Search results for "natural resource"
showing 10 items of 482 documents
A holistic approach to the management of human consumption towards an economics of well-being
2014
The goal of this conceptual paper is to draw attention to the problems caused by the rapid growth of the global economy, coupled with high population growth and excessive exploitation of natural resources. It is necessary to be aware that the global economy will not be able to grow at the actual speed in the long term. A paradigm shift in production and consumption is therefore necessary to avoid the collapse of ecosystems and the concurrent reduction of stocks of natural resources. This is the reason why capitalism has to take a new direction towards a sustainable and naturally harmonized development model.
The social benefits of restoring water quality in the context of the Water Framework Directive: A comparison of willingness to pay and willingness to…
2009
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is by far the most important piece of water legislation in Europe for the coming decades. Its main aim is to achieve "good ecological status" for all water resources by 2015. The economic valuation of the non-market benefits derived from improving water quality is an important input in assisting the design and implementation of efficient and effective water management policies. In this study, the contingent valuation method has been applied with a double purpose. On the one hand, we have estimated the value of a hypothetical improvement in water quality of a river asking individuals about their willingness to pay, and on the other hand, the issue of exemp…
Estimating willingness to pay for desalinated seawater: the case of Djerba Island, Tunisia
2017
AbstractWater scarcity can be a growth-limiting factor. Non-conventional water resources, such as desalinated water, represent an alternative means of guaranteeing access to water while reducing water stress. In this study, a contingent valuation survey carried out in Djerba Island, Tunisia, allows the joint modelling of two decisions: societal support for the construction of a desalination plant and households’ willingness to pay for desalinated water. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study to date has addressed this relationship. We find that although a clear majority of households are in favour of using desalinated water, far fewer are willing to pay for it. The article conclude…
Evaluation of the Administrative Phase-Out of Coal Power Plants on the Italian Electricity Market
2020
Although decarbonisation is one of the most important macro-trends of this century, electricity generation from coal power plants is still broadly common. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of a premature coal power plants phase-out on the Italian day-ahead electricity market. For this purpose, two electricity price forecasts, related to different scenarios between 2019 and 2030, and two different hypotheses for the creation of electricity spot price, were compared. The results from the different scenarios show that coal power plants phase-out determines a small variation in electricity price when bid-up is not considered
An Environmental Analysis of the Effect of Energy Saving, Production and Recovery Measures on Water Supply Systems under Scarcity Conditions
2015
Water is one of the primary resources provided for maintaining quality of life and social status in urban areas. As potable water is considered to be a primary need, water service has usually been managed without examining the economic and environmental sustainability of supply processes. Currently, due to increases in energy costs and the growth of environment preservation policies, reducing water leakage, energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) production have become primary objectives in reducing the environmental footprint of water service. The present paper suggests the implementation of some performance indicators that show the interdependence of water loss, energy consumption and…
Towards More Efficient Incentives for Agri-environment Measures in Degraded and Eroded Vineyards
2015
Evaluating the economic damage caused by soil erosion is important. In addition to increasing the awareness of the problem among farmers and policy makers, evaluation of the economic damage caused by erosion can promote the implementation of more sustainable soil management practices. In the present study, we describe a new approach to evaluate incentives for the adoption of agri-environment measure (AEM) in degraded and eroded vineyards. To estimate this incentive, the replacement cost (RC) and the loss of income are calculated when the vineyard is managed with conventional tillage versus a cover crop (AEM). Our findings show that the incentive could range from the loss of income due to AE…
Introduction: Time, Space and Economics in the History of Latin America
2020
This book represents a contribution in, at least, three dimensions: quantitative, historical and conceptual. From a quantitative point of view, the volume presents an extensive data set corresponding to 9 countries, 182 regions (states, provinces, departments) and around 14 benchmark years from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. This constitutes a substantial contribution to quantitatively analyse the economic development of Latin America, identifying the evolution of regional inequality and studying economic convergence and the formation of convergence clubs (clusters of poor and rich regions). Second, the volume combines a regional and supranat…
From the LCA of food products to the environmental assessment of protected crops districts: A case-study in the south of Italy
2010
In the present study, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to evaluate the energy consumption and environmental burdens associated with the production of protected crops in an agricultural district in the Mediterranean region. In this study, LCA was used as a ‘support tool’, to address local policies for sustainable production and consumption patterns, and to create a ‘knowledge base’ for environmental assessment of an extended agricultural production area. The proposed approach combines organisation-specific tools, such as Environmental Management Systems and Environmental Product Declarations, with the environmental management of the district. Questionnaires were distribute…
Tourism and climate change: impacts, adaptation and mitigation
2014
In recent years, climate change has caused a set of disasters and economic troubles for the globalized economy. This book presents a clear diagnosis of the climate change dilemma for industrial and...
Something Mightier: Marginalization, Occult Imaginations and the Youth Conflict in the Oil-Rich Niger Delta
2011
This contribution examines the role of occult imaginations in the struggle against perceived socio-economic marginalization by youth militias from the Ijaw ethnic group in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It argues that the asymmetric power between the federal government/transnational oil corporations (TNOCs) and the militias may have privileged the invocation of the supernatural as a critical agency of strength and courage by the youth militias. The conflict in the region embodies a cultural revision which has been necessitated by both the uncertainty of the oil environment and the prevailing narratives of social injustice. Hence the Egbesu deity, seen historically as embodying…