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This paper discusses the construction of an ecosystem services index (ESI) and the respective roles of ecology and economics in that effort. It extends the concept of an ESI, analogous to Gross Domestic Product, to other analogous indices, including an ecosystem price or value index, and a net ESI that accounts for interactions between ecosystem stocks and service flows. A central aim of this paper is to account for services in an economically and ecologically defensible manner. It thus also discusses the connection between ecological models and economic models in the construction of ecosystem services indices, the former on the quantity side and the latter on the price/value side of the index.

Because their assets and income represent such a small share of national wealth, the impacts of climate change on poor people, even if dramatic, will be largely invisible in aggregate economic statistics such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Assessing and managing future impacts of climate change on poverty requires different metrics, and specific studies focusing on the vulnerability of poor people. This special issue provides a set of such studies, looking at the exposure and vulnerability of people living in poverty to shocks and stressors that are expected to increase in frequency or intensity due to climate change, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, and impacts on agricultural production and ecosystem services. This introduction summarizes their approach and findings, which support the idea that the link between poverty and climate vulnerability goes both ways: poverty is one major driver of people's vulnerability to climate-related shocks and stressors, and this vulnerability is keeping people in poverty. The paper concludes by identifying priorities for future research.

This paper develops and operationalizes the integrated economic-environmental modelling (IEEM) platform which integrates environmental data organized under the first international system of environmental economic accounting with a powerful dynamic economy-wide modelling approach. IEEM enables the ex-ante economic analysis of policies on the economy and the environment in a quantitative, comprehensive and consistent framework. IEEM elucidates the two-way interrelationships between the economy and environment, considering how economic activities depend on the environment as a source of inputs and as a sink for their outputs. In addition to standard economic impact indicators such as gross domestic product, income and employment, IEEM generates indicators that describe policy impacts on the use of environmental resources, wealth and environmental quality which together determine prospects for future economic growth and well-being. To illustrate the analytical capabilities of IEEM, the model is calibrated with Guatemala’s SEEA and applied to analysis of its forest and fuelwood sector where negative health and environmental impacts arise from inefficient fuelwood use., Facultad de Ciencias Económicas

low power consumption, low emissions "low carbon economy" has become a new model of economic development of countries to pursue. Traditional GDP indicator has been unable to account for changes in the situation of a country or region 's resource consumption and environmental quality , can not fully reflect the true picture of social development criteria can not adapt to a low-carbon economy. Currently measure low-carbon economy is a very effective indicator green GDP. This paper analyzes the environmental context under China's current economic development , compared to the traditional GDP, indicates the importance and necessity of green GDP , and the current problems in the form of proposals and conducted under the future .

The second half of the twentieth century has been characterised by a major divergence in economic performance between small island developing states (SIDS), and nowhere has this been more marked than in the Caribbean. Countries in that region with the highest growth rates have been those with the greatest investment in tourism. The tendency therefore has been for governments to place an increasing emphasis on this industry, especially in light of the declining role of agriculture in the region. In Jamaica, tourism is a priority in national plans and the trend has been towards mass tourism, with a high spatial concentration on the coastal zone. The demands of mass tourism for natural resources and environmental services are huge and have not been calculated in the cost of the industry against which the economic returns are balanced. This paper compares the contribution of the tourism industry to gross domestic product in Jamaica with a preliminary estimate of the environmental costs of the industry, as rep...

Conventional measures of economic output, national income and wealth highly underestimate the value and contribution of natural resources to economic welfare. This paper makes estimates of the asset values and flow benefits of non-traded goods and services from forests and woodland resources in South Africa. Four benefit categories were included, namely direct consumptive use values (timber and non-timber products), non-consumptive use values (recreation for example), indirect use values (environmental services such as carbon sequestration, watershed protection, etc.), and non-use values (based on contingent valuation by tourists). Asset values were calculated knowing the change in physical stocks and the relevant prices. In South Africa, the increase in assets was equivalent to 1.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) (forests were improving, but fynbos deteriorating), and the flow benefits were equivalent to 0.8% of GDP. These are large magnitudes.

The rate of growth or decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is reported quarterly in New Zealand and regarded as the paramount measure of how the nation is faring. However, the welfare of New Zealanders is determined by more than economic factors and the non-economic portion is not taken into account when only GDP, which measures monetary exchanges in the market place, is used as a gauge. Non-economic contributions to welfare come from many sources including unpaid work and the natural environment ? from which the economy extracts resources and returns wastes. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) endeavours to develop measures for such items and then adjust GDP to reflect their contribution. GPIs have been constructed for a number of countries and they all show such contributions are considerable, though difficult to measure. No 'convention' has been established for the constructing of a GPI to make the process more systematic and ensure the appropriate data are collected. This paper looks specifically at the approaches taken to value the natural capital and ecosystem services that have contributed to welfare over the 1970?2005 period in New Zealand, and, whether such measures could be more generic.