Ecological sustainability indicators

Behrens A (2004) Environmental policy instruments for dematerialisation of the European Union. SERI Background Papers, No 7. Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Vienna EUROSTAT (2001) Economy-wide material flow accounts and derived indicators. A methodological guide. Statistical Office of the European Union, Luxembourg Giljum S (2006) Material flow-based indicators for evaluation of eco-efficiency and dematerialisation policies. In Lawn P (ed) Sustainability indicators in Ecological Economics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham... 

Pannell, D.J. and Glenn, N.A. 2000. A framework for the economic evaluation and selection of sustainability indicators in agriculture. Ecological Economics 33(1) 135-149. 

Moser A. Ecotechnology in industrial practice implementation using sustainability indices and case studies. Ecological Eng 1996 7 117-138. 

Wiedmann, T., Barrett, J., 2010. A review of the ecological footprint indicator— perceptions and methods. Sustainability 2, 1645—1693. http //dx.doi.org/10.3390/su2061645. 

From a mathematical point of view, the onset of sustained oscillations generally corresponds to the passage through a Hopf bifurcation point [19] For a critical value of a control parameter, the steady state becomes unstable as a focus. Before the bifurcation point, the system displays damped oscillations and eventually reaches the steady state, which is a stable focus. Beyond the bifurcation point, a stable solution arises in the form of a small-amplitude limit cycle surrounding the unstable steady state [15, 17]. By reason of their stability or regularity, most biological rhythms correspond to oscillations of the limit cycle type rather than to Lotka-Volterra oscillations. Such is the case for the periodic phenomena in biochemical and cellular systems discussed in this chapter. The phase plane analysis of two-variable models indicates that the oscillatory dynamics of neurons also corresponds to the evolution toward a limit cycle [20]. A similar evolution is predicted [21] by models for predator-prey interactions in ecology. 

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization [39-41] and Ausubel and Sladovich [4] emphasize the importance of cleaner production, pollution prevention, waste minimization, sustainable development, zero emission, materials substimtion, dematerialization, decarbonization, functional economic analysis, and IE indicators. These ways and means for analysis and design of industrial ecology are described separately herein. 

C. Azar, J. Holmberg and K. Lindgren, Socio-Ecological Indicators for Sustainability, Ecological Economics, 18, 89-112 (1995). 

N. Chambers, C. Simmons and M. Wackernagel, Sharing Nature s Interest. Ecological Footprints as an Indicator of Sustainability, London, Sterling, VA, Earthscan, 2000. 

The ecological footprint (EF) is oneofthe most widely used indicators of sustainability. It is a measure of human demand on the Earth s ecosystems and compares human demand with planet Earth s ecological capacity to regenerate it. It represents the... 

The value of EF as indicator also for chemical production lies in the explicit indication that the ecosystem has a value equivalent to its ecological yield valued as it would be on commodity markets for the value of water, wood, fish or game that is purified or nurseried or generated or harbored in that ecosystem. Thus, a price can be put on the natural capital of an ecosystem based on the price of natural resources it yields each year. Therefore, EF provides the basis to estimate the ecological cost of production of a chemical that should be added to the industrial cost to develop an intrinsic cost that considers not only the product itself but also how it is produced. In Chapter 1 the need for a new model of global economy, which includes sustainability and ecosystem valuation in the value of goods, has already been discussed. 

Chambers, N., Simmons, C., Wackemagel, M., 2000. Sharing Namre s Interests. Ecological Footprints as an Indicator of Sustainability. Earthscan, London and Sterling. 

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