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Environmental policymakers need to monitor the state of the environment to evaluate the effectiveness of their actions, prioritize policies, and thus establish their contribution to the conservation of natural capital. The Environmental Sustainability GAP (ESGAP) is a framework that introduces a synthetic dashboard to monitor the state of the environment from a strong sustainability perspective, adopting stringent criteria on the maintenance of critical natural capital. This article focuses on the implementation of the ESGAP framework in New Caledonia, a developing economy heavily dependent on natural capital. The results highlight sustainability issues that require policy attention and methodological challenges about the construction of sustainability indicators. The strong environmental sustainability index score obtained is 43/100. This value is mainly driven downwards by high greenhouse gas emissions, and the impact of fire on ecosystems in New Caledonia. Both are moving away from the strong environmental sustainability objectives over the years, indicating a worsening situation. The ESGAP provides a holistic view on sustainability that was previously lacking, thus informing environmental management and policies. This study also identifies gaps in environmental monitoring and needs in the setting of objectives, as well as the cost of reaching them. • First experimentation of the ESGAP framework in a natural capital dependent economy: New Caledonia. • Adaptation of the ESGAP framework is tailored to the strategic environmental management need of New Caledonia. • The strong environmental sustainability index score is 43% for New Caledonia, driven downwards notably by GHG emissions. • A first estimation of the Monetary-ESGAP is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability debate among economists, and between economists and other scholars, has long been dominated by monolithic approaches, which inhibit policy relevance and social influence. At the same time, certain sustainability policies usually lack a theoretical foundation, a fact that makes policy design and evaluation a fragmented process. Here, we delineate an axiomatic approach for sustainability, which incorporates functionally, within the science of economics, operational elements from biology and ecology. To this end, sustainability is defined on the basis of intergenerational efficiency, maximization of intergenerational welfare, whereas the welfare potentials of future generations are explicitly taken into account and assigned equal importance with those of the current generation. This paper focuses on the dependency of intergenerational efficiency on the natural capital and attempts to define the natural capital that is necessary for ensuring efficiency. We indicate that intergenerational efficiency necessitates the preservation of biological integrity as well as the healthy functioning and resilience of ecosystems. In order to make these conditions operational, we prove that the preservation of crucial biological–ecological threshold arises as the necessary condition for intergeneration efficiency. The operational concept of threshold can be incorporated within economic analyses and inspire sustainability design without the need of assigning fugacious prices to biological assets and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary science that is primarily concerned with developing interventions to achieve sustainable ecological and economic systems. While ecological economists have, over the last few decades, made various empirical, theoretical, and conceptual advancements, there is one concept in particular that remains subject to confusion: critical natural capital. While critical natural capital denotes parts of the environment that are essential for the continued existence of our species, the meaning of terms commonly associated with this concept, such as 'non-substitutable' and 'impossible to substitute,' require a clearer formulation then they tend to receive. With the help of equations and graphs, this article develops new definite account of critical natural capital that makes explicit what it means for objective environmental conditions to be essential for continued existence. The second main part of this article turns to the question of formally modelling the priority of conserving critical natural capital. While some ecological economists have maintained that, beyond a certain threshold, critical natural capital possesses absolute infinite value, absolute infinite utility models encounter significant problems. This article shows that a relative infinite utility model provides a better way to model the priority of conserving critical natural capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National ecosystem accounting is an emerging framework for measuring the links between ecosystems and human well-being for national planning. It directly addresses Sustainable Development Goal 15.9, in which countries have agreed to integrate ecosystem values into national planning. The community of practice for national ecosystem accounting includes not only the international and national researchers who develop such a framework, but also the national analysts who implement it and the decision makers who apply it. To foster convergence within this community on such a common measurement platform, it is first necessary to understand the issues of divergence of values and preferences among the diverse and international ethical perspectives, disciplines and roles involved. A cluster analysis of a survey of 131 expert stakeholders in national ecosystem accounting reveals agreement within this community on the need for broadening the scope, addressing multiple decision contexts and mainstreaming national ecosystem accounting in national planning. The most important sources of divergence in this community of practice are attributed to ethical positions regarding monetization of ecosystem services, differences in the interpretation of several core concepts, such as biodiversity and ecosystem services, and the role of spatial analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological economists currently face an important opportunity to influence national policies and global awareness regarding ecosystems. Ecosystem services (ES) frameworks, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the System of Environmental Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA) will influence how national measurement systems integrate the value of ecosystems and their services into national planning and monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Decision-makers are, however, faced with an embarrassment of riches. There is a multitude of ES frameworks, but no formal and integrative evaluation of the entire set exists. We review the IPBES, the SEEA EEA and 14 other ES frameworks using criteria designed to address operational and convergence considerations for national ecosystem accounting. While the frameworks reviewed incorporate many strengths, none fulfils all the criteria of a comprehensive national ecosystem accounting framework. We conclude with suggestions for conceptual, measurement and process developments to broaden the appeal, utility and acceptance of future frameworks. Considering these suggestions could substantially contribute to the development of ecosystem accounting frameworks that foster a constructive dialogue amongst the many disciplines, national contexts and viewpoints involved in understanding, measuring and making decisions about ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We chart the moral space of Earth measurement with the aim to develop practical tools to evaluate and improve Earth measurement frameworks (including environmental-economic accounting and ecosystem services). Based on a survey of environmental ethics, we develop four concepts that are fundamentally important to fostering agreement in debates over Earth measurement frameworks among stakeholders with diverging belief systems. The four concepts can thus be used as criteria to evaluate the completeness and defensibility of existing measurement frameworks. The first two concepts, the consideration of broad human values and long time frames follow the landmark work by Bryan Norton. We further propose the adoption of the capital approach and precaution as the third and fourth concept, respectively. We conclude with suggestions for how current frameworks could be rendered more complete, defensible and internationally acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual article focuses on the environmental dimensions of sustainable development which are essential for satisfying current and future human needs. It assesses ecological economics (EE) as an alternative base for a “strong” version of sustainable entrepreneurship (SE). EE recognizes the biophysical base of economic activity, critical natural capital (non-substitutability) and limits to market valuation and exchange. Contemporary entrepreneurial definitions, however, as well as recent SE framings, pre-suppose that functioning markets will achieve sustainable development. As discussed in this paper, natural processes are non-linear and critical, and as thresholds are impossible to anticipate, markets are unreliable and principally at odds with the objectives of sustainable development. Our proposed alternative constitutes a way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When assessing the sustainability of a particular technology, a number of environmental, economic, and social indicators need to be taken into account. The aim of this paper is to analyze the underlying rationales for the prioritization of all these indicators i.e. the rationale for an integrated sustainability assessment. For this purpose, different alternative paradigms of sustainability are briefly discussed, with the focus on the concepts of weak and strong sustainability , which define a spectrum of views on the possibility to replace environmental capital with human-made capital. We conclude that there is a sound case for the strong sustainability paradigm and we argue that this conclusion has deep implications for the decision-making processes. Firstly, because it implies that a set of thresholds for a number of environmental indicators would need to be agreed upon. Secondly, because it implies that environmental impacts would no longer be ‘tradable’ for socio-economic benefits, when they are expected to go beyond the agreed threshold. We suggest that non-compensatory decision-making tools will need to be considered at some point in the process in order to account for the non-substitutability of critical environmental services. Using the concept of ‘planetary boundaries’ proposed by Rockström et al. we discuss how such information could be put into practice in decision-making. We suggest that the concept of planetary boundaries can provide both a preliminary basis for the prioritization of environmental impacts and a preliminary supporting argument for the definition of environmental thresholds that enable the use of non-compensatory decision-making approaches. Further work in this area is urgently required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an attempt to conceptually improve the notion of strong sustainability by creating a rapprochement between its core concept, critical natural capital, and the capability approach. We first demonstrate that the capability approach constitutes a relevant framework for analysing the multiple links between human well-being and critical natural capital. Second, we demonstrate that the rapprochement between critical natural capital and the capability approach can form both the normative basis and the informational basis for a deliberative approach to human development which embraces a strong sustainability perspective. This conceptual rapprochement, as illustrated in our case study, opens up avenues of research towards the practical implementation of human development projects from a strong sustainability perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to address three major shortcomings of Sen's capability approach with regard to sustainability: (i) First, the weakness of the ecological dimension of the capability framework. This can be overcome by devising a place where it is possible to relate