every single one of these scenarios relies on a negative emissions technology called Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) that’s completely untested at large scales.</p>
<p>BECSS involves growing large plantations of trees, which draw down carbon from the atmosphere, then harvesting and burning them to generate energy. The CO₂ emissions from this process are then stored underground. To limit warming to 1.5°C, this technology would need to absorb <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/2-0/">3-7 billion tonnes of carbon</a> from the atmosphere every year. That’s at least 2,000 times more than it’s <a href="https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/BECCS-Perspective_FINAL_18-March.pdf">currently capable of doing</a>.</p>
<p>In order to absorb that much carbon, an area <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2870">two to three times the size of India</a> would need to be covered with tree plantations. Think about the difficulty of acquiring that much land, the pressure it would put on other land uses, like food production, and how much <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-scandal-of-calling-plantations-forest-restoration-is-putting-climate-targets-at-risk-114858">natural habitat it could erase</a>.</p>
<p>No one can say that these feats are categorically impossible. But the evidence suggests that the chances of meeting the 1.5ᵒC warming target alongside continued economic growth are, at best, highly unlikely. Can we really take this risk — relying on unproven technologies to rescue us from the threat of climate change? Given the consequences of getting the gamble wrong, surely the answer is no.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286937/original/file-20190805-36358-1rkgym3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286937/original/file-20190805-36358-1rkgym3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286937/original/file-20190805-36358-1rkgym3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286937/original/file-20190805-36358-1rkgym3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286937/original/file-20190805-36358-1rkgym3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286937/original/file-20190805-36358-1rkgym3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286937/original/file-20190805-36358-1rkgym3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Negative emission technologies don’t exist at the scale they’re needed – and could do more ecological harm than good.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-tree-plantation-poland-340331621?src=_0Jv3opBWZjIrjKBv1T6Gw-1-23&studio=1">Mariusz Szczygiel/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Where does this leave us?</h2>
<p>Proposals for green growth that rely solely on technology to solve the climate crisis are based on a flawed idea. This is, that the limits to the world’s physical systems are flexible, but the structure of its economies are not. This seems entirely backwards and more a reflection of the importance of politics and power in determining what solutions are deemed viable, than any reflection of reality.</p>
<p>So society should ask, are these global institutions promoting green growth because they believe it’s the most promising way of avoiding climate breakdown? Or is it because they believe it’s simply not politically feasible to talk about the alternatives?</p>
<p>If we can be optimistic about humanity’s ability to develop fantastical new technologies to bend and overcome the limits of nature, can’t we lend that same optimism to developing new economic structures? Our goal in the 21st century should be creating economies that allow people to flourish, even when they don’t grow.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1120785">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Corlet Walker receives funding from the South East Network for Social Sciences.</span></em></p>Economic growth created the climate crisis and continues to fuel it – ‘green’ growth is no solution.Christine Corlet Walker, PhD Candidate in Ecological Economics, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1182772019-06-05T12:53:13Z2019-06-05T12:53:13ZFinancial incentives could spur cities and land owners to protect wetlands<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278107/original/file-20190605-40731-taejm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New York City processes about <a href="https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/Water-Consumption-In-The-New-York-City/ia2d-e54m">1 billion gallons</a> of water every day. To do so, it doesn’t rely on water filtration plants alone. It also depends on the natural filtration capacity of the upstream <a href="http://smapp.rand.org/ise/ourfuture/NaturesServices/sec1_watershed.html">Catskill Catchment</a>. </p>
<p>The catchment’s soils and wetlands act like carbon filters and kidneys. They purify water, providing a sustainable supply of clean water to the city’s residents. </p>
<p>This happens because water managers in New York realised that water quality and security wasn’t purely dependant on built infrastructure. <a href="http://biodiversityadvisor.sanbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2013_Ecological-infrastructure-factsheet.pdf">Valuable ecological infrastructure</a> like ecosystems are crucial too. </p>
<p>Years ago they set about ensuring protection of this ecological infrastructure in the Catskill Catchment, through sustainable management, planning and land acquisition. </p>
<p>Most importantly, the city partnered with landowners. Landowners received financial assistance to adopt more sustainable land-use practises and to place portions of their land into conservation easements. </p>
<p>As a result, New York was able to fend off the need to spend significant capital (<a href="http://smapp.rand.org/ise/ourfuture/NaturesServices/sec1_watershed.html">US$ 6 billion dollars</a>) on a new water treatment plant by investing upfront in nature. </p>
<p>This approach is known as <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/black_sea_basin/danube_carpathian/our_solutions/green_economy/pes/">Payments for Ecosystem Services</a>. These are market-based incentives offered to landowners in exchange for sustainably managing their land and providing <a href="https://www.iucn.org/commissions/commission-ecosystem-management/our-work/cems-thematic-groups/ecosystem-services">ecosystem services</a> to downstream beneficiaries, such as landowners, cities and businesses. </p>
