Mick Common

Towards an ecological economics of sustainability

Abstract Persistent disagreement both as to the interpretation to be given to sustainability, and as to the relation between ecological and economic sustainability, has hindered the development of an ecological economics of sustainable resource use. This paper identifies the main concepts of sustainability deriving from the two disciplines in order to explore the difference implied by an ecological approach to the problem. It is argued that present economic and ecological approaches are largely disjoint, and that they address basically different phenomena. By combining the efficiency requirements of what is usually thought of as economic sustainability with the stability requirements of an ecological approach, it is shown that an intertemporally efficient allocation of resources that satisfies the conditions for constant levels of consumption is not necessary to assure ecological sustainability. Ecological sustainability requires that the allocation of economic resources should not result in the instability of the economy–environment system as a whole.

Economic and Financial Benefits of Tourism in Major Protected Areas

Tourism has emerged as an important economic activity in Australia. Australias protected natural environment areas are amongst the nations major tourist attractions. This article presents new estimates of the considerable financial value of tourism in five of Australias World Heritage Areas (WHAs). An economic interpretation of the management objectives for protected areas has been developed to illustrate the nature of the problem of maximising the combined benefits of all uses, including conservation, over time. The role of tourism and the proper measures of economic benefits are defined within this model. The model also incorporates expenditure on management to prevent reductions in environmental quality. The financial value estimates for the five WHAs are compared with management budgets and revenue collected from users and this leads to questions about the adequacy of funding for management and the potential for raising more revenue for management from users. It is argued that these questions can o...

Ecological Economics Criteria for Sustainable Tourism: Application to the Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics World Heritage Areas, Australia

The paper examines the extent to which tourism in the Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics World Heritage Areas can be said to be sustainable. To do this it provides a definition of sustainable tourism for protected areas, in terms of ecological economics criteria. Tourism, and its management, in the two World Heritage Areas is described, and the outcomes are assessed against the definition of sustainable tourism. The available data is not sufficient to permit a definitive overall assessment. However, a favourable interim verdict appears justified against environmental criteria in the case of the Great Barrier Reef. There is in both cases a dearth of suitable data for proper assessment against economic criteria. The criteria proposed and the assessment exercise reported provide a contribution to developing ways to evaluate sustainable tourism.

Measuring the depreciation of Australia's non-renewable resources: a cautionary tale

Abstract The pursuit of sustainability is widely seen as requiring the calculation and publication of environmentally adjusted measures of national income, and/or of economic indicators intended to show whether or not economic behaviour is consistent with sustainability requirements. In either case a measure of natural resource depreciation is needed. The paper restricts its attention to non-renewable mineral resources, and measures their depreciation in Australia according to different methods proposed in the literature, using data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The different methods are found to yield strikingly different results. The conclusion is that robust measurement of natural resource depreciation is unlikely, and that results appertaining to such should be treated sceptically.

Economics and the natural environment: A review article

Familiarizes the reader with the emerging subject of ecological economics and provides an overview of how ecological economics differs from environmental and resource economics. Proceeds to then review two new environmental and resource economics textbooks, a book on ecological economics and one on the subject of environmental policy in developing economies.