Capitalizing on Nature
Ecosystems as Natural Assets

Shows how the economic approach of modeling natural resources as capital assets can be extended to ecosystems.

Edward B. Barbier (Author)

9780521189279, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 8 September 2011

336 pages, 49 b/w illus. 13 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.54 kg

'Barbier's latest book is the clearest exposition yet of ecological scarcity as an economic problem and of ecosystems as valuable natural assets. 'Natural Capital' as a concept has come of age, and as one of its key proponents, Barbier does justice both to its pedagogical complexity and to its significance for our common future.' Pavan Sukhdev, McCluskey Fellow 2011, Yale University, and Study Leader TEEB

The basic unit of nature – the ecosystem – is a special form of wealth, which we can think of as a stock of natural capital. However, perhaps because this capital is free, we have tended to view it as limitless, abundant and always available for our use, exploitation and conversion. Capitalizing on Nature shows how modeling ecosystems as natural capital can help us to analyze the economic behavior that has led to the overuse of so much ecological wealth. It explains how this concept of ecosystem as natural capital sheds light on a number of important issues, including landscape conversion, ecological restoration, ecosystem resilience and collapse, spatial benefits and payments for ecosystem services. The book concludes by focusing on major policy challenges that need to be overcome in order to avert the worsening problem of ecological scarcity and how we can fund novel financing mechanisms for global conservation.

List of figures
List of tables
List of boxes
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Ecological scarcity as an economic problem
2. Ecosystem services and ecological landscapes
3. The basic natural asset model
4. Spatial variation in ecosystems
5. The open economy
6. Ecological collapse
7. The way ahead
8. Policies in the age of ecological scarcity
Index.

Subject Areas: Environmental science, engineering & technology [TQ], Economic geography [RGCM], Environmental economics [KCN]