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Strategic niche management and transition management have been promoted as useful avenues to pursue in order to achieve both specific product or process changes and system transformation by focusing on technology development through evolutionary and co-evolutionary processes, guided by government and relevant stakeholders. However, these processes are acknowledged to require decades to achieve their intended changes, a timeframe that is too long to adequately address many of the environmental and social issues many industrialized and industrializing nations are facing. An approach that involves incumbents and does not consider targets that look beyond reasonably foreseeable technology is likely to advance a model where incumbents evolve rather than being replaced or displaced . On the other hand, approaches that focus on creating new entrants could nurture niche development or deployment of disruptive technologies, but those technologies may only be marginally better than the technologies they replace. Either approach may take a long time to achieve their goals. Sustainable development requires both radical disruptive technological and institutional changes, the latter including stringent regulation, the integration of disparate goals, and changes in incentives to enable new voices to contribute to new systems and solutions. This paper outlines options for a strong governmental role in setting future sustainability goals and the pathways for achieving them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural areas around the world are increasingly exposed to natural disasters. To guide management intervention for sustainable development after natural disasters, scientists and policymakers need a better understanding of the linkages between livelihood changes after natural disasters and recovery outcomes. Despite the growing body of disaster research, systematic evaluation of the relationship between post-disaster changes in rural livelihoods and recovery outcomes is rare, largely due to the lack of relevant data. By taking advantage of the long-term data collection and research conducted in China's Wolong Nature Reserve (Wolong), we empirically evaluated livelihood changes after the catastrophic 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake and how those changes are linked to the recovery of human well-being. Our results show that households' livelihood portfolios in Wolong conspicuously changed after the earthquake and that human well-being had been recovering. However, we found most of these livelihood changes negatively affected, instead of facilitated, human well-being recovery. The enriched understanding of the linkages between post-disaster livelihood changes and recovery outcomes has important management implications for achieving Sustainable Development Goals amid natural disasters in Wolong and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many Asian developing countries, policy makers face tension between the needs of economic growth, human development and environmental sustainability. In a similar vein, the new global agreement on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for the harmonization of economic and environmental goals. To shed light on the relationship between the economy and natural resources, our research investigates the case of the Philippines, employing a material flow accounting approach based on national statistical sources. We analyze domestic extraction, trade of materials and economic development from 1980 to 2014. We also explore differences between territorial (production) and footprint (consumption) accounts. We find that the Philippine economy managed to grow while reducing material intensity because of an increasing share of services sector activities. From net resource trade dependence in the 1980s, the Philippines become a net resource provider in 2014 because of increased extraction and exports of metal ores. Overall, the material requirements grew over the past two decades at lower rate than GDP, signifying relative decoupling. The new data and indicators we present are aimed to inform the national policy agenda. They may help to formulate policies that integrate economic and environmental priorities and guide the Philippines towards achieving the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare for Spain from 1970 to 2012 and seeks to update valuation approaches to a number of items. Two approaches have proven particularly controversial over recent decades; the costs of energy depletion and of climate change. The valuation implications in measuring present welfare have proven problematic, as both include future sustainability consequences arising from resource depletion and environmental impacts. This study includes a ‘ transition cost ’ approach to energy depletion, a modified approach to costs of climate change and water pollution, and removes the cost of ozone depletion. The results illustrate that while GDP per capita increased significantly, the ISEW per capita shows a widening gap. Household labour contributes strongly, but income distribution, energy depletion and costs of climate change limit improvement. Sensitivity analysis shows that accumulating climate change costs and escalating energy depletion costs have significant effects. Nevertheless, the new valuation approaches do not alter conclusions that welfare has shown little improvement. The ISEW provides a useful alternative to current indicators such as GDP subject to awareness of limitations. It is a measure of welfare that uses sustainability accounting methods when estimating costs, but is not an indicator of whether welfare is actually sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National ecosystem accounting is an emerging framework for measuring the links between ecosystems and human well-being for national planning. It directly addresses Sustainable Development Goal 15.9, in which countries have agreed to integrate ecosystem values into national planning. The community of practice for national ecosystem accounting includes not only the international and national researchers