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After a period of relative silence, recent years have been marked by an upswing of interest in environmental issues. The publication of the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development on 'Our Common Future' (1987) has acted as a catalyst for a revival of the environmental awareness, not only regarding local and daily pollution problems, but also -and in particular- regarding global environmental decay and threats to a sustainable development. In a recent study by W.M. Stigliani et al., on 'Future Environments for Europe' (Executive Rep~rt 15, IIASA, Laxenburg, 1989) the environmental implications of various alternative socioeconomic development pathways with respect to eleven environmental issues that could become major problems in the future are analysed. These issues include: Managing water resources in an era of climate change. Acidification of soils and lakes in Europe. Long-term forestry management and the possibility of a future shortfall in wood supply. Areas of Europe marginalized by mainstream economic and agricultural development. Sea level rise. Chemical pollution of coastal waters. Toxic materials buildup and the potential for chemical time bombs. Non-point-source emissions of potentially toxic substances. Transportation growth versus air quality. Decreasing multi-functionally of land owing to urban and suburban land development. Increasing summer demand for electricity, and the impact on air quality.
List of contents
1. The Challenge of Sustainable Development.- 2. 'Our Common Future', Sustaining the Momentum.- 3. Ecological Sustainability and Economic Development.- 4. Towards Sustainable Development: an Environmental Perspective.- 5. Steady-State and Growth Concepts for the Next Century.- 6. Externalities: Economics & Thermodynamics.- 7. Ecological Modernization of Industrial Society Three Strategic Elements.- 8. Economics versus Ecology.- 9. An Assessment of Environmental Progress: the Reason for Failure.- 10. Comprehensive Social Assessment: an Essential Instrument for Environmental Policy-Making.- 11. Environmental Quality in a New System of Social Accounts.- 12. Multicriteria Analysis: a Decision Support System for Sustainable Environmental Management.- 13. Social Cost Benefit Analysis and Soil Erosion.- 14. Environmental Policy in Relation to Territorial Distribution and Productive Activities.- 15. Physical Planning and Environmental Protection in the Long Term.- 16. Four Important Changes in the American Approach to Environmental Regulation.- 17. Economic Growth and Environmental Change in Japan; Net National Welfare Beyond.- 18. Comparative Analysis of Environmental Policies.
About the author
Peter Nijkamp is Professor in Regional and Urban Economics and in Economic Geography at the VU University, Amsterdam. His main research interests cover quantitative plan evaluation, regional and urban modelling, multicriteria analysis, transport systems analysis, mathematical systems modelling, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, environmental and resource management, and sustainable development. In the past years he has focussed his research in particular on new quantitative methods for policy analysis, as well as on spatial-behavioural analysis of economic agents. He has a broad expertise in the area of public policy, services planning, infrastructure management and environmental protection. In all these fields he has published many books and numerous articles.§In 1996, he was awarded the most prestigious scientific prize in the Netherlands, the Spinoza award.
Report
.`This book is well-designed and laid out and will serve well any reader who wants to come up to speed on this issue area. ... includes outstanding bibliographic material ... Many ideas will come to readers, making the heuristic value of the collection one of its major assets. ... it is a timely and a valuable piece that is worth reading to understanding the multiple goals we face as we go into the second environmental decade.'
Water Resources Bulletin, 26:3
