TY - UNPB

T1 - Ecological-economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty

AU - Baumgärtner, Stefan

AU - Quaas, Martin F.

N1 - Literaturverz. S. 31 - 37

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Strong sustainability, according to the common definition, requires that different natural and economic capital stocks have to be maintained as physical quantities separately. Yet, in a world of uncertainty this cannot be guaranteed. To therefore define strong sustainability under uncertainty in an operational manner, we propose to use the concept of viability. Viability means that the different components and functions of a dynamic, stochastic system at any time remain in a domain where the future existence of these components and functions is guaranteed with sufficiently high probability. We develop a unifying and general ecological-economic concept of viability that encompasses the traditional ecological and economic notions of viability as special cases. It provides an operational criterion of strong sustainability under conditions of uncertainty. We illustrate this concept and demonstrate its usefulness by applying it to livestock grazing management in semi-arid rangelands.

AB - Strong sustainability, according to the common definition, requires that different natural and economic capital stocks have to be maintained as physical quantities separately. Yet, in a world of uncertainty this cannot be guaranteed. To therefore define strong sustainability under uncertainty in an operational manner, we propose to use the concept of viability. Viability means that the different components and functions of a dynamic, stochastic system at any time remain in a domain where the future existence of these components and functions is guaranteed with sufficiently high probability. We develop a unifying and general ecological-economic concept of viability that encompasses the traditional ecological and economic notions of viability as special cases. It provides an operational criterion of strong sustainability under conditions of uncertainty. We illustrate this concept and demonstrate its usefulness by applying it to livestock grazing management in semi-arid rangelands.

KW - Economics

KW - capital (natural and economic)

KW - ecological-economic systems

KW - ecosystem services

KW - funds

KW - stocks

KW - sustainability

KW - uncertainty

KW - viability

M3 - Working papers

T3 - Working paper series in economics

BT - Ecological-economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty

PB - Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Lüneburg

CY - Lüneburg

ER -