Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Hard-hitting recommendations for what must be done to manage global natural capital and reverse environmental destruction



Natural capital is what nature provides to us for free. Renewables--like species--keep on coming, provided we do not drive them towards extinction. Non-renewables--like oil and gas--can only be used once. Together, they are the foundation that ensures our survival and well-being, and the basis of all economic activity. In the face of the global, local, and national destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems, economist Dieter Helm here offers a crucial set of strategies for establishing natural capital policy that is balanced, economically sustainable, and politically viable.



Helm shows why the commonly held view that environmental protection poses obstacles to economic progress is false, and he explains why the environment must be at the very core of economic planning. He presents the first real attempt to calibrate, measure, and value natural capital from an economic perspective and goes on to outline a stable new framework for sustainable growth. Bristling with ideas of immediate global relevance, Helm's book shifts the parameters of current environmental debate. As inspiring as his trailblazing The Carbon Crunch , this volume will be essential reading for anyone concerned with reversing the headlong destruction of our environment.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface and Acknowledgements (p. vi)
• List of Abbreviations (p. xi)
• Introduction: Taking Natural Capital Seriously (p. 1)
• Part 1 What Is Sustainable Growth?
• 1 Facing up to the Challenges (p. 19)
• 2 Sustaining Economic Growth (p. 37)
• 3 Denning the Aggregate Natural Capital Rule (p. 55)
• Part 2 How Can Natural Capital Be Measured?
• 4 Accounting for Natural Capital (p. 79)
• 5 Measuring Natural Capital (p. 97)
• 6 Pricing and Valuing Natural Capital (p. 116)
• Part 3 What Needs to Be Done?
• 7 Compensating for Damage (p. 139)
• 8 Taxing Pollution (p. 160)
• 9 Protecting the Commons (p. 179)
• Part 4 How Can It Be Done?
• 10 The Prize: Restoring Natural Capital (p. 201)
• 11 Finance: Paying for Natural Capital (p. 220)
• 12 Conclusion (p. 240)
• Notes (p. 248)
• Bibliography (p. 260)
• Index (p. 266)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Most accessible books on environmental policy disregard--if not disparage--how economics can help people understand and address environmental problems. This volume is an excellent exception. Helm (Univ. of Oxford) cares profoundly about the environment, but he also considers economics, along with science and politics, to understand why the environment is inadequately protected and how economic instruments--pollution taxes, marketable permits, and liability for damages--can mitigate environmental harms. The book is multidisciplinary, describing threats to sustainability of "natural capital" and why its value is not captured in usual economic measures, such as GDP. An economist (this reviewer confesses) can quibble about some definitions or shortcomings in the argument. Those issues are small, however, compared to the value of the clarity Helm brings regarding the need to come up with some measure of economic price in order to give a sense of what most needs fixing when not everything can be fixed. Although it is doubtful that his "aggregate natural capital rule" avoids having to invoke explicit intergenerational comparisons of utility, as he claims, a virtue of Helm's book is that readers will glean useful insights from his methods to assess his prescriptions. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. --Tim Brennan, University of Maryland, Baltimore County