who develop such a framework, but also the national analysts who implement it and the decision makers who apply it. To foster convergence within this community on such a common measurement platform, it is first necessary to understand the issues of divergence of values and preferences among the diverse and international ethical perspectives, disciplines and roles involved. A cluster analysis of a survey of 131 expert stakeholders in national ecosystem accounting reveals agreement within this community on the need for broadening the scope, addressing multiple decision contexts and mainstreaming national ecosystem accounting in national planning. The most important sources of divergence in this community of practice are attributed to ethical positions regarding monetization of ecosystem services, differences in the interpretation of several core concepts, such as biodiversity and ecosystem services, and the role of spatial analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a detailed dashboard of goals, targets and indicators. In this paper we investigate alternative methods to relate the SDGs to overall measures of sustainable wellbeing that can motivate and guide the process of global societal change. We describe what a Sustainable Wellbeing Index (SWI) that connects with and complements the SDG dashboard might look like. We first investigate several options for how to construct such an index and then discuss what is needed to build consensus around it. Finally, we propose linking the SDGs and our SWI with a comprehensive systems dynamics model that can track stocks and flows and make projections into the future under different policy scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence of continued environmental degradation has led to a questioning of the traditional vision of unlimited economic growth in favour of sustainable development. Although several explicit environmental strategies were designed at the supranational level, the pursuit of environmental sustainability remains an aim driven by political concerns at the country level. This study aims to investigate the role of both “internal” (cognitive and motivational factors) and “external” (social forces and macro-economic conditions) contexts in influencing the propensity of political leaders regarding environmental matters. The findings indicate that cognitive and motivational factors tend to shape the environmental intentions of political leaders, whereas the “external” context does not have a significant impact. Our results suggest that the political leaders' propensity for addressing environmental matters is largely affected by the desire of leaders to establish or confirm an individual status (through political processes) or to conform to group norms. However, younger political leaders demonstrate a higher environmental propensity than do older leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical Abstract Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an important contribution in Ecological Economics, van de Bergh (2010) correctly concludes that sustainability does not imply zero externalities. However, he continues with the Delphic statement "(Delphic statements were uttered by the renowned oracle of ancient Greece at Delphi. They were phrased in such a way as to be self-fulfilling because alternative interpretations covered every possibility.)" "Without externalities the problem of sustainability vanishes". If this statement refers to an impossible economic process that produces no externalities then he is right. However, it might be interpreted as stating that whenever environmental policy internalizes environmental externalities then sustainability will be ensured. In this note, I assert that in the real world where externalities prevail, their internalization or neutralization in the traditional way cannot lead to sustainability. Only if internalization takes a very specific form that results in the inviolable preservation of environmental rights of future generations in pure biological terms can sustainability be ensured. After revised the original commentary I resubmit it. The issues raised by the editor have been carefully considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The example of peatlands is used to demonstrate the challenges facing the sustainable management of natural resources in situations where the fragility of an environment is not appreciated by all stakeholders. We reveal, through the use of a survey applying both contingent valuation and discrete choice experiments, that many local people and others within the wider population, value peatlands as an example of a cultural landscape. However, there is a reluctance to stop extracting peat for domestic fuel even though the activity is undermining the ecological sustainability of this same landscape. This resistance is shown to arise because the cutting of peat is a well-established land use and a cessation of peat cutting is perceived to require the abandonment of traditional rights. In addition, the activity is widely regarded as more benign than industrial scale cutting for energy. The value attached to the landscape is an opportunity for conservation policy, but for this to succeed there must be an acknowledgement of local interests. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Since the 1980s Chinese economic reform has greatly accelerated its economic growth while in contrast China's environment is increasingly degraded. The Chinese government has recognized that environmental protection and sustainable economic development can promote mutual and sustainable co-development of the economy and the environment as a basic national principle. This paper examines the interactions between economic development and environmental change in China that were compared and analyzed for the years 1996 and 2000. Net primary production (NPP) was selected as a proxy evaluator of ecosystems and gross domestic product (GDP) was chosen as a proxy evaluator of economic development. An NPP change map was produced with Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) summed annual NPP imagery products. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) nighttime imagery was used to produce a Chinese GDP change map. An integrated map was produced to exhibit the combined changes of NPP and GDP. This map showed that in the regions with increased GDP, NPP decreased but the regions with no GDP change were smaller in area for NPP increase while larger in area for NPP decrease. The changing pattern of NPP varied with the developing level of GDP at province level. A province's development of GDP is controlled by its accessibility to natural resources. Interactions between NPP and GDP are greatly affected by factors of spatial location aside from human factors and natural systems'' characteristics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article defends the proposal of sustainable degrowth. A starting premise is that resource and CO2 limits render further growth of the economy unsustainable. If degrowth is inevitable, the question is how it can become socially sustainable, i.e. a prosperous and stable, rather than a catastrophic, descent. Pricing mechanisms alone are unlikely to secure smooth adaptation; a full ensemble of environmental and redistributive policies is required, including – among others – policies for a basic income, reduction of working hours, environmental and consumption taxes and controls on advertising. Policies like these, that threaten to “harm” the economy, are less and less likely to be implemented within existing market economies, whose basic institutions (financial, property, political, and redistributive) depend on and mandate continuous economic growth. An intertwined cultural and political change is needed that will embrace degrowth as a positive social development and reform those institutions that make growth an imperative. Sustainable degrowth is therefore not just a structuring concept; it is a radical political project that offers a new story and a rallying slogan for a social coalition built around the aspiration to construct a society that lives better with less. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The prerequisite for a sustainable and equitable use of common resources (the so-called Commons) must be the proper evaluation of their role within the complex network of relationships that ensure ecosystems functioning, resilience, and evolutionary dynamics. It is crucial to ascertain to what extent the common wealth is used for the common benefit. Money-based schemes for valuing the Commons, such as the so-called “willingness-to-pay”, provide a user-side evaluation perspective based on the idea that value only stems from utilization by humans. As a complement to such a point of view, we present and discuss in this paper a donor-side evaluation method (Emergy Synthesis) based on the idea that a proper measure of value can be achieved by also accounting for the work done by the biosphere in generating services and resources. It should not be disregarded that such resources and services also provide support to other species in the web of life. Emergy, a scientific measure of such environmental support, is suggested as a tool capable to assess quantity and quality of shared resources, thus providing a basis for their environmentally sound management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The assessment of sustainable development is often based on the three pillars of sustainability model using social, economic and environmental indicators. It is thought that by measuring the performance of each system, information can be gained about the sustainability of the whole system. However it seems there has been no attempt to evaluate if such an assumption is true. During the development of a sustainability assessment framework for south west Victoria, Australia, it has become evident that this approach to sustainability assessment does not provide an accurate assessment of system sustainability. The project found that environmental indicators were considered the most important for assessing regional sustainability. As a consequence, the assessment produced shows that in south west Victoria, sustainability is largely determined by the condition of the environment. This finding highlights the current disconnection between the theory and reality of sustainability. Here, we describe a framework for sustainability assessment that attempts to re-connect theory to practice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Conservation of the ecological environment presents scientists with a challenging dilemma because the strategy often leads to negative impacts on impoverished people in the area affected by the project. To consider this problem, we investigated the implications of China's national and regional policies related to the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) for poverty in the dryland regions of northern Shaanxi Province. We found that 34.9, 47.0, and 59.8% of farmers, livestock grazers, and forest workers respectively, felt that their livelihoods had been adversely affected by the NFCP due to the ban on logging and grazing imposed by this program, and they perceived additional economic losses because they were not adequately compensated for their economic losses under the program. These perceptions are supported by economic data. In addition, our results showed that the poorer the survey respondent, the greater the likelihood they believed that they had suffered from the implementation of the NFCP. Although Chinese citizens have become more favorable towards environmental conservation efforts, the poorest citizens still need considerable help to make it possible for them to participate in both economic development and environmental restoration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this paper is to contribute towards moving the predominant situation of weak sustainable development (WSD) in the direction of strong sustainable development (SSD). More people – academics, politicians, bureaucrats and laymen alike – need to recognize SSD as an alternative to WSD. A joint discourse of WSD and SSD is suggested, called reflexive sustainable development. Here, advocates of WSD and SSD must argue for each specific case why their solution is better. This will expose, amongst other things, the ethical foundations which form part of resulting policy advice. Reflexive sustainable development is to be framed in discourse ethics, thereby remedying the power imbalance and allowing for substantial discussion. Reflexive sustainable development builds on a common theoretical base but will not lead to consensus in all matters. A family metaphor is introduced to inspire a discourse of both consensus and compromise. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although the concept of sustainable development is gaining increasing political acknowledgement, despite the implementation of environmental policies specifically intended to solve problems in this area, environmental degradation resulting from the recurrent problems associated with the over-exploitation of natural resources remains an important concern for most countries. How can this situation be explained? This article postulates that a combination of approaches from the political sciences (in particular policy analysis) and institutional economics would enable the identification of the most relevant regulatory dimensions which can explain the (un)sustainable uses of resources. Based on this starting point, it develops an innovative theoretical framework, i.e. that of the Institutional Resource Regime (IRR). The adopted approach facilitates the analysis of the regulatory measures and resource management practices associated with complex and competitive heterogeneous use situations from a perspective of sustainability. Indeed, the two dimensions of “extent” and “coherence” enable the definition and categorization of the IRR of a given resource. The extent of an IRR refers to the total number of goods and services in use that are actually regulated by the regime at a given time, while the coherence measures the degree of coordination of the various user-actors within the regime. One of the major contributions of the IRR framework is its ability to describe the different configurations of regimes, both theoretically and empirically, and to predict their effect on the sustainability of a resource based on the hypothesis that high levels of regime extent and coherence are necessary preconditions for sustainability. By doing this, the IRR framework also enables the analysis of the actual use rights to the goods and services provided by resources as the result of the political strategies of actors who mobilize different legal provisions, which stem either from formal property rights to resources or from policies that regulate the use and protection of these resources. Having developed the central research hypotheses and the empirical research procedure, we present the lessons drawn from the first campaign of field research which was mainly conducted in Switzerland from 1999. Based on the evidence from these initial findings, it is suggested that the scope of the IRR framework could be far broader than evidenced by its application in the case of Switzerland where it was initially developed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present work makes a comparison between the two most used environmental sustainability indices of nations: “ecological footprint” and “environmental sustainability index”, with two emergy ratios (renewability and emergy sustainability index). All of them are gaining space within the scientific community and government officials. Despite the efforts for obtaining an index that adequately represents the sustainability of a region, according to the result of this research, nowadays there is not yet a completely satisfactory index. We consider that all of them need to be improved, but the results point out the possibility of obtaining one better index of sustainability through the junction of ecological footprint with renewability emergy index. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Over the last few years, environmental issues have entered into policy design, particularly development and growth policies. Natural resources are considered necessary production inputs and environmental quality is considered a welfare determinant. The integration of environmental issues into economic growth and development theories and empirics is currently widely analyzed in the literature. The effects of natural resources endowment on economic growth are mainly analyzed through the so-called Resource Curse Hypothesis (RCH) whereas the effects of economic growth on environmental quality are part of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Furthermore, recent contributions on RCH and EKC have shown the important role of institutions and human development dimensions in building a sustainable development path. In this paper, we attempt to analyze the causal relationships between economic growth, human development and sustainability combining the RCH and EKC models and adopting a human development perspective. Results confirm the importance of high institutional quality and investments for human capital accumulation in order to build a sustainable development path. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Material flow accounting and analysis (MFA) has been established as an influential framework for quantifying the use of natural resources by modern societies. So far, however, no reference data for overall scale and trends of global extraction of natural resources and their distribution between different world regions has been available. This paper presents the first comprehensive quantification of the material basis of the global economy, i.e. used domestic extraction in a time series from 1980 to 2002. We analyse time trends for major material groups (fossil fuels, metals, industrial and construction minerals, and biomass) disaggregated into seven world regions. This allows for (a) an illustration of the global economy''s physical growth driven by worldwide processes of economic integration over the past decades, and (b) an indication of the worldwide distribution of environmental pressures associated with material extraction. The results show that annual resource consumption of the world economy increased by about one third between 1980 and 2002. This indicates that scale effects due to economic growth more than compensated for other effects, such as the relative increase of the service sectors'' contribution to GDP (structural effect) and the use of new production technologies with higher material and energy efficiency (technology effect). The observed growth of natural resource extraction is unevenly distributed over the main material categories, with metals showing the highest growth rate. The regional analysis shows the increasing importance of Asia and Latin America in global resource extraction. On the global level, material intensity, i.e. resource extraction per unit of GDP, decreased by about 25%, indicating relative decoupling of resource extraction from economic growth. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for a more sustainable use of natural resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The potential of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the Mediterranean region as a source of livelihood and sustainable development has been widely recognized. Yet, surprisingly few efforts have been made to value them comprehensively. Valuation efforts usually focused on selected NTFPs traded on formal markets, at local level. This paper aims to provide comprehensive estimates of NTFPs benefits at national and regional level in the Mediterranean region. Six major groups of NTFPs are identified: firewood, cork, fodder, mushrooms, honey and other NTFPs. Valuation is based on a wide variety of techniques, drawing on official statistics, and supplemented by results of local surveys. It shows that at Mediterranean level, NTFPs provide annual benefits of about €39/ha of forests, accounting for about a fourth of the total economic value of forests estimated by this study. The average estimate for southern countries (€54/ha) is considerably higher than for northern (€41/ha) and eastern countries (€20/ha). The paper reveals the degree of importance of the main NTFPs benefits for the country groups and the region as a whole. It also discusses some reasons of concern when drawing policy tools for improving rural income and forest conservation in the Mediterranean. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the concept of sustainability and its implications for environmental policy analysis. It builds on the premise that present society holds a moral obligation to pass on a world of undiminished life opportunities to members of future generations. Maintaining life opportunities, in turn, can be achieved by maintaining or improving a diverse set of resources and capabilities that support a person''s freedom to define and pursue her own conception of the good life. On an operational level, this framework points to the following guideline for environmental policy: Protecting the rights of future generations requires either the conservation of environmental resources or compensatory measures (including the provision of substitute technologies) that ensure the fair and proportionate sharing of net benefits over intergenerational time scales. In this framework, resource depletion is permissible only if (with reasonable certainty) it would generate a Pareto improvement relative to a baseline scenario involving strict resource conservation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We give a perspective from two practitioners on some of the challenges of addressing sustainability concerns in environmental policy assessments. We focus on the ecological dimension of sustainability, which is closely related to the concept of “ecosystem resilience.” First, we discuss several recent benefit–cost analyses conducted by EPA that illustrate many of the practical difficulties analysts have faced when attempting to assess the ecological benefits of proposed regulations. Next, we discuss the importance of increased coordination of policy assessments among offices and agencies that traditionally operate more or less independently. We conclude by using a stylized model to illustrate how using an “adaptive management” approach to designing and evaluating policies can help to avoid some of the limitations of standard policy assessments highlighted in this special section of Ecological Economics and elsewhere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper outlines a new method for determining ecological prices/transformities in complicated ecological–economic systems where non-equilibrium prices are likely to be prevalent. That is, an eigenvalue–eigenvector mathematical solution method for solving an overdetermined, homogeneous system of simultaneous linear equations is proposed and tested. Previous mathematical approaches to the problem of ecological pricing are reviewed before proceeding with an explanation of the new solution method for the determination of ecological prices. The proposed method seeks to avoid the need to make a number of untenable assumptions used in previous methods—e.g., the assumption that there necessarily needs to be an equal number of processes and quantities in the ecological–economic system. The paper also provides practical advice and an algorithm for solving the ecological pricing problem. For example, advice on how to overcome the problem of ill-conditioned matrices which are sometimes encountered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The goal of sustainability is to have levels of resource use and waste assimilation sufficient to maintain a good quality of life for citizens, yet be within environmental carrying capacities. In countries with ageing populations, consumption is constrained by the lower incomes of retired people, and therefore, prospects exist for reductions in resource use and pollutant outputs. The extent of this effect is investigated in this study. This paper uses a new approach to quantify, by age cohort, patterns of resource use and residual generation in New Zealand. These use patterns are then projected to 2051 to see what happens as the population ages. Results indicate that resource use and waste production decline as more people enter the 65+ age group. Gains, however, are diminished by