<p>In addition to its water-related benefits, this investment into ecological infrastructure also reduces risks to disasters such as floods and fires, and has biodiversity benefits. In South Africa, there is at least one possible type of ecological infrastructure that a market-based incentive could be applied to: wetlands. </p>
<h2>Wetlands as ecological infrastructure</h2>
<p>Wetlands are often referred to as the Earth’s kidneys. That’s because they provide the same vital functions as these organs. This includes <a href="https://sciencing.com/do-wetlands-purify-water-7585568.html">water purification</a> and <a href="https://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/wetlands/functions/water-quality">water flow regulation</a>. </p>
<p>Despite their value, wetlands are being destroyed by <a href="http://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/scientists-argue-human-activity-threatens-vital-ecosystems/">human threats</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard_Cowling/publication/236841333_Are_We_Destroying_Our_Insurance_Policy_The_Effects_of_Alien_Invasion_and_Subsequent_Restoration/links/545f569f0cf295b561619f78.pdf">invasive species</a>. <a href="http://biodiversityadvisor.sanbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NBA2011_TechnicalReport_Vol2Freshwater.pdf">The National Biodiversity Assessment 2011</a> found that over 65% of South Africa’s wetlands and river systems have been damaged and half have been lost. </p>
<p>In light of the rapidly disappearing wetlands, we took a closer look at the <a href="https://journals.co.za/docserver/fulltext/waterb_v17_n4_a4.pdf?expires=1558614578&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=D21A945252C367B3C2ED54148B1C2D2A">ecosystem services</a> provided by one threatened wetland type: South African Palmiet wetlands. Our research found that there is a strong case to strategically set aside Palmiet wetlands for the ecosystem services that they provide. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/71967/rebelo_ecological_2012.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y">Palmiet wetlands</a> are typically unchannelled <a href="http://www.wrc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/mdocs/2346-1-17.pdf">peatlands</a>. They occur in the bottom of valleys, dominated by the unique and endemic plant species, Palmiet (<a href="http://pza.sanbi.org/prionium-serratum"><em>Prionium serratum</em></a>). They’re found mostly throughout the southern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal. </p>
<p>Palmiet wetlands occur mainly on privately-owned land, where landowners are incentivised to enhance food production. Some of this land falls within <a href="http://www.wrc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/mdocs/TT%20754-1-18.pdf">South Africa’s Strategic Water Source Areas</a>, which make up only 8% of the country’s area, but accounts for half of its water supply.</p>
<p>The rich soils associated with Palmiet <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124095489007417?via%3Dihub">peat-beds</a> are favourable for agriculture. But many of the valley-bottom areas associated with these wetlands are not suitable for agriculture, as they’re relatively narrow and face high risks of frequent flooding. This risk is likely to be <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wcc.295">exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change</a>. </p>
<p>The flip side is that wetlands transformed for agriculture are often <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11273-018-9638-3">degraded</a> by extensive erosion. This results in lower water tables (less water available in the soil to plants) – and that translates to decreased agricultural productivity. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the perception of wetlands as “wastelands” has resulted in Palmiet being mechanically removed, which is widely believed to “improve river flow”. In reality, wetland degradation is neither beneficial to landowners nor to downstream beneficiaries.</p>
<h2>Water or food?</h2>
<p>Ecosystem services are a <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/11139/chapter/2#10">valuable tool</a> to objectively analyse the trade-offs to society presented by different land-use scenarios. </p>
<p>We compared ecosystem services between wetlands used for agriculture and pristine Palmiet wetlands. Wetlands included the Theewaterskloof and Goukou wetlands in the Western Cape, and the Kromme wetland in the Eastern Cape. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X18309762">found</a> that pristine Palmiet wetlands provide a far greater suite of water-related ecosystem services to downstream beneficiaries, and that agriculture in these wetlands is marginal. <a href="https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/12188">Previous research</a> in the Kromme valley has shown that only about 50% of the landowners are able to make ends meet by farming alone. </p>
<p>Some landowners only derive profit by protecting their crops in the wetlands from floods, by performing illegal mass-reconstruction of the valley-bottom. They channelise and dredge wetlands and build berms. These <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2794053/">unsustainable farming practises</a> have major implications for water quality and security for downstream beneficiaries. </p>
<h2>Farming water</h2>
<p>Two of the Palmiet wetlands studied occur upstream of important water sources for large cities – Churchill Dam for Port Elizabeth; Theewaterskloof Dam for Stellenbosch and Cape Town. Protecting the Palmiet wetlands through a payments for ecosystem services system would be a beneficial strategic move.</p>
<p>There needs to be collaboration between private landowners struggling with marginal agriculture and decision makers in cities threatened by water shortages, failing infrastructure and debt, to ensure the most <a href="https://www.capenature.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Wetlands.pdf">effective</a> use of South Africa’s critical ecological infrastructure.</p>