the intrinsic and instrumental values of Nature; (ii) Second, the issue of responsibility, which is only considered from a consequentialist viewpoint by Sen (i.e. ex-post responsibility). Such a restrictive view can be extended by adding the ex-ante dimension of responsibility; (iii) Third, the relationship between the individual and collective levels. This can be overcome by introducing the idea of collective agency. Overcoming these limitations makes it possible to fully integrate the ecological dimension into an extended vision of the capability approach which makes it consistent with strong sustainability, and which leads to a new definition of the agent as a responsible person acting so as to generate sustainable human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical natural capital is the one that accomplishes environmental functions that are not functionally replaceable by other environmental elements or by other capitals. The criticality degree can be related to ecological and socio-cultural criteria, and also to the threat degree brought to anthropic pressures. This approach implies the acknowledgement of biodiversity. The article introduces the Critical natural capital and complexity concepts, associated to the habitat functions (related to the provision of natural ecosystems, shelter places and wild organisms' reproduction) as components of the environmental management for a sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The maintenance of critical natural capital is an important objective of sustainable development. Critical natural capital represents a multidimensional concept, as it mirrors the different frameworks of various scientific disciplines and social groups in valuing nature. This article revisits the concept of critical natural capital and examines its relation to the concept of ecological resilience. I propose that ecological resilience can help a great deal in specifying the ‘ecological criticality’ of specific renewable parts of the natural capital. More specifically, I suggest that the degree of ecological resilience is inversely related to the degree of threat ecosystems are prone to. The concept of ecological resilience may complement other measures, such as integrity or vulnerability, in estimating the degree of threat specific ecosystems are exposed to. The empirical estimates of ecological resilience add a further criterion in order to build a comprehensive and clear conception of critical natural capital. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Until recent decades, economic decision makers have largely ignored the nonmarket benefits provided by nature, resulting in unprecedented threats to ecological life-support functions. The economic challenge today is to decide how much ecosystem structure can be converted to economic production and how much must be conserved to provide essential ecosystem services. Many economists and a growing number of life scientists hope to address this challenge by estimating the marginal value of environmental benefits and then using this information to make economic decisions. I assessed this approach first by examining the role and effectiveness of the price mechanism in a well-functioning market economy, second by identifying the issues that prevent markets from pricing many ecological benefits, and third by focusing on problems inherent to valuing services generated by complex and poorly understood ecosystems subject to irreversible change. I then focus on critical natural capital (CNC), which generates benefits that are essential to human welfare and have few if any substitutes. When imminent ecological thresholds threaten CNC, conservation is essential and marginal valuation becomes inappropriate. Once conservation needs have been met, remaining ecosystem structure is potentially available for economic production. Demand for this available supply will determine prices. In other words, conservation needs should be price determining, not price determined. Conservation science must help identify CNC and the quantity and quality of ecosystem structure required to ensure its sustained provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a conceptual review of the term "sustainable development", bearing in mind its current applicability to social matters and public decision-making. Taking the well-known definition of sustainable development coined by the Brundtland Commission over twenty years ago, we consider the consequences of adopting weak and strong sustainability criteria for continued development and the importance of conserving so-called critical natural capital. We also examine the relationship between sustainable development and equity. We then present a concept of development that integrates the three areas of economic, social and environmental sustainability. Finally, we discuss the main forces that currently surround the problem of achieving sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operational designing of Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development (ESED) emerges as an urgent and demanding task. Even though ESED has paved the way for thought-provoking and constructive scientific dialogue, appeal for designing an operational ESED is still lagging behind the needs of contemporary societies, leaving much to be desired. With this in mind, the present paper will aim at delineating principles for the operational application of ESED. First, the preservation of crucial properties of environmental functions and ecosystems, emerges as a prime condition of ESED. The second condition concerns the provision of the economic process with sufficient natural inputs; in this context, the paper intends to trace certain operational tenets governing the use of natural resources. Finally, the appropriate institutional settings for the operational design of ESED are traced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines critically the concept of value which emerged within modern economic theory and which is still the main basis for value theories in environmental and most strands of ecological economics. Building upon modern complex dynamic systems theory, the author highlights the relational and emergent characteristics of value—stressing that the economic and ecological value of a given good has to be assessed within its particular spatiotemporal context. This analysis presents some of the inherent weaknesses of conventional value theories and the problems which arise from free-market based regulation of economic processes. These problems, it is suggested, may be overcome by what is termed post-normal value theory introduced at the end of the article. