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The United States and Canada have vast stores of ecological wealth that provide often unseen but critical benefits to the people and economy of each country. The close ties between ecology and the economy make it urgent that action is taken to address the risks of ecosystem degradation, but these close ties also present opportunities to develop new incentives for ecosystem conservation. To highlight the diversity of approaches being implemented in the US and Canada, we describe examples of programs seeking to maintain ecosystem services from wetlands, agricultural lands, forests, and water quality. Corporations are also beginning to account for ecosystem service values. Innovative solutions are being developed mostly within existing government and corporate policies that allow for ecosystem service accounting. To further mainstream ecosystem service values into broader economic decisions, new policies are necessary that not only allow but mandate their inclusion in decisions and reporting.

The United States and Canada have vast stores of ecological wealth that provide often unseen but critical benefits to the people and economy of each country. The close ties between ecology and the economy make it urgent that action is taken to address the risks of ecosystem degradation, but these close ties also present opportunities to develop new incentives for ecosystem conservation. To highlight the diversity of approaches being implemented in the US and Canada, we describe examples of programs seeking to maintain ecosystem services from wetlands, agricultural lands, forests, and water quality. Corporations are also beginning to account for ecosystem service values. Innovative solutions are being developed mostly within existing government and corporate policies that allow for ecosystem service accounting. To further mainstream ecosystem service values into broader economic decisions, new policies are necessary that not only allow but mandate their inclusion in decisions and reporting.

The ever-pressing challenge for the current generation of mankind is to develop a shared vision that is both desirable to the vast majority of humanity and ecologically sustainable. Creating a Sustainable and Desirable Future offers a broad, critical discussion on what such a future should or can be, with global perspectives written by some of the world's leading thinkers, namely Wendell Berry, Van Jones, Frances Moore Lappe, Peggy Liu, Hunter Lovins and Gus Speth. This monograph reviews the role played by TFS in masking, pitch perception, speech perception, and spatial hearing, and concludes that cues derived from TFS play an important role in all of these. Evidence is reviewed suggesting that cochlear hearing loss reduces the ability to use TFS cues. Also, the ability to use TFS declines with increasing age even when the audiogram remains normal. This provides a new dimension to the changes in hearing associated with aging, a topic that is currently of great interest in view of the increasing proportion of older people in the population. The study of the role of TFS in auditory processing has been a hot topic in recent years. While there have been many research papers on this topic in specialized journals, there has been no overall review that pulls together the different research findings and presents and interprets them within a coherent framework. This monograph fills this gap

Governments in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) face decisions that involve trade-offs between the economic benefits from hydropower generation and potentially irreversible negative impacts on the ecosystems that provide livelihoods and food security to the rural poor. As a means of comparing these trade-offs, a sensitivity analysis of the benefit-cost analysis of certain Basin Development Plan (BDP) scenarios was undertaken. By changing some key assumptions in the BDP about discount rates, the value of lost capture fisheries, future aquaculture production in the LMB, and the value of lost ecosystem services from wetlands to reflect the full range of uncertainty, at the extremes, there could be a reversal of the Net Present Value (NPV) estimates of the scenarios from a positive $33 billion to negative $274 billion. This report recommends when dealing with large-scale, complex projects: a more comprehensive, integrated human and natural systems framework and adaptive management approach to LMB planning and development that deals with the entire watershed; a more comprehensive analysis and treatment of risk and uncertainty; a more thorough assessment of the value of direct and indirect ecosystem services; a broader set of scenarios that embody alternative models of development, broader stakeholder participation; and better treatment of the effects of infrastructure construction on local cultures and the poor.

Governments in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) face decisions that involve trade-offs between the economic benefits from hydropower generation and potentially irreversible negative impacts on the ecosystems that provide livelihoods and food security to the rural poor. As a means of comparing these trade-offs, a sensitivity analysis of the benefit-cost analysis of certain Basin Development Plan (BDP) scenarios was undertaken. By changing some key assumptions in the BDP about discount rates, the value of lost capture fisheries, future aquaculture production in the LMB, and the value of lost ecosystem services from wetlands to reflect the full range of uncertainty, at the extremes, there could be a reversal of the Net Present Value (NPV) estimates of the scenarios from a positive $33 billion to negative $274 billion. This report recommends when dealing with large-scale, complex projects: a more comprehensive, integrated human and natural systems framework and adaptive management approach to LMB planning and development that deals with the entire watershed; a more comprehensive analysis and treatment of risk and uncertainty; a more thorough assessment of the value of direct and indirect ecosystem services; a broader set of scenarios that embody alternative models of development, broader stakeholder participation; and better treatment of the effects of infrastructure construction on local cultures and the poor.

