Shrink and share: humanity's present and future Ecological Footprint

Sustainability is the possibility of all people living rewarding lives within the means of nature. Despite ample recognition of the importance of achieving sustainable development, exemplified by the Rio Declaration of 1992 and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the global economy fails to meet the most fundamental minimum condition for sustainability—that human demand for ecosystem goods and services remains within the biosphere's total capacity. In 2002, humanity operated in a state of overshoot, demanding over 20% more biological capacity than the Earth's ecosystems could regenerate in that year. Using the Ecological Footprint as an accounting tool, we propose and discuss three possible global scenarios for the future of human demand and ecosystem supply. Bringing humanity out of overshoot and onto a potentially sustainable path will require managing the consumption of food, fibre and energy, and maintaining or increasing the productivity of natural and agricultural ecosystems.

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Funding the Millennium Development Goals: A Challenge for Global Public Finance

European Review ◽

10.1017/s106279870600055x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 555-564 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

A. B. ATKINSON

Keyword(s):

Public Finance ◽

Developing Countries ◽

Millennium Development Goals ◽

Global Economy ◽

New Methods ◽

Political Challenge ◽

Development Goals ◽

Effective Use ◽

Intellectual Challenge

The UN commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 poses a major challenge. It is, first and foremost, a political challenge to wealthy countries, to provide the necessary transfer of resources, and to developing countries, to make effective use of these transfers. But it is also an intellectual challenge, to economists and other scientists, to better understand the processes by which the MDGs can be achieved. This article focuses on two aspects. On the substantive side, it examines how we can achieve increased funding for development, particularly via new methods of finance, such as global taxes. On the intellectual side, it describes how a new branch of economics is developing – global public finance – that can contribute to the analysis of new sources of funding for the MDGs and of the working of the global economy.

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MAKING WISHFUL THINKING A REALITY - FROM SDGS TO COP21

Ambiente & sociedade ◽

10.1590/1809-4422asocex0003v1942016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 197-214 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

JOÃO GUERRA ◽

◽

LUÍSA SCHMIDT ◽

Keyword(s):

Global Economy ◽

Ecological Footprint ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Wishful Thinking ◽

Future Generations ◽

Effective Change ◽

Alternative Action ◽

Development Goals ◽

Change Impact ◽

Global Agenda

Abstract The drive to economic growth has persisted in contemporary societies, despite its effects on the very foundations of the global economy, whereas the discourse of sustainability has not surpassed the level of "wishful thinking". The evolution of the global ecological footprint, which underlines climate change impact, points to a narrow path in the reconciliation of social and environmental imperatives for present and future generations and to a redoubled need for social and environmental equity. Within an approach that postulates a stronger connection between discourse and practice, both Sustainable Development Goals and COP21 Paris Agreement strengthen the strategy of universal involvement and commitment, recognizing the meagre nature of results obtained so far, and demanding alternative action for effective change regarding a new and strategic global agenda. This article reflects on this universal desideratum which requires redoubled attention to the decline - and also recovery - of environmental and social conditions.

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China’s Regional Policy, Poverty and the Ethnic Question

The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies ◽

10.22439/cjas.v26i2.1895 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 26-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh

Keyword(s):

Poverty Alleviation ◽

Millennium Development Goals ◽

Regional Policy ◽

Population Distribution ◽

Rural Poverty ◽

Goods And Services ◽

Historical Factors ◽

Development Goals ◽

Minority Policies

While China’s reforms have been successful in giving many people higher incomes and producing more goods and services, they also led to increasingly acute inequality in income and wealth among the populace. From one of the world’s most egalitarian societies in the 1970s, today China has turned into one of the most unequal countries in the region and even among developing countries in general. While China’s alleviation of poverty has been nothing less than remarkable and seems to have greatly exceeded Target 1 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), yet ‘Impoverished China’ was still observed to be among the 10 largest ‘countries’ in the world. Furthermore, as the geographical correlation of ethnic minority distribution and poverty population distribution is unmistakable, reflecting the composite phenomenon made up of rural poverty, regional poverty and ethnic poverty, ethnoregionalization of poverty may present China not only with economic challenges but also long-term sociopolitical uncertainties. While the issue of poverty in China has a strong regional dimension, the size of China both demographically and geographically has led to the fact that her regional policy is always overshadowed by a host of complex interlinked socioeconomic, political, ethnic, territorial and historical factors. This paper analyzes the issue of poverty in China as a multi-faceted phenomenon, sees poverty alleviation as inevitably linked to the country’s regional and minority policies, and as such, argues for a stronger emphasis on the elements of decentralization and localization.

