Product Description: Drawing on historical and contemporary evidence, this book argues that growing environmental degradation and wealth inequality are linked to how nature is exploited to create economic wealth. Ending the under-pricing of natural capital and insufficient human capital accumulation is essential to overcoming structural imbalance in modern economies...read more

Product Description: Global warming is an increasing problem, tropical forests are being wiped out and major upper watersheds are being degraded. Using insights provided by environmentalism, ecology and thermo-dynamics, this book – first published in 1989 – outlines an economic approach to the use of natural resources and particularly to the problem of environmental degradation...read more

'The Green Revolution' of the 60's and 70's produced immense gains in food cereal production in the Third World. But there are huge problems in the 'post-revolutionary' era: farmers with small or marginal holdings have benefited less than wealthier farmers; intensive mono-cropping has made production more susceptible to environmental stresses and shocks. Now there is evidence of diminishing returns from intensive and intensively chemical agricultural production. What is needed is a new approach, equally revolutionary, but different in its ideas and style. The authors set out what they mean by 'sustainable' agriculture in the new era and look at the effects of international economic restraints and of national policies on the kind of development they see as necessary. They chart a path for sustainable livelihoods for Third World farmers enmeshed by forces outside their control. They describe methods of evaluating and resolving the tough trade-offs all levels of intervention, from international trade down to the individual farm. This book cannot provide all the answers, but it does indicate what international conditions we need to be aware of, what national policies we need to advocate and what approaches at the local level we need to adopt to ensure the goal of agricultural sustainability. Originally published in 1990

Product Description: Ivory is big business, and in some parts of Africa elephants have been hunted almost to extinction in the quest for it. The losses to African economies have been catastrophic. Now there is an international ban on the trade and conservation is...read more

In the Summer of 1991, Bob Carling, who was then Life Sciences Editor of Chapman & Hall, approached me over the possibility of producing an edited volume of works on economics and ecology. As we discussed the matter further, what became clear is that there is a growing literature on the' frontiers' of both disciplines that has involved economists 'borrowing' from ecology and ecologists 'borrowing' from economics. We decided that this volume should try to provide a small cross-section of that literature. I was very much interested in editing this volume for several reasons. First, one of my principal interests in economics has been how the economic analysis of natural resource and environmental problems can benefit from the concepts and lessons learned from other disciplines, in particular ecology. I was grateful at having the opportunity to pull together a selection of readings that illustrate how the integration of the two disciplines can lead to fruitful analysis. Second, I was also aware that, as Director of the London Environmental Economics Centre and as a Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Environment and Development, I was fortunate to have worked with or to have known a number of economists and ecologists whose work would be ideal for this volume. I was delighted that so many of my friends and colleagues were as enthusiastic about this project as I, and agreed to participate.

Throughout much of history, a critical driving force behind global economic development has been the response of society to the scarcity of key natural resources. Increasing scarcity raises the cost of exploiting existing natural resources and creates incentives in all economies to innovate and conserve more of these resources. However, economies have also responded to increasing scarcity by obtaining and developing more of these resources. Since the agricultural transition over 12,000 years ago, this exploitation of new 'frontiers' has often proved to be a pivotal human response to natural resource scarcity. This book provides a fascinating account of the contribution that natural resource exploitation has made to economic development in key eras of world history. This not only fills an important gap in the literature on economic history but also shows how we can draw lessons from these past epochs for attaining sustainable economic development in the world today.

Why is natural resource exploitation not yielding greater benefits to the poor economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America? This book's historical review of resource use and development examines current theories explaining under-performance of today's resource-abundant economies. After developing models to analyze the key economic factors underlying land expansion and water use in developing countries, Edward Barbier explores their resource dependency, rural poverty and resource degradation and proposes reforms for successful resource-based development.

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Product Description: Ten years ago Blueprint for a Green Economy changed the face of economic and environmental policy. It made front page news and introduced the public as well as the professionals to the central role that the environment should play in economic and public policy decisions...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: The Economics of Environment and Development is a carefully edited selection of Edward Barbier's most influential papers on the role of environmental economics in economic development. This book begins with a brief overview and summary of the papers, placing each in its original context and in relation to the development of Barbier's ideas...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: There is genuine cause for concern over the excessive exploitation of tropical forest in many regions, but also many misconceptions about the causes and sources of thisexploitation.The Economics of the Tropical Timber Trade provides a detailed analysis of the economic linkages between the trade and forest degradation...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Essays discuss biodiversity, sustainable use of rainforests, wildlife tourism, and illegal exploitation

Product Description: This report has been prepared by the London Environmental Economics Centre (LEEC). LEEC is a joint venture, established in 1988, by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the department of Economics of University College London (UCL)...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Using insights provided by environmentalism, ecology and thermodynamics, this book begins the construction of a new economic approach to the use of natural resources and particularly to the problem of environmental degradation. The globe is warming up, tropical moist forests are being wiped out and major upper watersheds are being degraded...read more

Product Description: Beginning with a critique of environmental and resource economics, Barbier goes on to use the insights provided by environmentalism, ecology and thermodynamics to construct a new economic approach to the use of natural resources and particularly to the probloem of environmental degradation...read more