Integrated ecological and economic model

New approaches using integrated ecological and economic modeling are providing new tools for adaptive management of estuaries (Constanza and Voinov, 2000). For example,... 

Costanza, R., Voinov, A., Boumans, R., Maxwell, T., ViUa, F., Wainger, L., and Voinov, H. (2002). Integrated ecological economic modeling of the Patuxent River watershed, Maryland. Ecol. Monogr. 12i2), 203—231. 

Eco-efficiency analysis can be expanded to include an assessment of the social dimension of the sustainabUity-analysis (SEEbalance methodology) [24]. In this way, it is possible to obtain an integrated assessment of economic, ecological and social aspects of products and processes, and introduce the ecotoxicity evaluation model as a standard tool to the environmental dimension of the analysis. 

Constructive prospects to solution of this problem are connected with the development and application of complex models to evaluate possible changes in climate and socio-economic development. Parson and Fisher-Vanden (1997,1999) and Dess-ler and Parson (2005) prepared a detailed overview of the methods and results of numerical modeling of global climate changes with the dynamics of socio-economic processes taken into account, in which basic aspects of so-called integrated assessments (IAs) were discussed. The main goal of such developments is substantiation of recommendations for decision-makers in the sphere of ecological policy. 

Figure 8.4 The integrated economic—ecological model. This figure depicts the compartment model, which is comprised of piants (P,), which are the primary producers, herbivores (H/), carnivores (C,), human households (HH), and a resource pool and inaccessible resource pool (RP, IRP). The arrows represent the mass flows from one compartment (origination) to another compartment (termination), and all living compartments have an implied flow back to the resource pool that represents death. IS is the industrial sector, whereas EP and ES are the energy producers and the energy source compartment, respectively [14].

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