scholarly journals Resource Scarcity and Sustainability—The Shapes Have Shifted but the Stakes Keep Rising

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5751
Author(s):  
Alan Randall

The objective is to provide an interpretive reading of the literature in resource scarcity and sustainability theory from the nineteenth century to the present time, focusing on shifts that have occurred in problem definition, conceptual framing, research tools applied, findings, and their implications. My reading shows, as one would expect, that the discourse has become more technical and the analysis more sophisticated; special cases have been incorporated into the mainstream of theory; and, where relevant, dynamic formulations have largely supplanted static analysis. However, that is barely scratching the surface. Here, I focus on more fundamental shifts. Exhaustible and renewable resource analyses were incorporated into the mainstream theory of financial and capital markets. Parallels between the resources and environmental spheres were discovered: market failure concepts, fundamental to environmental policy, found applications in the resources sector (e.g., fisheries), and renewable resource management concepts and approaches (e.g., waste assimilation capacity) were adopted in environmental policy. To motivate sustainability theory and assessment, there has been a foundational problem shift from restraining human greed to dealing with risk viewed as chance of harm, and a newfound willingness to look beyond stochastic risk to uncertainty, ambiguity, and gross ignorance. Newtonian dynamics, which seeks a stable equilibrium following a shock, gave way to a new dynamics of complexity that valued resilience in the face of shocks, warned of potential for regime shifts, and focused on the possibility of systemic collapse and recovery, perhaps incomplete. New concepts of sustainability (a safe minimum standard of conservation, the precautionary principle, and planetary boundaries) emerged, along with hybrid approaches such as WS-plus which treats weak sustainability (WS) as the default but may impose strong sustainability restrictions on a few essential but threatened resources. The strong sustainability objective has evolved from maintaining baseline flows of resource services to safety defined as minimizing the chance of irreversible collapse. New tools for management and policy (sustainability indicators and downscaled planetary boundaries) have proliferated, and still struggle to keep up with the emerging understanding of complex systems.

Author(s):  
James Meadowcroft ◽  
Daniel J. Fiorino

This chapter examines the evolution of concepts used in the environmental policy domain since the emergence of modern environmental governance. It includes a general discussion of environmental concepts including root terms which have generated 'families' of environment-related concepts: 'environment', 'sustainable', 'eco' or 'ecological' and 'green'. This is followed by a discussion of different types of concepts and an examination of concepts that play a particularly important role in structuring the policy realm. Examples here include meso-level analytic or management concepts such as the 'polluter pays principle', 'the precautionary principle', 'ecosystem services', resilience' , 'environmental security', and so on. Finally, the chapter explores the temporal evolution of the conceptual field tracing the evolution of the categories used to think about the environmental domain.


1999 ◽  
Vol 219 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm Althammer ◽  
Wolfgang Buchholz

SummaryIn economies with perfect competition, environmental tax rates should be set equal to the equilibrium marginal damage. There are two basic reasons to depart from this first best rule: incomplete competition and the possibility of using environmental policy as a strategic trade instrument in open economies. In the first part of this paper, a general model is developed to analyse the interaction between these motives and the sign and size of the resulting distortion. Using this model, the cases typically treated in the literature can be described as special cases of a general formula. The second part of the analysis shows how the industry structure affects the second best choice of the environmental tax.


Author(s):  
Tobias Ide

Based on an extensive overview of academic debates on renewable resource scarcity, conflict and migration, this chapter examines whether and how scarcity of renewable resources increases the risk of violent conflicts and how this can affect migration flows. The chapter introduces the most important theoretical frameworks that link renewable resource scarcity to conflict and then considers the existing empirical evidence on such linkages. While pathways leading to conflicts are still not well understood and empirical evidence is mixed, the chapter highlights that increased renewable resource scarcity is more likely to lead to low intensity conflicts, which in turn tend to trigger short distance migration. Thus, the role of governance is more effective if it takes place in a variety of institutions and on local and sub-national levels instead of centralized or international governance arrangements. However, the chapter concludes, relationships are complex and context-dependent.


1985 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
John A. Livingston

Any review of resource management questions must address itself to the conceptual under-pinnings of the manager's attitudes. Our societies' perceptions of resources and their management, its definitions of problems, and its array of solutions all flow from its attitudes and predispositions. Attitudes and predispositions flow from the greater "paradigm" (worldview, or concensus of reality) which commands the thinking of a particular society or culture at a particular time. Paradigms whose time has passed are seen, in hindsight, as historical curiosities. Since evolutionary change appears to occur not only in species and communities but also in societies and their ideas, I assume that "paradigm variation" is in constant process. An examination of prevailing and alternative concepts sheds light on our perceptions of our activities and of our problems in respect to them. Conventional solutions may or may not be appropriate to a differently perceived set of questions. The immediate priority, it is suggested, is problem definition. Keywords: Renewable Resource Management, Philosophy of resource management, History, Future needs, Resource Conservation Strategy.


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