<p><em>Courtney Morris, MSc in Conservation Ecology & Entomology at Stellenbosch University, co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alanna Rebelo is currently working on a project entitled 'The socio-economic benefits of investing in ecological infrastructure', funded by the Danish International Development Agency. She is also a volunteer member of the conservation group: Friends of Tokai Park. </span></em></p>With partnerships between landowners, the government and businesses, South Africa can invest in its wetlands and boost the country’s potable water reserves.Alanna Rebelo, Postdoctoral researcher, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/941282018-04-30T16:43:40Z2018-04-30T16:43:40ZWhy you can’t have free trade and save the planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215775/original/file-20180420-75107-1u74t0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">chuyuss / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Donald Trump recently announced <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-china-trade-wars-global-ramifications-explained-95300">tariffs on steel and aluminium imports</a> he was condemned by proponents of free trade across the world. His <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/opinion/the-macroeconomics-of-trade-war.html">critics</a> said the US president had not understood how protectionist policies would spell disaster for the world economy. Fair enough. But this is the same Trump whose decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement also met with <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-decision-to-quit-the-paris-agreement-may-be-his-worst-business-deal-yet-78780">massive disapproval</a>. </p>
<p>Trump is simultaneously chided for refusing to cut emissions, and for promoting a trade policy that reduces the causes of such emissions. Both sets of critics may be right on their own terms, but the contradiction between the two reproaches exposes big problems in the mainstream modern worldview. Is it really reasonable to advocate for both more trade and greater concern for the environment?</p>
<p>For centuries world trade has increased not only environmental degradation, but also <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/03/40-years-of-data-suggest-3-myths-about-globalization">global inequality</a>. The expanding ecological footprints of affluent people are unjust as well as unsustainable. The concepts developed in wealthier nations to celebrate “growth” and “progress” obscure the net transfers of labour time and natural resources between richer and poorer parts of the world. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215996/original/file-20180423-94118-oy938g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215996/original/file-20180423-94118-oy938g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215996/original/file-20180423-94118-oy938g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215996/original/file-20180423-94118-oy938g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215996/original/file-20180423-94118-oy938g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215996/original/file-20180423-94118-oy938g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215996/original/file-20180423-94118-oy938g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215996/original/file-20180423-94118-oy938g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Per capita net imports of resources to the EU, Japan and US in 2007.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/7760237">Dorninger and Hornborg, 2015</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For instance, the household of an average American couple with one child has <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915003456">the equivalent of an invisible servant</a> working full time for it outside the nation’s borders, while the average Japanese household with one child uses three hectares of land overseas. Yet such material asymmetry appears to be a side issue for mainstream economists, who continue to assert the overall benefits of free trade.</p>
<p>This same ignorance is particularly apparent in the fight against climate change. Most environmentalists and researchers put their faith in new technologies for harnessing the sun and wind, and hope that politicians can be persuaded to act. But solar panels and wind farms are not merely products of human ingenuity that have been revealed to us by nature. Nor are they magical keys to limitless energy. </p>
<p>Renewable energy technologies emerged in this specific human society – inequality, globalisation and all – and their very feasibility is dependent on world market prices. Like other modern technologies they depend on high domestic purchasing power combined with cheap Asian labour, Brazilian land, or Congolese cobalt. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216861/original/file-20180430-135825-14aas4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216861/original/file-20180430-135825-14aas4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216861/original/file-20180430-135825-14aas4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216861/original/file-20180430-135825-14aas4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216861/original/file-20180430-135825-14aas4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216861/original/file-20180430-135825-14aas4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216861/original/file-20180430-135825-14aas4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216861/original/file-20180430-135825-14aas4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">DR Congo is the world’s biggest source of cobalt, used in batteries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">bmszealand / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Almost 50 years ago the ecological economist <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674281653">Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen</a> warned that the notion that solar power could replace fossil energy was an illusion, because it would require such enormous volumes of materials to harness the requisite amounts of diffuse sunlight to satisfy a modern high-tech society. Some of these materials are rare and expensive and degrade the environment. Moreover, the United Nations Environmental Programme <a href="http://www.isa.org.usyd.edu.au/about/16-00271_LW_GlobalMaterialFlowsUNE_SUMMARY_FINAL_160701.pdf">recently warned</a> that the world is heading for ecological disaster unless we use less resources per dollar of economic growth. </p>