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While acknowledging the absence of a single definition or theory of sustainability, this paper argues that a discussion of sustainability which refers only to definitions is pointless without an understanding of how the definitions are operationalised. In this context, the paper considers the operationalisation of strong sustainability. The definitions and operationalisation of strong sustainability most closely associated with (i) neoclassical environmental economics and (ii) ecological economics are discussed and compared. This analysis raises questions about the extent to which ecological economics has been able to influence real-world decisions and policy. The paper ends by considering whether the economic and political power structure taken as given by ecological economics is compatible with its policy perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of renewable resource models (some of them just recently published, e.g. about shallow lakes) refer to ‘convexities’ (with respect to the resource stock) as the source for multiple steady states and associated thresholds. This short paper draws attention to the fact that multiple steady states and thresholds are possible in well-behaved (i.e. concave) models too. The ecological consequence is that renewable resource management is sensitive to initial conditions in more cases than so far suggested in the literature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Critical natural capital (CNC) is commonly defined as that part of the natural environment, which performs important and irreplaceable functions. So far, the challenge to determine the criticality of natural capital (NC) has mainly been taken up by the natural sciences, and the critical functions of nature mainly associated with its life-support and ecological services. Little attention has been paid to the socio-cultural functions of NC and to their values for the health and well being of human societies. The aim of this paper is to encourage a more complete accounting of the critical functions of NC and its associated values, by highlighting the importance of the information functions (health, recreation, amenity, education, heritage, etc.) for the quality and sustainability of human life. It is argued that, despite their immaterial and often intangible nature, these functions provide many, socio–economic benefits, which might be assessed through both qualitative and quantitative valuation methodologies. Integration of ecology, sociology and economics is essential to operationalize the concept of CNC as a tool for more balanced environmental planning and decision making. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper sets out an illustrative application to the UK of a new framework for identifying critical natural capital (CNC). This involves classifying the characteristics of natural capital and the environmental functions to which it gives rise, and then defining standards of environmental sustainability for these functions. The framework then relates these functions to the economic system, through physical input–output tables, in order to identify the pressures on the functions and hence the extent to which the functions are not being maintained at a sustainable level. The framework is worked though in some detail for water, with less detailed application of it to air, land and habitats. The methodology can be used to identify areas of environmental unsustainability and the processes to which this unsustainability is due, so that policies to more towards sustainability may be more easily identified. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An important issue in the debate about the use and conservation of natural ecosystems is the degree to which these ecosystems and their functions should be considered ‘critical’. This paper presents some guidelines to determine the criticality of natural capital, based on two main criteria. The first criterion is the ‘importance’ of natural ecosystems (ecological, socio-cultural and economic) and the second is the degree of ‘threat’ based on the quantity and quality of the (remaining) natural areas in a given region. It is argued that the two criteria are complementary and need to be taken into account simultaneously when determining the criticality of natural capital. Finally, the paper presents and discusses some possibilities for the development of a (critical) natural capital index for Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper develops a methodology for identifying that natural capital—called critical natural capital (CNC)—the maintenance of which is essential for environmental sustainability. By consideration of the characteristics of natural capital, of the environmental functions that these characteristics enable natural capital to perform and of the importance of these functions to humans and the biosphere, it shows how sustainability standards in respect of these environmental functions may be derived. The difference between the current situation and these standards is termed the sustainability gap. The methodology that emerges from bringing these ideas together into a single analytical framework enables policy makers to identify the extent of current unsustainability, the principal causes of it, the elements and processes of natural capital (the CNC) which need to be maintained or restored to close the sustainability gap and the costs of so doing. The framework should therefore be of use in identifying priorities and policies for moving towards environmental sustainability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Complex dynamic ecosystems are important natural capital assets. We investigate how Swedish