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Ecological Economics: At the Interface of Nature, Economy, and Society Read chapter Read first chapter

2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

2. Nature, Economy and Society: Of Values, Valuation and Policy-Making in an Unequal World

Author : Kanchan Chopra

Published in: Nature, Economy and Society

Publisher: Springer India

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Abstract

This chapter first examines aspects of the linkages between nature, economy society reiterating the urgent need for dealing with the complexity of nature and society interactions from diverse disciplinary perspectives: It further postulates that whichever discipline we begin from, it is the ethical undertones that drive the analysis in directions which acquire meaning in terms of the quality and legitimacy of decision-making. Methodologies acquire meaning only when interfaced with or interpreted in the context of value systems. The emerging literature on valuation of ecosystems and ecosystem services is examined, both as a methodology and as a tool for providing policy direction.
Finally, observing that, the choices which India and South Asia face, as development and environment both need to be addressed aptly, span a large number of these challenges. The question addressed is: What directions does the current level or state of knowledge give to help us to emerge with meaningful policy directions?

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previous chapter Ecological Economics: At the Interface of Nature, Economy, and Society
next chapter Social Metabolism and Environmental Conflicts in India
Footnotes
1
For a discussion of these and related issues, see Colyvan et al. (2009).
 
2
See Vatn (2010) for details.
 
3
For attempts to extend the literature on valuation to take into account stakeholder perspectives see Lele (2009 and 2013).
 
4
See, for example Martinez-Alier (2002).
 
5
Driven by India’s high rates of urbanization, demand for land for urban construction and infrastructure continues to push the price of land to very high levels. Undoubtedly, these are higher than values yielded by “traditional” valuation of ecosystem services. Tensions from differing land values associated with different uses and different stakeholders are rapidly increasing. For instance, supply side ecosystem services-based approach to valuation yielded estimates of forest and deemed forest land between ₹ 7 to 9 lakhs per hectare for dense natural forests (See Chopra et al. (2006) Supreme Court Expert Committee 2007, Chopra and Dasgupta 2008). This was much higher than the compensatory afforestation payment of ₹ 50,000 per hectare paid for conversion. But demand-driven urban land use could garner a price of up to ₹ 90 lakhs per hectare or more. A similar situation exists for land diverted to mining. The drivers in this case may be high export prices.
 
6
See Jairam Ramesh (2010), for a succinct exposition of the state of the debate and the policymakers’ consequent dilemma.
 
7
The Stern review (2006) places the figure at 1 %.
 
8
See Kadekodi (2012) for details.
 
9
Corresponding gross national savings are 38.17 and 35.20 % for 2008 and 2009, respectively. See World Bank, World Development Indicators (2010 and 2011).
 
10
See Murty and Panda (2012).
 
Literature
Chopra K, Dasgupta P (2008) Assessing economic and ecosystem services contribution of forests: issues in modelling and an illustration. Int For Rev 10(2):376–386 (Special Edition)
Chopra K, Dasgupta P, Eswaran VB, Kadekodi GK (2006) Report of the expert committee on net present value of forest land, submitted to the Supreme Court of India
Colyvan M, Linquist S, Grey W, Griffiths, PE, Odenbaugh J, Possingham HP (2009) Philosophical issues in ecology: recent trends and future directions. Ecol Soc 14(2):22
Cooper A (1982) Why doesnʼt anyone listen to ecologists—and what can ESA do about it? Bull Ecol Soc Am 63:348
Government of India, Central Statistical Organisation (2013) Green national accounts in India: A Framework, Report of the Expert Group
Jairam R (16 October 2010) The two cultures revisited: the environment-development debate in India. Econ Polit Wkly XLV(42):13–16
Kadekodi GK (2012) Possibilities of going on the green economic path Kamath Helekar Memorial lecture at Goa University, 21st February, 2012
Lele S (2009) Hydrological services of western ghats: lessons learned for integrated hydroeconomic analysis. In: valuation of regulating services: from theory to practice, SCAPES International Workshop. Organised by University of Liverpool and ATREE, under the Strengthening Capacity to Alleviate Poverty through Ecosystem Services (SCAPES) project, Bangalore
Lele S, Srinivasan V (2013) Dissaggregated economic impact analysis incorporating ecological and social trade-offs and techno-institutional context: a case from the western ghats of India. Ecol Econ 91:98–112CrossRef
Martinez-Alier J (2002) The environmentalism of the poor: a study of ecological conflicts and valuation. Elgar, CheltanhamCrossRef
Murty MN, Panda M (2012) Generating National Income accounts for Measuring Green GDP in India A report submitted to the Central Statistical Office, Government of India, February
Norgaard RB (2008) Finding hope in the millennium assessment. Conserv Biol 22(4):862–69CrossRef
Rockstorm J, Steffen W et al. (2009) A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461:472–475CrossRef
Simon H (1972) Theories of bounded rationality. In: Mcguire CB, Rodner R (ed) Decision and organization (chap 8). North Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam
Stern N (2006) The economics of climate change: the stern review. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
UNEP (2011) Towards a green economy: pathways to sustainable development and poverty eradication. UNEP, Nairobi
Vatn A (2010) An institutional analysis of payments for environmental services, ecological economics. Ecol Econ 69(6):1245–1252CrossRef
Walker B, Barrett S et al. (11 September 2009) Looming global scale failures and missing institutions. Science 325(5946):1345–1346CrossRef
World Bank (2010 and 2011) World development reports. Washington DC, World Bank
Metadata
Title
Nature, Economy and Society: Of Values, Valuation and Policy-Making in an Unequal World
Author
Kanchan Chopra
Copyright Year
2016
Publisher
Springer India
Book
Nature, Economy and Society

Print ISBN: 978-81-322-2403-7

Electronic ISBN: 978-81-322-2404-4

Copyright Year: 2016

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2404-4_2