<p>The Czech-Canadian energy researcher Vaclav Smil has found that switching to renewable energy would use up <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/meet-vaclav-smil-man-who-has-quietly-shaped-how-world-thinks-about-energy">vast amounts of land</a>, reversing the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/40181">land-saving benefits</a> of the Industrial Revolution. Meanwhile the money to invest in solar is still ultimately generated from cheap labour and cheap land. The fact that solar panels have recently become less expensive is partly because they are increasingly being manufactured by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/08/business/china-trade-solar-panels.html">low-wage labour in Asia</a>. </p>
<p>When viewed this way it is perhaps no wonder that renewable energy has not even begun to replace fossil energy, and has only been added to the still-increasing use of oil, coal and gas. Solar power still only accounts for <a href="https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy/renewable-energy/solar-energy.html">about 1%</a> of global energy use. It has hardly made a dent on the global use of energy for electricity, industry, or transports. And this cannot be blamed on the oil lobby, as is illustrated by the case of Cuba. Nearly all of the island’s electricity still derives from fossil fuels. There is obviously something problematic about shifting to solar power that goes beyond corporate obstruction. To explain it in terms of a lack of capital or in terms of the vast land requirements are two sides of the same coin. </p>
<p>So here is the impasse of modern civilization: the free trade promoted by most economists and politicians continues to drive a substantial part of the greenhouse gas emissions that they want to reduce, and yet the sustainable technologies they propose to cut emissions are in themselves dependent on economic growth, international trade, and the use of more and more natural resources. </p>
<p>So how to break this impasse? Economists could start by recognising that the economy is not insulated from nature, just as engineering is not insulated from world society. Global challenges of sustainability, justice and resilience all demand much more integrated thinking.</p>
<p>This will involve confronting conventional ideologies of technological progress and free trade. Rather than nervously safeguarding world trade with its escalating greenhouse gas emissions, we have every reason to reconsider what might be perceived as true human progress and quality of life. Instead of economic policies maximising economic growth and resource use, humankind needs to develop an economy that is aligned with the constraints of our fragile biosphere – and a science of engineering that takes account of global inequalities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94128/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alf Hornborg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Politicians and economists call for emissions cuts while also embracing free trade – they can’t have it both ways.Alf Hornborg, Professor of Human Ecology, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/914212018-02-07T16:51:21Z2018-02-07T16:51:21ZIs it possible for everyone to live a good life within our planet’s limits?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205301/original/file-20180207-74497-yz02cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EmEvn / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine a country that met the basic needs of its citizens – one where everyone could expect to live a long, healthy, happy and prosperous life. Now imagine that same country was able to do this while using natural resources at a level that would be sustainable even if every other country in the world did the same. </p>
<p>Such a country does not exist. Nowhere in the world even comes close. In fact, if everyone on Earth were to lead a good life within our planet’s sustainability limits, the level of resources used to meet basic needs would have to be reduced by a factor of two to six times.</p>
<p>These are the sobering findings of research that my colleagues and I have carried out, recently published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0021-4">Nature Sustainability</a>. In our work, we quantified the national resource use associated with meeting basic needs for a large number of countries, and compared this to what is globally sustainable. We analysed the relationships between seven indicators of national environmental pressure (relative to environmental limits) and 11 indicators of social performance (relative to the requirements for a good life) for over 150 countries. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205353/original/file-20180207-74490-bguv78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205353/original/file-20180207-74490-bguv78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205353/original/file-20180207-74490-bguv78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205353/original/file-20180207-74490-bguv78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205353/original/file-20180207-74490-bguv78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205353/original/file-20180207-74490-bguv78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205353/original/file-20180207-74490-bguv78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Americans live the ‘good life’ – but at what cost?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">prochasson frederic / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The thresholds we chose to represent a “good life” are far from extravagant – a life satisfaction rating of 6.5 out of 10, living 65 years in good health, the elimination of poverty below the <a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/international-poverty-line-has-just-been-raised-190-day-global-poverty-basically-unchanged-how-even">US$1.90 a day</a> line, and so on.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, we found that the universal achievement of these goals could push humanity past multiple environmental limits. CO₂ emissions are the toughest limit to stay within, while fresh water use is the easiest (ignoring issues of local water scarcity). Physical needs such as nutrition and sanitation could likely be met for seven billion people, but more aspirational goals, including secondary education and high life satisfaction, could require a level of resource use that is two to six times the sustainable level.</p>