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Population, Ecological Footprint and the Sustainable Development Goals

Environmental and Resource Economics ◽

10.1007/s10640-021-00595-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Partha Dasgupta ◽

Aisha Dasgupta ◽

Scott Barrett

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Ecological Footprint ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Global Perspective ◽

Living Standard ◽

World Population ◽

Goods And Services ◽

Development Goals ◽

High Level

AbstractThe Anthropocene can be read as being the era when the demand humanity makes on the biosphere’s goods and services—humanity’s ‘ecological footprint’—vastly exceeds its ability to supply it on a sustainable basis. Because the ‘ecological’ gap is met by a diminution of the biosphere, the inequality is increasing. We deploy estimates of the ecological gap, global GDP and its growth rates in recent years, and the rate at which natural capital has declined, to study three questions: (1) at what rate must efficiency at which Nature’s services are converted into GDP rise if the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for year 2030 are to be sustainable; (2) what would a sustainable figure for world population be if global living standard is to be maintained at an acceptably high level? (3) What living standard could we aspire to if world population was to attain the UN’s near lower-end projection for 2100 of 9 billion? While we take a global perspective, the reasoning we deploy may also be applied on a smaller scale. The base year we adopt for our computations is the pre-pandemic 2019.

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Crafting Trade and Investment Accords for Sustainable Development

10.1093/oso/9780198831341.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

International Law ◽

Global Economy ◽

Bilateral Trade ◽

World Trade Organisation ◽

Goods And Services ◽

Award Winning ◽

Development Goals ◽

Social Environmental ◽

Trade And Investment

International law guides globalization and the future of the world economy, affecting all people and our planet. Rules governing trade and investment could continue to be represented only by Hermes, the Greek god of thieves and commerce, or also draw inspiration from Athena, representing justice, wisdom and craftsmanship. This volume explores how economic treaties could be better crafted to foster—rather than frustrate—sustainable development. It explains how leading actors identify potential social and environmental impacts of shifting capital, goods and services, and pilot new economic instruments to enhance sustainability. Based on a review of World Trade Organisation (WTO) debates and over 110 other economic accords, the volume highlights innovative measures adopted by States from a selection of regional and bilateral trade and investment accords, exploring their implications for a new generation of economic agreements, including the United Kingdom’s next steps and the proposed Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS). The author, an award-winning expert jurist and renowned professor of international law, examines how sustainability and justice commitments can be operationalized in treaty texts themselves, steering vital trade, investment and finance towards the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopting a ground-breaking, inter-actional and systematic approach, with examples spanning several decades of experimentation and experience, she proposes carefully crafting of legal principles and rules to contribute to sustainability. By integrating social, environmental and economic priorities, she argues, States and stakeholders can weave new rules for our common future, towards a more inclusive, greener global economy.

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Report of the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on the IMF's Policy Agenda

Policy Papers ◽

10.5089/9781498330978.007 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 2005 (74) ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Financial Crises ◽

Millennium Development Goals ◽

Regional Differences ◽

Global Economy ◽

Oil Prices ◽

Policy Agenda ◽

Doha Round ◽

Concerted Action ◽

Development Goals ◽

Decisive Action

This report provides an update on the work and direction of the Fund since the 2005 Spring Meetings. Since that time, the global economy has enjoyed strong growth--albeit with significant regional differences--and an absence of major financial crises, even though growing imbalances and rising oil prices have clouded the outlook. Although some steps the Fund has been advocating for some time have been taken--for example, increased flexibility in exchange rate regimes in Asia—decisive action to reduce global imbalances has remained elusive. At the same time, progress toward the Millennium Development Goals MDGs) remains slow and uneven,1 highlighting the need for concerted action by all countries. Further impetus is also urgently needed to move the Doha Round of trade negotiations toward an ambitious conclusion.

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