national policy has approached these assets in its work on environmental indicators. In particular, we are interested in whether or not the indicators address ecosystem performance. We discuss our inventory of Swedish indicators in the context of ecosystem services, such as source and sink functions, and the capacity of ecosystems to sustain these functions for human well-being. We find that effective indicators have been developed to reflect energy and material flows within society and how human activities put pressure on the environment. The part of natural capital that concerns living systems is reflected in several of the Swedish indicators in a progressive fashion, but indicators that capture the dynamic capacity of ecosystems in sustaining the flow of source and sink functions need to be further developed. We provide examples of recent developments that have started to address such indicators in the context of ecosystem resilience and environmental change, and discuss directions for their further development. We stress the importance of monitoring ecosystem resilience and performance to avoid undesirable state shifts and building ecological knowledge and understanding of this capacity into environmental indicators and their associated management institutions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper appraises the integrity of France's patrimoine naturel as carrier of collective cultural meanings and as biophysical life support infrastructure. First we situate philosophically the French patrimoine naturel concept with its connotations of cultural heritage or transmission, in relation to the ‘strong sustainability’ precept of maintaining key environmental functions as critical natural capital (CNC). The main results are then presented of a recent survey by the French Institut Franc¸ais pour l'Environnement (IFEN) exploring perceptions of natural capital—and its criticalness—for the French society and economy. Building on the IFEN survey base, a qualitative analysis highlights France's natural capital as a life support infrastructure vulnerable to breakdown or contamination through pollution, accidents and the production of wastes. Ecosystem contamination is, moreover, closely associated with defilement of food—dioxin in chickens, mistrust of GMOs in agriculture and food, and the vache folle—mad cow disease. The ‘sink’ function of natural capital is thus in conflict with the culturally determined ‘site’ and ‘scenery’ functions. To conclude, we discuss (very briefly) some features of the French political culture that bear on prospects for a successful sustainable development strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One of the major challenges in the 21st century is the promotion of the development of human society while simultaneously safeguarding the resilience of the natural capital. To achieve this, the key lies in quantifying the pressures human activities exert on the natural capital at different scales. Furthermore, the extent to which these pressures maintain or threaten the natural capital threshold also needs to be identified, as this is the prerequisite for sustainable actions. This is particularly important for critical natural capital that provides vital ecosystem services, e.g., water resources. This study investigates Qinghai Province and its cities (prefecture-level administrative divisions), known as "China's Water Tower". The blue water footprint was systematically integrated with the freshwater use indicator of planetary boundaries framework to characterize the sustainability of the freshwater use in the study area from 2005 to 2017. Moreover, the main driving factors were analyzed, and targeted policies are proposed. The findings showed that: (1) The consumption of water resources in Qinghai Province first peaked in 2011, and then followed an increasing trend over the following years. The water resources were mainly consumed by agricultural irrigation, and the internal water resources consumption among cities was mainly concentrated in Xining and Haidong. (2) The use of water resources in Qinghai Province and its cities was sustainable, with the exception of both Xining and Haidong, where the use of water resources was in a high-risk state. (3) The growth of the consumption of water resources in Qinghai Province was mainly driven by the per capita GDP (486.37%), followed by population size (40.13%), and water footprint structure (0.14%). Water use efficiency (−426.64%) was a decisive factor that slowed down the growth of the consumption of water resources. Similar to the overall situation in Qinghai Province, the positive and inhibitory factors for the growth of the consumption of water resources in Xining and Haidong were mainly per capita GDP and water use efficiency, respectively. Qinghai Province, and Xining and Haidong in particular, should focus on reducing the intensity and improving the efficiency of its water use in the future. • Calculated blue water footprint in Qinghai Province and its cities from 2005 to 2017. •Water resources consumption in Xining and Haidong is unsustainable. •Per capita GDP and water use efficiency mainly affect the changes in water consumption in Qinghai Province. •Methodology helps determine the strength of policies based on global water sustainability targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Special section entitled “Disciplinary Perspectives and Critical aspects on Strong Sustainability in Social Sciences and Humanities". It asks about the theoretical significance of the notion of strong sustainability in the fields of economics, philosophy and political science. This introduction aims at presenting the theoretical debates on this notion and to draw a brief overview of its anchoring and influence in social sciences and humanities. It highlights some of the strengths and limits of this notion, since the accentuation and acceleration of global environmental disturbances, question the capacity of social sciences and humanities to study the economic, social and political consequences of the finiteness of nature. Scientific works mobilizing strong sustainability have also focused on solutions to get out of this situation.