Ecological-economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty
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Lüneburg: Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Lüneburg, 2007. (Working paper series in economics; No. 67).
Research output: Working paper › Working papers
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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 -