<p>Although wealthy nations like the US and UK satisfy the basic needs of their citizens, they do so at a level of resource use that is far beyond what is globally sustainable. In contrast, countries that are using resources at a sustainable level, such as Sri Lanka, fail to meet the basic needs of their people. Worryingly, the more social thresholds that a country achieves, the more biophysical boundaries it tends to transgress. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205279/original/file-20180207-74509-87ygio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205279/original/file-20180207-74509-87ygio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205279/original/file-20180207-74509-87ygio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205279/original/file-20180207-74509-87ygio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205279/original/file-20180207-74509-87ygio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205279/original/file-20180207-74509-87ygio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205279/original/file-20180207-74509-87ygio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205279/original/file-20180207-74509-87ygio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Measures of a ‘good life’ vs overuse of resources for different countries (scaled by population). Ideally, countries would be located in the top-left corner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0021-4">O'Neill et al</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>No country currently achieves all 11 social thresholds without also exceeding multiple biophysical boundaries. The closest thing we found to an exception was Vietnam, which achieves six of the 11 social thresholds, while only transgressing one of the seven biophysical boundaries (CO₂ emissions). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205281/original/file-20180207-74497-1ixmgdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205281/original/file-20180207-74497-1ixmgdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205281/original/file-20180207-74497-1ixmgdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205281/original/file-20180207-74497-1ixmgdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205281/original/file-20180207-74497-1ixmgdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205281/original/file-20180207-74497-1ixmgdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205281/original/file-20180207-74497-1ixmgdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205281/original/file-20180207-74497-1ixmgdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vietnam has come closest to balancing sustainability with a good life, but still falls short in some areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0021-4">O'Neill et al</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To help communicate the scale of the challenge, we have created an <a href="https://goodlife.leeds.ac.uk">interactive website</a>, which shows the environmental and social performance of all countries. It also allows you to change the values that we chose for a “good life”, and see how these values would affect global sustainability.</p>
<h2>Time to rethink ‘sustainable development’</h2>
<p>Our work builds on previous research led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, which identified nine “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/461472a">planetary boundaries</a>” that – if persistently exceeded – could lead to catastrophic change. The social indicators are closely linked to the high-level objectives from the UN’s <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. A framework combining both planetary boundaries and social thresholds was proposed by economist Kate Raworth, and is described in her recent book <a href="https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/">Doughnut Economics</a> (where the “doughnut” refers to the shape of the country plots, such as the one above for Vietnam). </p>
<p>Our findings, which show how countries are doing in comparison to Raworth’s framework, present a serious challenge to the “business-as-usual” approach to sustainable development. They suggest that some of the Sustainable Development Goals, such as combating climate change, could be undermined by the pursuit of others, particularly those focused on growth or high levels of human well-being.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the relationship between resource use and social performance is almost always a curve with diminishing returns. This curve has a “turning point”, after which using even more resources adds almost nothing to human well-being. Wealthy nations, including the US and UK, are well past the turning point, which means they could substantially reduce the amount of carbon emitted or materials consumed with no loss of well-being. This would in turn free up ecological space for many poorer countries, where an increase in resource use would contribute much more to a good life.</p>
<p>If all seven billion or more people are to live well within the limits of our planet, then radical changes are required. At the very least, these include dramatically reducing income inequality and switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy as quickly as possible. But, most importantly, wealthy nations such as the US and UK must <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2013/may/01/economics-of-enough">move beyond the pursuit of economic growth</a>, which is no longer improving people’s lives in these countries, but is pushing humanity ever closer towards environmental disaster.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91421/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel O'Neill was partially supported by an International Academic Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>No country manages to balance sustainability with meeting basic human needs – but Vietnam comes closest.Dan O'Neill, Lecturer in Ecological Economics, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/641952016-08-23T13:30:19Z2016-08-23T13:30:19ZTime for degrowth: to save the planet, we must shrink the economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134964/original/image-20160822-18725-9iqn13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billion Photos / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What is so refreshing about the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals</a> is that they recognise the inherent tension between economic development and the ecology of our planet. Or so it seems. The preamble affirms that “planet Earth and its ecosystems are our home” and underscores the necessity of achieving “harmony with nature”. It commits to holding global warming below 2°C, and calls for “sustainable patterns of production and consumption”.</p>
