Ecological Economics

In their own battles and strategy meetings since the early 1980s, EJOs (environmental justice organizations) and their networks have introduced several concepts to political ecology that have also been taken up by academics and policy makers. In this paper, we explain the contexts in which such notions have arisen, providing definitions of a wide array of concepts and slogans related to environmental inequities and sustainability, and explore the connections and relations between them. These concepts include: environmental justice, ecological debt, popular epidemiology, environmental racism, climate justice, environmentalism of the poor, water justice, biopiracy, food sovereignty, "green deserts", "peasant agriculture cools downs the Earth", land grabbing, Ogonization and Yasunization, resource caps, corporate accountability, ecocide, and indigenous territorial rights, among others. We examine how activists have coined these notions and built demands around them, and how academic research has in turn further applied them and supplied other related concepts, working in a mutually reinforcing way with EJOs. We argue that these processes and dynamics build an activist-led and co-produced social sustainability science, furthering both academic scholarship and activism on environmental justice.

Buy it for 8 euro here (discout code FAL20): https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509535620

Covid-19 has lain bare the fragility of existing economic systems. Any decline in market activity threatens systemic collapse. But it doesn’t have to be this way. To be more resilient to future crises –pandemic, climatic, financial, or political – we need to build systems capable of scaling back production in ways that do not cause loss of livelihood or life. We need to make the case for degrowth.

Degrowth is not simply a contraction of the economy, it is living meaningfully, enjoying simple pleasures, working less, and sharing and relating more with others and working less, in more equal societies. Its goal is to purposefully slow things down in order to minimize harm to humans and earth systems. The world will change after the virus, and there will be struggles over which paths to take. But the time is ripe for us to refocus on what really matters: not GDP, but the health and wellbeing of our people and our planet. In a word, degrowth.

You can buy it here for 8 euros, with the discount code: FAL20

Find here a short article about the book by the authors in Open Democracy: “The case for degrowth in a time of pandemic” https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/case-degrowth-time-pandemic/

We hope you like it. In case, please help us out with dissemination! 🙂

Best,

the authors (Giorgos, Susan, Giacomo and Federico)

Giorgos Kallis is ICREA Professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Susan Paulson is Professor at the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida.
Giacomo D’Alisa is a FCT post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra.
Federico Demaria is Serra Hunter lecturer in ecological economics and political ecology, University of Barcelona.


REVIEWS:
“COVID-19 is the symptom; the profit-driven destruction of natural and social habitants is the disease. There’s only one cure consistent with global social justice.  Read this eloquent and urgent book and find out what it is.”
Mike Davis, University of California and author of Ecology of Fear and Planet of Slums 

“This is a major contribution to the current debate on growth and degrowth. The authors lay bare the innards of each and show us the importance of degrowth. Wellbeing, equity, and sustainability are key vectors organizing this text. These should be understood in the fullness of their capacities to move us out of our current modernity –a decaying order that is today still dominant. But history has shown us across the centuries that no system of power can last for ever, and nor will our current system. Indeed, it is busy destroying itself.”
Saskia Sassen, Columbia University and author of Expulsions

“Degrowth is one of the most important ideas of the 21st century. Here it is in compact form. Clear, timely, urgent. Don’t miss this book.”
Jason Hickel, London School of Economics and author of The Divide and Less is More

“Is there life after economic growth? Kallis and his co-authors have taken up the baton from the early proponents of degrowth and created a vibrant, accessible discourse for the 21st Century. The Case for Degrowth provides the why, the where and the how of a better economy and a richer society. Its vision is needed now more than ever.”
Tim Jackson, Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity and author of Prosperity without Growth

“The COVID pandemic is laying bare dysfunctions of the growth model and the urgency of a pathway to sanity, climate protection, and security for all. This wonderful and accessible introduction by leading degrowth scholars is a vital resource for anyone interested in viable alternatives, rooted in cooperative economic relations and respect for planetary limits.”
Juliet Schor, author of After the Gig: how the sharing economy got hijacked and how to win it back

“A superb account of why capitalist economies fail life on Earth, even as peoples initiatives in community sharing already revive joy and hope for our futures. This small book teaches economics like no other. It will reply to your doubts about change. It should be on every public library shelf and every syllabus; give copies to your friends.”
Ariel Salleh, activist and editor of Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice: Women write Political Ecology

“The case for degrowth as argued in this book is so well rounded and compelling that it is difficult to imagine how progressive politicians could avoid integrating the many policies advocated here into their party manifestos . . . unless of course they cannot escape the growth mentality that has suffocated progressive policies for decades. But even in this case, the book offers ways of changing that mentality through commoning and collective action.”
Massimo De Angelis, University of East London, editor of The Commoner, and author of Omnia Sunt Communia

