Land use and cover in ecological economics

Abstract

A basic premise of ecological economics is that the world economy is embedded in and dependent upon Earth's ecosystem. Because land is a basic source of mass and energy throughput in all terrestrial ecosystems, land use and cover represents an integrating element in ecological economics. We have developed a global model that captures this concept. We illustrate this concept's usefulness by showing how global changes in climate, human populations, and international trade policies might affect tropical forests. Results from our scenarios indicate that such changes would likely have adverse effects on the health and integrity of tropical forest ecosystems. Results from our scenarios also indicate that forest depletion in Southeast Asia can be correlated with numerous economic indicators. Whether the correlation with a particular economic variable is positive or negative depends on the global change scenario. This merely reflects the fact that interactions between economic and ecological phenomena are complex. Modeling capabilities can be expanded by adding economic and ecological detail, including more material on throughput, and developing methods for simulating dynamic analyses.