<p>This language signals awareness that something about our economic system has gone terribly awry – that we cannot continue chewing through the living planet without gravely endangering our security and prosperity, and indeed the future viability of our species.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134954/original/image-20160822-18702-yyqapf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134954/original/image-20160822-18702-yyqapf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134954/original/image-20160822-18702-yyqapf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=79&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134954/original/image-20160822-18702-yyqapf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=79&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134954/original/image-20160822-18702-yyqapf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=79&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134954/original/image-20160822-18702-yyqapf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=100&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134954/original/image-20160822-18702-yyqapf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=100&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134954/original/image-20160822-18702-yyqapf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=100&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But if you look more closely, a glaring contradiction emerges. The core of the SDG programme relies on the old model of indefinite economic growth that caused our ecological crisis in the first place: ever-increasing levels of extraction, production and consumption. <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">SDG 8 calls for</a> “at least 7% GDP growth per annum in the least developed countries” and “higher levels of economic productivity” across the board. In other words, there is a profound contradiction at the heart of these supposedly sustainable goals. They call for both less and more at the same time.</p>
<p>This call for more growth comes at an odd moment, just as we are learning that it is not physically possible. Currently, global production and consumption levels are overshooting our planet’s biocapacity by <a href="http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/public_data_package">nearly 60% each year</a>. In other words, growth isn’t an option any more – we’ve already grown too much. Scientists tell us that we are <a href="https://theconversation.com/humanity-is-in-the-existential-danger-zone-study-confirms-36307">blowing past planetary boundaries at breakneck speed</a> and witnessing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-has-begun-new-study-confirms-43432">greatest mass extinction of species</a> in more than 66m years.</p>
<p>The hard truth is that our ecological overshoot is due almost entirely to over-consumption in rich countries, particularly the West.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134978/original/image-20160822-18711-19x39bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134978/original/image-20160822-18711-19x39bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134978/original/image-20160822-18711-19x39bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134978/original/image-20160822-18711-19x39bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134978/original/image-20160822-18711-19x39bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134978/original/image-20160822-18711-19x39bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134978/original/image-20160822-18711-19x39bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134978/original/image-20160822-18711-19x39bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ecological overshoot in action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Canadapanda/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>SDG 8 calls for improving “global resource efficiency” and “decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation”. Unfortunately, there are no signs that this is possible at anything near the necessary pace. Global material extraction and consumption grew by 94% between 1980 and 2010, <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/3/1/319">accelerating in the last decade</a> to reach as high as 70 billion tonnes per year. And it’s still going up: by 2030, we’re projected to breach <a href="https://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/.../overconsumption.pdf">100 billion tonnes of stuff</a> per year. Current projections show that by 2040 we will <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/global-transport-use-will-double-by-2040-as-china-and-india-gdp-balloon">more than double</a> the world’s shipping, trucking, and air miles – along with all the things those vehicles transport. By 2100 we will be producing <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/environment-waste-production-must-peak-this-century-1.14032">three times more solid waste</a> than we do today.</p>
<p>Efficiency improvements are not going to cut it. Yes, some GDP growth may still be necessary in poorer countries; but for the world as a whole, the only option is intentional de-growth and a rapid shift to what legendary ecological economist Herman Daly calls a <a href="http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/from-uneconomic-growth-to-a-steady-state-economy">“steady-state”</a> that maintains economic activity at ecological equilibrium.</p>
<p>De-growth does not mean poverty. On the contrary, de-growth is <a href="http://www.truevaluemetrics.org/DBpdfs/People/HermanDaly/HermanDaly-ONeill-2015-The-proximity-of-nations-to-a-socially-sustainable-steady-state%20economy.pdf">perfectly compatible</a> with high levels of human development. It is entirely possible for us to shrink our resource consumption while increasing things that really matter such as human happiness, well-being, education, health and longevity. Consider the fact that Europe has higher human development indicators than the US in most categories, despite 40% less GDP per capita and 60% less emissions per capita.</p>