“The degrowth movement now has its Manifesto. A rigorous, practical analysis that will guide grassroots and institutional politics so they can realize a transformation akin to degrowth and turn the current global crisis into a new opportunity and pathway towards more sustainable and carrying societies.”
Isabelle Anguelovski, Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ) and author of Neighborhood as Refuge

“By this book, degrowth finally becomes adult. No longer a simple game of hide-and-seek with the growth regime. No longer a vague illusion postponed until the advent of a catastrophe that never comes. No longer a generous experimentation among circles of virtuosos nor an extreme form of resilience by the excluded from the banquet of the consumer society, but a mature and innovative political project, facing the hegemony challenge in the open field of the social arena. The authors are the best fruits of the degrowth movement: activists at the forefront and at the same time leading scholars.”
Onofrio Romano, University of Bari and author of Towards a society of degrowth

“Decrecer es la consigna. Más y más crecimiento económico en un mundo finito es una locura. Más todavía si éste ahonda las diferencias sociales, las frustraciones y la infelicidad. No podemos mantener ese ritmo despiadado de acumulación del que afloran múltiples pandemias, como la del coronavirus. No hay duda, requerimos una desaceleración programada de la actividad económica para reencontrarnos armónicamente con los ritmos de la Madre Tierra, así como para construir otras sociedades basadas en la diversidad, la sostenibilidad, la pluralidad y la reciprocidad; bases fundamentales del Pluriverso: un mundo donde quepan todos los mundos posibles que aseguren una vida digna a humanos y no humanos.”
Alberto Acosta, former president of the Constituent Assembly of Ecuador and author of Buen Vivir



The Case for Degrowth

Giorgos Kallis, Susan Paulson, Giacomo D’Alisa, Federico Demaria
The relentless pursuit of economic growth is the defining characteristic of contemporary societies. Yet it benefits few and demands monstrous social and ecological sacrifice. Is there a viable alternative? How can we halt the endless quest to grow global production and consumption and instead secure socio-ecological conditions that support lives worth living for all?

In this compelling book, leading experts Giorgos Kallis, Susan Paulson, Giacomo D’Alisa and Federico Demaria make the case for degrowth – living well with less, by living differently, prioritizing wellbeing, equity and sustainability.  Drawing on emerging initiatives and enduring traditions around the world, they advance a radical degrowth vision and outline policies to shape work and care, income and investment that avoid exploitative and unsustainable practices. Degrowth, they argue, can be achieved through transformative strategies that allow societies to slow down by design, not disaster.

Essential reading for all concerned citizens, policy-makers, and students, this book will be an important contribution to one of the thorniest and most pressing debates of our era.

More Info

September 2020
140 pages
Available Formats: Hardback £35.00 €39.60; Paperback £9.99 €11.30;  Open eBook £8.49 €9.99

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
1. A case for degrowth
2. Sacrifices of growth
3. Making changes on the ground
4. Path-breaking reforms
5. Strategies for mobilization
Frequently asked questions
Notes

The concept of ecosystem services was formulated to create a market-and value-based foundation for sustainable natural resource useby land users as well as by planners. The concise definition, measurement and especially valuation of nature's services is challenging, as values are notoriously fluid and there are dimensions of value other than the biophysically or economically measurable. However, the so-called "cultural ecosystem services", which are intended as a way to integrate these immaterial aspects of valuation, pose challenges. It is not clear what they are, to what degree they impact on valuations, or to whom these valuations are most relevant; nor how to integrate them into existing value classifications. Focusing on services as fixed outcomes, rather than processes, prevents the concept from remaining open to local actors' dynamic changes in valuation. Additionally, they are often classified as a Eurocentric residual category for e.g. esthetic and recreational experiences nature provides. Building on anthropological theories and own cases from Angola, Namibia and Botswana, we suggest a definition of culture as a processual activity of meaning-making. By illustratively outlining the locality and culturality of land users' valuation we argue in favor of subjecting universalizing perspectives of ecosystem service valuation to new scrutiny.

Renó, V. F.; Novo, E. M. L. M.; Suemitsu, C.; ; Rennó, C. D.; SILVA, Thiago S. F. (2011).

