Ecological Limits and Economic Development

by Sengupta, Ramprasad

• ISBN13: 9780198081654
• ISBN10: 0198081650
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-03-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book presents a comprehensive coverage of the role of ecological constraints in limiting the availability of natural resources for economic development. It discusses in detail the notion of sustainable development, the concept of ecological footprints, and population theory. It also analyses how the development of technology, policies, and institutions can relax these constraints in the context of major resources. The analytical discussion is carried out both at the conceptual and theoretical level and also at the applied level in the context of Indian development. Addressing challenges arising from ecological limits, the book engages with the dynamics of and policies for conservation of an entire range of major resources-land and soil, water, forests, biodiversity, energy, non-energy, material, and waste absorption. It identifies the role of knowledge, values, human capital, and institutions in overcoming nature's constraints. This book has a good potential to be used as a supplementary reader in universities offering courses on environment and economics.

Author Biography

Ramprasad Sengupta is Sukhamoy Chakravarty Chair Professor of Planning and Development, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Economic Theory and Ecological Limits
3. Concept of Sustainable Development: Macroeconomic Resource and Income Accounting
4. Biosphere and Ecosystems
5. Ecological Footprint
6. Human System: Population, Development, and Environment
7. India's Human Settlement and Micro Living Environment
8. Land Use and Land Degradation
9. Water Resources
10. Forest
11. Biodiversity
12. Energy
13. Non-energy Materials, Recycling, and Wastes
14. Global Warming and Climate Change
15. Overcoming Ecological Limits: Roles of Knowledge and Human Capital, Human Values, and Institutions
Bibliography
Index