<p>This is the end toward which we must focus our full attention. Indeed, the surer route to poverty is to continue on our present trajectory, for, as top economist Joseph Stigltiz points out, in a world of ecological overshoot, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/13/economics-economic-growth-and-recession-global-economy">GDP growth is diminishing living standards</a> rather than improving them.</p>
<p>We need to replace GDP with a saner measure of human progress, such as the <a href="http://rprogress.org/sustainability_indicators/genuine_progress_indicator.htm">Genuine Progress Indicator</a>, and abandon the notion of exponential economic growth without end. Sadly, the SDGs pass this urgent challenge down to the next generation – at the bottom of SDG 17 it states: “By 2030 build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement GDP.” In other words, they shelve the problem until 2029.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134981/original/image-20160822-18731-r4kd8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134981/original/image-20160822-18731-r4kd8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134981/original/image-20160822-18731-r4kd8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134981/original/image-20160822-18731-r4kd8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134981/original/image-20160822-18731-r4kd8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134981/original/image-20160822-18731-r4kd8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134981/original/image-20160822-18731-r4kd8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Relaxation isn’t counted in GDP stats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxpetrov/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what of employment? Whenever I lecture about de-growth, this is always the first question I get - and we have to take it seriously. Yes, de-growth will require eliminating unnecessary production and work. But this presents us with a beautiful opportunity to shorten the working week and give some thought to that other big idea that has captured the public’s imagination over the past couple of years: a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/13/should-we-scrap-benefits-and-pay-everyone-100-a-week-whether-they-work-or-not">universal basic income</a>. How to fund it? There are many options, including progressive taxes on commercial land use, financial transactions, foreign currency transactions and capital gains.</p>
<p>Let’s face it – in an age of rapid automation, full employment on a global scale is a <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2015/12/full-employment-tenet-classic-social-democracy-it-still-applicable">pipe dream</a> anyhow. It’s time we think of ways to facilitate reliable livelihoods in the absence of formal employment. Not only will this assist us toward necessary de-growth, it will also allow people to escape exploitative labour arrangements and incentivise employers to improve working conditions – two goals that the SDGs set out to achieve. What’s more, it will allow people to invest more of their time and effort into things that matter: caring for their loved ones, growing their own food, nourishing communities, and rebuilding degraded environments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64195/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Hickel receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust. He is affiliated with the London School of Economics and serves as an adviser to /The Rules.</span></em></p>Increased development is always unsustainable, so let’s stop kidding ourselves.Jason Hickel, Lecturer, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/397612015-04-07T10:16:46Z2015-04-07T10:16:46ZAn economy focused solely on growth is environmentally and socially unsustainable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77119/original/image-20150406-26479-1f8jim5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Digging for dollars: an new way to view economic growth.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">money growing via www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most world leaders seem to believe that economic growth is a panacea for many of society’s problems.</p>
<p>Yet there are many links between our society’s addiction to economic growth, the disturbing ecological crisis, the rapid rise of social inequality and the decline in the quality of democracy.</p>
<p>These issues tend to be explored as disconnected topics and often misinterpreted or manipulated to match given ideological preconceptions and prejudices. The fact is that they are deeply interconnected processes. A large body of data and research has emerged in the last decade to illuminate such connections.</p>
<h2>Limited biosphere</h2>
<p>Studies in <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-spirit-level-9781608191703/">social sciences</a> consistently show that, in rich countries, greater economic growth on its own does very little or nothing at all to enhance social well-being. On the contrary, reducing income inequality is an effective way to resolve social problems such as violence, criminality, imprisonment rates, obesity and mental illness, as well as to improve children’s educational performance, population life expectancy, and social levels of trust and mobility.</p>