The floodplain forests bordering the Amazon River have outstanding ecological, economic, and social importance for the region. However, the original distribution of these forests is not well known, since they have suffered severe degradation since the 16th century. The previously published vegetation map of the Amazon River floodplain (Hess et al., 2003), based on data acquired in 1996, shows enormous difference in vegetation cover classes between the regions upstream and downstream of the city of Manaus. The upper floodplain is mostly covered by forests, while the lower floodplain is predominantly occupied by grasses and shrubs.This study assesses deforestation in the Lower Amazon floodplain over a ~ 30 year period by producing and comparing a historical vegetation map based on MSS/Landsat images acquired in the late 1970s with a recent vegetation map produced from TM/Landsat images obtained in 2008. The maps were generated through the following steps: 1) normalization and mosaicking of images for each decade; 2) application of a linear mixing model transformation to produce vegetation, soil and shade fraction-images; and 3) object-oriented image analysis and classification. For both maps, the following classes were mapped: floodplain forest, non-forest floodplain vegetation, bare soil and open water. The two maps were combined using object-level Boolean operations to identify time transitions among the mapped classes, resulting in a map of the land cover change occurred over ~ 30 years. Ground information collected at 168 ground points was used to build confusion matrices and calculate Kappa indices of agreement. A survey strategy combining field observations and interviews allowed the collection of information about both recent and historical land cover for validation purposes. Kappa values (0.77, 0.75 and 0.75) indicated the good quality of the maps, and the error estimates were used to adjust the estimated deforested area to a value of 3457 km2 ± 1062 km2 (95% CI) of floodplain deforestation over the ~ 30 years.

The potential non-permanence of sequestered CO 2 emissions is a crucial issue to tackle in order to safely include forestry activities among eligible activities for the Clean Development Mechanism. Rather than looking at accurate ways of securing permanent reductions, some experts studied the possibility of delivering temporary licenses as a way of circumventing the respective drawbacks of previously proposed approaches (e.g. Ton-Year Accounting). This paper focuses on this concept of temporary (or expiring) credits and tries to assess its financial viability using different scenario assumptions while bearing in mind the need to protect the CDM's environmental integrity. Our main finding is that the concept of expiring credits (EC) provides a convincing answer to the issue of non-permanence both from an environmental perspective and from a strictly financial point of view (as it has the property of efficiently dealing with uncertainties and therefore hedges the risk). However, given the specific nature of forestry activities compared with other types of CDM projects, the EC concept should be complemented with additional rules and modalities. D

Despite the importance of biosphere reserves in Iran's livelihood and welfare, the economic significance of Hara Biosphere Reserve has never been comprehensively studied. This study examines the current importance of Hara Biosphere Reserve (HBR) in local livelihood and welfare. Using a household survey, data were collected through a questionnaire, key informant interviews and direct observations. Two hundred and forty-four households were randomly selected from 10 villages through proportional sampling. Results showed that non-environmental income was the first driver of the total income, poverty alleviation and narrowing income inequality gap. Park income was the second. The results also showed that excluding park income from total income would significantly increase headcount poverty, widen the poverty gap, and raise the Gini coefficient. Wealthier households had the greatest absolute income from the environment, including forest, fishing and fodder. However, the poorest group had smallest absolute income from these sources. Thus, the study demonstrated that wealthier households are responsible for the overharvesting of environmental resources. Interestingly, the study showed that wealthier households are more dependent on profitable environmental incomes sources while the poorest are more dependent on non-profitable ones.

This study investigates the relationship between U.S. state-level CO 2 emissions and two measures of income inequality: the income share of the top 10% and the Gini coefficient. Each of the inequality measures, which focus on unique characteristics of income distributions, is used to evaluate the arguments of different analytical approaches. Results of the longitudinal analysis for the 1997 to 2012 period indicate that state-level emissions are positively associated with the income share of the top 10%, while the effect of the Gini coefficient on emissions is non-significant. The statistically significant relationship between CO 2 emissions and the concentration of income among the top 10% is consistent with analytical approaches that focus on political economy dynamics and Veblen effects, which highlight the potential political and economic power and emulative influence of the wealthy. The null effect of the Gini coefficient is generally inconsistent with the marginal propensity to emit approach , which posits that when incomes become more equally distributed, the poor will increase their consumption of energy and other carbon-intensive products as they move into the middle class.

Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) in multispecies fisheries create incentives for fishermen to avoid bycatch of species for which quota is scarce. However, when bycatch is highly uncertain, individual quota demand and prices may be volatile creating substantial financial risk for fishermen. The US Pacific Groundfish fishery recently introduced an ITQ system with low quotas for several overfished species with highly uncertain bycatch rates. Some fishery participants formed risk pools where bycatch quota is pooled and available to all pool members. Risk pools can reduce financial risk and transactions costs for individuals, but they also create moral hazard and adverse selection problems. We present an empirical analysis of bycatch risk that informs several issues of risk pool design including which bycatch species to include, pools size, and how to evaluate and mitigate adverse selection and moral hazard problems.