Contents: Foreword by Jacqueline Mcglade -- Preface -- In memoriam: Eric Zencey 1953-2019 -- 1. Introduction: what is ecological economics and why do we need it now more than ever / Robert Costanza, Jon D. Erickson, Joshua Farley, and Ida Kubiszewski -- Part I: The future we want -- 2. Creating positive futures for humanity on earth / Robert Costanza, Elizabeth M. B. Doran, Tatiana Gladkikh, Ida Kubiszewski, Valerie A. Luzadis, and Eric Zencey -- 3. Work, labour, and regenerative production / Kaitlin Kish and Stephen Quilley -- 4. The role of technology in achieving the future we want / Stewart Wallis, Lindsay Barbieri, Alice Damiano, and Matthew Burke -- 5. Ecological economics in China: from origins, to inertia, to rejuvenation / Xi Ji -- 6. Taking evolution seriously: the role of ecological economics in escaping the anthropocene and reaching for the ecozoic / Peter G. Brown and John Gowdy -- Part II: Measuring and achieving wellbeing -- 7. Frameworks and systems thinking for measuring and achieving sustainable wellbeing / Elizabeth M. B. Doran, Lindsay Barbieri, Ida Kubiszewski, Kate Pickett, Thomas Dietz, Michael Abrams, Richard Wilkinson, Robert Costanza, Stephen C. Farber, and Jeannine Valcour -- 8. How ecosystem services research can advance ecological economics principles / Rachelle K. Gould, Taylor H. Ricketts, Richard B. Howarth, Svenja Telle, Tatiana Gladkikh, Stephen Posner, Jesse Gourevitch, and Yuki Yoshida -- 9. Wellbeing in the more-than-human world / Kristian Brevik, John Adams, Benjamin Dube, Lindsay Barbieri, and Gabriel Yahya Haage -- 10. From measurement to application: wellbeing indicators in socio-ecological systems / Kati Gallagher, Michael Moser, Mairi-Jane V. Fox, and Jane Kolodinsky -- 11. The struggle for equality and sustainability / Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett -- 12. Human health and ecological economics / Martin Hensher -- Part III: The institutions we require -- 13. Cultural evolution, multi-level selection, and institutions for cooperation / Joshua Farley, John Gowdy, and Stephen Marshall -- 14. Moral and ethical foundations for ecological economics / Dan Spethmann and Valerie A. Luzadis -- 15. Governing for sustainable development: rethinking governance and ecological economics / Christopher Koliba, Megan Egler, and Stephen Posner -- 16. Money, interest rates and accumulation on a finite planet: revisiting the 'monetary growth imperative' through institutionalist approaches / Romain Svartzman, Joseph Ament, David Barmes, Jon D. Erickson, Joshua Farley, Charles Guay-Boutet, and Nicolas Kosoy -- 17. The nature and role of business in an ecological economy / Mairi-Jane V. Fox, Abigail B. Schneider, Marilyn T. Lucas, and Beth Schaefer Caniglia -- 18. Principles of stakeholder engagement for ecological economics / Madhavi Venkatesan, Jon D. Erickson, and Christine Carmichael -- Part IV: Integrated, dynamic analysis and modelling of socio-ecological systems -- 19. Integrated ecological economic modeling: what is it good for? / Alexey Voinov, Pascal Perez, Juan Carlos Castilla-Rho, and Daniel C. Kenny -- 20. Designing participatory decision support systems: towards meta-decision making analytics in the next generation of ecological economics / Asim Zia and Roel Boumans -- 21. A research agenda for ecological macroeconomics / Peter A. Victor and Tim Jackson -- Part V: Making the transition -- 22. Local economies: leading the way to an ecological economy / Sabine O'Hara and Daniel Baker -- 23. Systemic design and systemic crisis in the United States: the pluralist commonwealth / Gar Alperovitz and Joseph Ament -- 24. Creating a wellbeing economy alliance (weall) to motivate and facilitate the transition / Robert Costanza, Lorenzo Fioramonti, Ida Kubiszewski, Deborah Markowitz, Christopher Orr, Katherine Trebeck, and Stewart Wallis -- Part VI: Surveys of the larger community about the research agenda -- 25. Ecological economic goals from emerging scholars / Kaitlin Kish and Sam Bliss -- 26. Assessing ecological economics at 30: results from a survey of isee members / Benjamin Dube -- Index.