<p>Comparative studies have found that societies that are more equal do much better in all the aforementioned areas than more unequal ones, independent of their gross domestic product (GDP). Economist Thomas Piketty, in his recent book <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674430006">Capital in the Twenty-First Century</a>, has assembled extensive data that shows how unchecked capitalism historically tends to increase inequality and undermine democratic practices. The focus of a successful social policy, therefore, should be to reduce inequality, not to grow the GDP for its own sake. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77122/original/image-20150406-26515-og2oyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77122/original/image-20150406-26515-og2oyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77122/original/image-20150406-26515-og2oyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77122/original/image-20150406-26515-og2oyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77122/original/image-20150406-26515-og2oyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77122/original/image-20150406-26515-og2oyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77122/original/image-20150406-26515-og2oyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77122/original/image-20150406-26515-og2oyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Placing economic growth above all else contributes to environmental degradation and social inequality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pollution via www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Concurrently, recent developments in earth system science are telling us that our frenetic economic activity has already transgressed several ecological <a href="http://www.stockholmresilience.org/21/research/research-programmes/planetary-boundaries.html">planetary boundaries</a>. One could argue that the degradation of our environmental systems will jeopardize socioeconomic stability and worldwide well-being. Some scientists suggest that we are in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which human activity is transforming the earth system in ways that may compromise human civilization as we know it. Many <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/">reports</a> insist that, if current trends continue, humanity will soon face dire and dramatic consequences.</p>
<h2>New framing</h2>
<p>If we consider all these findings as a whole, a consistent picture emerges: constant economic growth is a biophysical impossibility in a limited biosphere, and the faster the global economy grows, the faster the living systems of the planet collapse. In addition, this growth increases inequality and undermines democracy, multiplying the number of social problems that erode human communities.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, we have created a dysfunctional economic system that, when it works according to its self-imposed mandate of growing the pace of production and consumption, destroys the ecological systems upon which it depends. And when it does not grow, it becomes socially unsustainable. In a game with these rules, there is no way to win!</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77123/original/image-20150406-26476-1ggyz1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77123/original/image-20150406-26476-1ggyz1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77123/original/image-20150406-26476-1ggyz1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77123/original/image-20150406-26476-1ggyz1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77123/original/image-20150406-26476-1ggyz1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77123/original/image-20150406-26476-1ggyz1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77123/original/image-20150406-26476-1ggyz1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ecological economics via www shutterstock com</span></span>
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<p>The good news is that breaking the spiral of socio-ecological disaster might be easier than we think. We do not need a technological miracle or a new planet to colonize, but only to change the way we frame things.</p>
<p>Let’s assume that we all agree on some basic facts: first, that the biosphere contains and supports the living systems of the planet; second, that humans are one of the many species embedded in the biosphere and dependent upon its proper functioning; and finally, that an economic system is (or should be) a tool that humans deploy to organize their societies in a functional way.</p>
<p>Based on these commonsense assumptions, the economy is a subsystem of the ecology, not the other way around. Mainstream economics are dysfunctional because they start from the premise that societies and ecosystems must adapt to the market economy. If we begin to organize our priorities according to the biophysical reality rather than the market’s demands, it quickly becomes clear that our dominant economic system is absurd because it destroys the ecosystems that are the source of its wealth.</p>
<h2>Alternatives to the fixation on growth</h2>
<p>A commonsensical economy should arrange human activity within ecological limits in a way that enhances social well-being. In an alternative and in my view, desirable, economic model, the goal becomes to serve the well-being of communities and ecosystems, not to accumulate capital. </p>
<p>At a global level we cannot afford to grow at all since we need to reduce economic throughput to be sustainable. However, some regions may benefit from economic development, but a different one that tries to decouple economic growth and environmental degradation. </p>
<p>Once we acknowledge the biophysical and social limits of growth, the next step is to embrace <a href="http://www.isecoeco.org/">ecological economics</a> as the appropriate tool for achieving our new goals. We do not need to start from scratch, for there is already substantial literature on the topic, and numerous activists and researchers, advancing theories and practices on <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-in-a-degrowth-economy-and-why-you-might-actually-enjoy-it-32224">de-growth</a>, <a href="http://postgrowth.org/">post-growth</a>, <a href="http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781849713238/">prosperity without growth</a>, <a href="http://steadystate.org/">steady-state economics</a>, <a href="http://www.neweconomics.org/">new economics</a>, <a href="https://www.ecogood.org/en/">economics for the common good</a>, and so on.</p>
<p>They explore and analyze diverse policies explicitly designed to reduce the superfluous consumption of energy and materials while creating more just, livable, and sustainable communities for everyone. Many of these policies have already been put into practice, with results that offer abundant cause for hope. These ideas offer hope for a human future in which global leaders stop prioritizing growth over social and ecological sustainability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luis I Prádanos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Economic inequality and environmental degradation are closely linked – and stem from politicians’ fixation on economic growth at all costs.Luis I Prádanos, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.