the smaller percentage of young people who have the lowest per capita requirements. Projected growth in population numbers swamp any reductions from ageing effects, even when allowances have been made for future technical change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Achieving a working consensus on how to divide the costs of achieving environmental objectives between resource users and the general community is a key part of mobilizing the policy changes and public resources required to address major resource management challenges in Australia and elsewhere. Existing approaches to this issue have not been able to resolve a maladaptive stand-off between those emphasizing a ‘polluter pays’ approach that imposes costs on resource users and a ‘beneficiary pays’ approach which may privilege an unsustainable status quo. This paper outlines ‘the catchment care principle’ advocated by the Wentworth Group [Wentworth Group, 2002. A New Model for Landscape Conservation in NSW. Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists Report to Premier Carr. WWF, Sydney, February, 2002. ], which states ‘that individual resource managers have an obligation to avoid land or natural resource management practices that harm the long-term interests of resource users as a whole’. The principle is interpreted as implying that resource management practices should not damage ecosystem integrity, while accepting that significant ecosystem modification might be consistent with maintaining a healthy working landscape. The paper also argues that the ‘catchment care’ principle offers a principle-based approach that encourages burden sharing rather than a winner takes all political game, and is likely to enhance the ability of societies to craft constructive policy responses to some of our most difficult environmental challenges. In addition to encouraging more adaptive governance and the protection of ecosystem integrity, the paper argues that the application of the catchment care principle provides a middle ground anchoring point for the political negotiation of policy changes. This is likely to encourage more socially efficient outcomes by reducing incentives to invest in economically unproductive lobbying activity and by encouraging political outcomes that diverge less from underlying social preferences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Efficiency forms the bedrock of policy, planning and business approaches to sustainable development. But what do ecological economists mean by efficiency? In the resource use context, efficiency has a wide range of potential interpretations, from the ratio of work output/energy inputs to Pareto efficiency. Despite the potential richness of the efficiency concept, in practice, efficiency is often narrowly conceived within disciplinary boundaries. This appears to be the case even in ecological economics, which purports to be ‘transdisciplinary’ and pluralistic. Such narrow disciplinary perspectives essentially waste the richness of the efficiency concept. This wasting could mean ecological economists and decision-makers are destined to Sisyphean toil in the pursuit of sustainable development. This paper explores the efficiency concept and its interpretation. It then reviews ecological economic literature to find that there is much room for improvement in the way ecological economists apply efficiency. Finally, the paper presents a framework within which a truly ecological economic approach to efficiency can emerge. Armed with this framework, policy makers and planners should be better prepared to make decisions leading to sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper briefly reviews key insights from natural resource and environmental economics, ecological economics and industrial ecology in an effort to identify the major contributions of these fields to the understanding and promotion of sustainable development. Each is based on overlapping worldviews, methods and tools. Their synthesis and extension–subsumed under the rubric of ‘Natural Economics’–is suggested as a new thrust in environmental research, offering valuable guides to policy making. An early illustration of the application of natural economics in New Zealand is presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In considering social, economic and ecological impacts of new technologies it is essential to start from an understanding of human nature. This paper explores this issue drawing out some implications for ecological and neoclassical economics. The paper presents two key arguments. First, we argue that there is a growing tension between our evolved human nature and social structures and our emerging technological prowess. Modern technologies give us increasing power to manipulate the very axes of nature: space, time, energy, matter, and life. Technologies are now so powerful they give us abilities our ancestors would consider godlike. The question is posed: Are humans ready to wield the power of the gods? We have the knowledge, but do we have the wisdom? The myth of Prometheus and Pandora is considered as a metaphor for the interaction between technology, nature and universal aspects of human nature developed over eons of evolution. Second, we argue that even a ‘technologically optimistic’ scenario (employed by some economists) may not actually deliver Utopian outcomes. With technological advancement and diffusion there is a “technological trickle down effect” whereby potent technologies, once available only to governments and powerful elites, become available to greater numbers of groups and individuals. The more accessible a technology, the more likely its social and ecological impacts will be shaped by the full range and extremes of human nature. These issues have implications for the development and regulation of Promethean technologies such as nuclear energy, genetic engineering and nanotechnology; technologies with unprecedented power and reach through nature. Development and diffusion of such technologies may also have implications for the ethics of the social structure of society. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We present and discuss a method that allows the disaggregation of national Ecological Footprints by economic sector, detailed final demand category, sub-national area or socio-economic group. This is done by combining existing National Footprint Accounts with input–output analysis. Calculations in the empirical part are carried out by using supply and use tables for the United Kingdom, covering the reporting period 2000. Ecological Footprints are allocated to detailed household consumption activities following the COICOP classification system and to a detailed breakdown of capital investment. The method presented enables the calculation of comparable Ecological Footprints on all sub-national levels and for different socio-economic groups. The novelty of the approach lies in the use of input–output analysis to re-allocate existing Footprint accounts, in the detail of disaggregation by consumption category and in the expanded use of household expenditure data. This extends the potential for applications of the Ecological Footprint concept and helps to inform scenarios, policies and strategies on sustainable consumption. The method described in this paper can be applied to every country for which a National Footprint Account exists and where appropriate economic and environmental accounts are available. The approach helps to save time in data collection and improves the consistency between Ecological Footprint estimates for a particular human society from different researchers. For these reasons, the suggested methodology includes crucial steps on the way towards a standardisation of Ecological Footprint accounts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Ecological Footprint (EF) has received considerable attention as a useful indicator in the context of sustainable development. So far, it has mostly been applied as a static indicator. Here, we have derived a set of long-term EF scenarios for 17 world regions using the IMAGE 2.2 implementation of the IPCCs SRES scenarios. The scenarios are used to discuss potential trends in EFs in different world regions but also to analyse underlying trends driving changes in the EF. The baseline scenarios show the EF for real land use only (not accounting for CO2) to increase further in the next few decades in most world regions, being driven by population growth, changes in human diets towards more land-intensive products and overall increases in consumption levels. Future crop yield improvements and technology development will partly offset these trends, resulting in decreasing per capita EFs, but increasing total EFs. In the longer term, EF development may strongly diverge on the basis of assumptions made in the different baseline scenarios (from 5.4 Gha at present to 6.0–8.2 Gha in 2050 depending on the scenario). The aggregated EF following the definition of Wackernagel et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 99 (2002) 9266–9271) (including virtual land for CO2) increases more strongly, from 12.6 to 20–31 Gha depending on the different scenarios. An alternative scenario was developed to explore whether optimistic assumptions for changes in consumption and production patterns could limit the increase of the global EF, which limited EF increase to 15 Gha in 2050. This scenario still allowed for population growth and strong economic development in low-income regions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Decision making to reach for sustainable development of a region can be seen as a debate about the possibilities to integrate social, economic, physical, ecological, and cultural development goals. To make this integration successful, it is necessary to consider a region as a socio-environmental system (SEnS). We use this system concept to make sure that different types of goals and their adverse side effects will be taken as much as possible into account in decision making for regional sustainable development. For setting development goals, we have constructed a framework that we present here. First, we formulate the requirements for goal setting for sustainable development. This results in a kind of framework as search-and-check instrument. This framework can be used to translate people''s development goals into valuable characteristics of the socio-environmental system considered. Then we present a case to illustrate the use of the framework in regional development plans. The case shows that the instrument can provide a more balanced survey than usual in practice. For the people involved, it shows which type of goals is missing in the debate about the development of their region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Sustainability demands changes in both political and economic institutions. • Ecological economics should draw on institutional and political theory. • Present environmental policies are not suited to handle systems with tipping-points. • A parliamentary reform could strengthen the role of the future in policy-making. • Creating firms based on social rationality is key in a needed economic reform. Ecological economists are engaged in developing foundations for a sustainable future. To further develop our ability to deliver, I propose that we expand our analyses by a) drawing more on institutional theory and b) include also political processes in our research. The present political-economic system is unable to ensure sustainable futures. The paper argues that the root of the problem lies in its institutional structures. I illustrate possible changes to these that could take societies onto a sustainable development path. Focus here is on creating institutions able to strengthen the role of the future in decision-making. Here I focus on both political and economic institutions, illustrating how a change in these could ensure sustainability. I also discuss changes in environmental regulation strategies. The analyses of different options are used to illustrate what kind of studies are needed to advance sustainability. They form the basis for specifying directions that ecological economics could take to further support a necessary societal transformation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]