Achievements and future challenges for environment and development economics

Addressing the challenge of ecological limits to economic growth and protection of the commons has been the central focus of scholarly research and policy debate in the world of EDE over the past two decades. Notable progress has been realized on a number of fronts but big challenges remain. Advance...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environment and development economics 2014-06, Vol.19 (3), p.290-292
Main Author: Hassan, Rashid
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Climate action
Climate change
Consumption
Development economics
Economic development
Economic growth
Economics
Ecosystem assessment
Ecosystem services
Ecosystems
Environmental economics
Environmental impact
Forum
Green economy
Inclusive wealth
Natural resource management
Natural resources
Question 2: What do you consider to be the biggest obstacles faced by the field of environment and development economics over the past 20 years?
Studies
Sustainable development
Sustainable practices
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Addressing the challenge of ecological limits to economic growth and protection of the commons has been the central focus of scholarly research and policy debate in the world of EDE over the past two decades. Notable progress has been realized on a number of fronts but big challenges remain. Advances in the theory and practice of sustainable development, moving away from income measures such as GDP and promoting inclusive wealth as the right indicator of change in wellbeing and sustainability for the evaluation of economic performance and associated progress with the development and use of natural resources and environmental accounts represent one major example. Another important example is the ecosystem services (ES) approach of the millennium ecosystem assessment that has now become the main framework widely adopted as the basis for the characterization, valuation and evaluation of tradeoffs among the multiple services of ecosystems impacted by the pursuit of economic growth. Together with progress in the science and economics of addressing climate change, these advances moved the EDE focus from micro- to macro-environmental economics management issues. Major manifestations of progress on these fronts include: the emphasis on the green economy for ‘the future we want’ at Rio+20 and the intended move beyond the millennium development goals (MDGs) to redirect future efforts of the international community towards new sustainable development goals (SDGs) and targets; global consensus and support for establishing an Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES); and efforts to better define planetary boundaries.
ISSN:1355-770X
1469-4395
DOI:10.1017/S1355770X14000187