Location

Ceremonial Mootcourt Room

Start Date

30-6-2012 9:00 AM

End Date

30-6-2012 10:30 AM

Description

This paper will discuss measurement options and new policies that can contribute to the incorporation of ecosystem service values into economic measures, in particular productivity. Further, this work will highlight the linkage between such outcomes and the principle of intergenerational equity. A discussion of the challenges and ethical considerations which arise when dealing with valuing ecosystem services will also be included.

Despite an increasing trend towards considering and valuing ecosystem services in environmental policy decisions, there has been less movement towards including ecosystem service values within national measures of economic progress. Most discussion to date has focused on the inclusion of ecosystem services, and more broadly, natural capital, within GDP numbers. This paper will argue that the inclusion of ecosystem services in productivity measures is an equally important and relatively unexplored avenue – one that can offer both a new thinking regarding conditions needed to achieve intergenerational equity as well as offer useful insights, particularly for improving firm-level environmental performance.

Productivity measures are crucial in analysing a nation’s standard of living, and the maximization of labour and capital productivity is a major public policy goal. However, the standard measures of productivity (labour and multi-factor) do not consider the contribution of ecosystem services, in large part because traditionally the natural environment has been viewed as free in cost and unlimited in quantity. Including ecosystem services within productivity calculations is a promising approach; it can illustrate how efficiently ecosystem services are operating. Understanding the productivity of ecosystem services will also enable policies that can have the effect of encouraging a more efficient functioning and use of ecosystem services in the production of goods and services. Incorporating the value of ecosystem goods and services into economic measures, such as productivity, would not only enable greater economic efficiency (and reduced waste) overall but would also operate in line with the sustainable development principle of intergenerational equity. That is, the more efficiently that the natural environment is used today, the more and better quality natural capital that will be available for future generations. This paper will suggest that the inclusion of ecosystem service values in productivity measures will help meet the requirements of intergenerational equity, by avoiding wasteful degradation through increasing the efficiency of natural capital use.

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Jun 30th, 9:00 AM Jun 30th, 10:30 AM

The Connection Between Natural Capital Productivity and Intergenerational Equity: Focus on Ecosystem Services

Ceremonial Mootcourt Room

This paper will discuss measurement options and new policies that can contribute to the incorporation of ecosystem service values into economic measures, in particular productivity. Further, this work will highlight the linkage between such outcomes and the principle of intergenerational equity. A discussion of the challenges and ethical considerations which arise when dealing with valuing ecosystem services will also be included.

Despite an increasing trend towards considering and valuing ecosystem services in environmental policy decisions, there has been less movement towards including ecosystem service values within national measures of economic progress. Most discussion to date has focused on the inclusion of ecosystem services, and more broadly, natural capital, within GDP numbers. This paper will argue that the inclusion of ecosystem services in productivity measures is an equally important and relatively unexplored avenue – one that can offer both a new thinking regarding conditions needed to achieve intergenerational equity as well as offer useful insights, particularly for improving firm-level environmental performance.

Productivity measures are crucial in analysing a nation’s standard of living, and the maximization of labour and capital productivity is a major public policy goal. However, the standard measures of productivity (labour and multi-factor) do not consider the contribution of ecosystem services, in large part because traditionally the natural environment has been viewed as free in cost and unlimited in quantity. Including ecosystem services within productivity calculations is a promising approach; it can illustrate how efficiently ecosystem services are operating. Understanding the productivity of ecosystem services will also enable policies that can have the effect of encouraging a more efficient functioning and use of ecosystem services in the production of goods and services. Incorporating the value of ecosystem goods and services into economic measures, such as productivity, would not only enable greater economic efficiency (and reduced waste) overall but would also operate in line with the sustainable development principle of intergenerational equity. That is, the more efficiently that the natural environment is used today, the more and better quality natural capital that will be available for future generations. This paper will suggest that the inclusion of ecosystem service values in productivity measures will help meet the requirements of intergenerational equity, by avoiding wasteful degradation through increasing the efficiency of natural capital use.