AbstractWe estimated the current value of ecosystem services for terrestrial ecosystems in 47 countries in the Asia and the Pacific region. Currently, these provide $US14 trillion/yr. in benefits, most of which are non‐marketed and do not show up in GDP. We also estimated the changes in terrestrial ecosystem services value for scenarios to the year 2050, built around the four Great Transition Initiative archetypes: (1) Market Forces (MF); (2) Fortress World (FW); (3) Policy Reform (PR); and (4) Great Transition (GT). Results show that under the MF and FW scenarios the ecosystem services value in the region continues to decline from $14 trillion/yr in 2011 to $11 and $9 trillion/yr in 2050, respectively. In the PR scenario, the value is maintained around $14 Trillion/yr in 2050 and in the GT scenario it is significantly restored to $17 Trillion/yr. We also show more detailed maps and results for 8 selected countries in the region (Bhutan, China, India, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) and compare our results with a previous national study of Bhutan. Our results indicate that adopting a set of policies like those assumed in the GT scenario would greatly enhance human wellbeing and sustainability in the region.

We estimated the value of ecosystem services in Bhutan using benefit transfer methodology in order to determine an initial assessment of their overall contribution to human well-being The total estimated value was approximately $15.5. billion/yr (NU760 billion/yr), significantly greater than the gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.5. billion/yr.We also estimated who benefits from Bhutan's ecosystem services. 53% of the total benefits accrue to people outside Bhutan. 47% of the benefits accrue to people inside the country-15 % at the national level, and 32% at the local level. Based on this and a population of 700,000 we estimated Bhutan's combined per capita annual benefits at $15,400/capita/yr. Of this $5000 is from goods and services captured in GDP and $10,400 is from ecosystem services. This is only a partial estimate that leaves out other sources of benefits to people, including social and cultural values.This study is the first phase of a larger, multiyear project and ongoing effort in Bhutan. Subsequent phases will apply more sophisticated methods to further elaborate the value of Bhutan's ecosystem services, who benefits from them, how they can best be integrated into national well-being accounting, and how best to manage them.

Despite universal recognition that environmental policy should be informed by robust scientific evidence, this is frequently (and perhaps increasingly) not the case, even in wealthy countries such as Australia. How can the scientific community respond to this fundamental problem? While acknowledging that many constructive actions can be taken, and that scientists have a direct responsibility to inform the policy-making process and advocate for sound policy positions, we contend that such responses are insufficient unless the wider community is better informed and engaged. We agree with those who believe that a broader democratization of the policy-making process is essential to improving this situation, and that an expanded application of scenario planning, augmented with targeted public-opinion surveys, has considerable potential. Used in this way, scenario planning can help scientists engage with and inform citizens about the kind of world they want to live in, while incorporating the best science about possible futures.

Increasingly, empirical evidence refutes many of the theoretical pillars of mainstream economics. These theories have persisted despite the fact that they support unsustainable and undesirable environmental, social, and economic outcomes. Continuing to embrace them puts at risk the possibility of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and overcoming other global challenges. We discuss a selection of paradoxes and delusions surrounding mainstream economic theories related to: (1) efficiency and resource use, (2) wealth and wellbeing, (3) economic growth, and (4) the distribution of wealth within and between rich and poor nations. We describe a wellbeing economy as an alternative for guiding policy development. In 2018, a network of Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo), (supported by, but distinct from, the larger Wellbeing Economy Alliance—WEAll) promoting new forms of governance that diverge from the ones on which the G7 and G20 are based, has been launched and is now a living project. Members of WEGo aim at advancing the three key principles of a wellbeing economy: Live within planetary ecological boundaries, ensure equitable distribution of wealth and opportunity, and efficiently allocate resources (including environmental and social public goods), bringing wellbeing to the heart of policymaking, and in particular economic policymaking. This network has potential to fundamentally re-shape current global leadership still anchored to old economic paradigms that give primacy to economic growth over environmental and social wealth and wellbeing. ; https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability ; pm2020 ; Political Sciences