Raimund Bleischwitz - Böcker

In recent years the concept of the resource "nexus" has been both hotly debated and widely adopted in research and policy circles. It is a powerful new way to understand and better govern the myriad complex relationships between multiple resources, actors and their security concerns. Particular attention has been paid to water, energy and food interactions, but land and materials emerge as critical too. This comprehensive handbook presents a detailed review of current knowledge about resource nexus-related frameworks, methods and governance, including a broad set of inter-disciplinary perspectives. Written by an international group of scholars and practitioners, the volume focuses on rigorous research, including tools, methods and modelling approaches to analyse resource use patterns across societies and scales from a "nexus perspective". It also provides numerous examples from political economy to demonstrate how resource nexus frameworks can illuminate issues such as land grabs, mining, renewable energy and the growing importance of economies such as China, as well as to propose lessons and outlooks for sound governance. The volume seeks to serve as an essential reference text, source book and state-of-the-art, science-based assessment of this increasingly important topic – the resource nexus – and its utility in efforts to enhance sustainability of many kinds and implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in an era of environmental and geopolitical change.

In recent years the concept of the resource "nexus" has been both hotly debated and widely adopted in research and policy circles. It is a powerful new way to understand and better govern the myriad complex relationships between multiple resources, actors and their security concerns. Particular attention has been paid to water, energy and food interactions, but land and materials emerge as critical too. This comprehensive handbook presents a detailed review of current knowledge about resource nexus-related frameworks, methods and governance, including a broad set of inter-disciplinary perspectives. Written by an international group of scholars and practitioners, the volume focuses on rigorous research, including tools, methods and modelling approaches to analyse resource use patterns across societies and scales from a "nexus perspective". It also provides numerous examples from political economy to demonstrate how resource nexus frameworks can illuminate issues such as land grabs, mining, renewable energy and the growing importance of economies such as China, as well as to propose lessons and outlooks for sound governance. The volume seeks to serve as an essential reference text, source book and state-of-the-art, science-based assessment of this increasingly important topic – the resource nexus – and its utility in efforts to enhance sustainability of many kinds and implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in an era of environmental and geopolitical change.

In addition to environmental change, the structure and trends of global politics and the economy are also changing as more countries join the ranks of the world’s largest economies with their resource-intensive patterns. The nexus approach, conceptualized as attention to resource connections and their governance ramifications, calls attention to the sustainability of contemporary consumer resource use, lifestyles and supply chains. This book sets out an analytical framework for understanding these nexus issues and the related governance challenges and opportunities. It sheds light on the resource nexus in three realms: markets, interstate relations and local human security. These three realms are the organizing principle of three chapters, before the analysis turns to crosscutting case studies including shale gas, migration, lifestyle changes and resource efficiency, nitrogen fertilizer and food systems, water and the Nile Basin, climate change and security and defense spending. The key issues revolve around competition and conflict over finite natural resources. The authors highlight opportunities to improve both the understanding of nexus challenges and their governance. They critically discuss a global governance approach versus polycentric and multilevel approaches and the lack of those dimensions in many theories of international relations.

In addition to environmental change, the structure and trends of global politics and the economy are also changing as more countries join the ranks of the world’s largest economies with their resource-intensive patterns. The nexus approach, conceptualized as attention to resource connections and their governance ramifications, calls attention to the sustainability of contemporary consumer resource use, lifestyles and supply chains. This book sets out an analytical framework for understanding these nexus issues and the related governance challenges and opportunities. It sheds light on the resource nexus in three realms: markets, interstate relations and local human security. These three realms are the organizing principle of three chapters, before the analysis turns to crosscutting case studies including shale gas, migration, lifestyle changes and resource efficiency, nitrogen fertilizer and food systems, water and the Nile Basin, climate change and security and defense spending. The key issues revolve around competition and conflict over finite natural resources. The authors highlight opportunities to improve both the understanding of nexus challenges and their governance. They critically discuss a global governance approach versus polycentric and multilevel approaches and the lack of those dimensions in many theories of international relations.

This book considers the corporate governance of sustainability from a co-evolutionary perspective, exploring the linkages between pro-active approaches at the corporate level, market-based incentives and environmental networks.The contributors contend that governance for sustainable development has not yet been fully formulated, and requires further analysis in the context of policies, the role of the state and the inclusion of corporate and private actors. They question whether the governance of sustainable development goes beyond traditional, state-centred policy-making by aiming for proactive changes of private actors' behaviours at different levels. The discussion also encompasses relevant theory on corporate governance, competition, market failures and regulatory tools. An assessment methodology suitable for empirical network analysis at the meso-level is introduced, and its application is demonstrated using eight case studies. Raimund Bleischwitz and his team of contributing authors draw important conclusions for policy analysis and sustainability assessments and the actors involved. The book will therefore prove an invaluable resource for academics, scholars and policymakers focussing on applied sustainability research, policy analysis and evaluation.

Looking at material flows, industrial and societal metabolism and their implications for the economy, this book provides radical perspectives on how the global economy should use natural resources in intelligent ways that maximise well-being without destroying life-supporting ecosystems.

Written by international experts in their respective fields, Sustainable Growth and Resource Productivity provides a comprehensive overview of global issues of raw materials supply and resource use. It also introduces new views and perspectives on the sustainable growth of emerging economies and develops a rationale for a new resource economics.  This book emphasises why resources are back on the agenda: firstly, because of their fundamental economic role in technological progress and long-term prosperity; secondly, because deficits in raw material markets are now intertwined with deficits in the financial markets; and, thirdly, because the sustainable management of natural resources is a crucial element in responses to new global challenges such as climate change. Sustainable Growth and Resource Productivity analyses raw materials supply and resource use in a global context. The contributions present state-of-the-art results and perspectives on the availability of resources and discuss factors such as limited supply, demand from emerging and other economies and the critical shortage of some materials – particularly some metals – that are essential inputs in many high-tech processes and may put certain industries at risk. Sustainable Growth and Resource Productivity sheds new light on the economics of sustainable growth. Linking the current financial crisis with stock market pricing and innovation dynamics, it argues for reforms in international macro-economic policies. It also critically discusses the implications of valuing labour productivity over capital and resource productivity and argues that policies favouring capital productivity will increase both social and economic sustainability. Further contributions are made on the business dimensions of material efficiency as well as on policy recommendations.  The book examines the overall empirical trend towards decoupling resource use from economic growth. It undertakes a rigorous cross-country comparison and looks in more detail at the cases of Finland and Greece, as well as at emerging economies and their role in the global governance of natural resources. A key focus is placed on China, with discussion of recent findings regarding Chinese domestic policy on energy, climate and resources as well as on developing Chinese foreign policy in Africa.  The book concludes with the positing of a new theory of resource economics: an emerging sub-discipline that puts resources at its heart but clearly aligns with other fields of economics, and transcends the borderlines of geology, geography, material science, recycling and waste, as well as elements of other social sciences.  This important new book will be essential reading for economic researchers, governmental officials, businesses and NGOs with an interest in understanding the policy links to sustainable growth and in learning more about the emerging field of resource productivity.

Uber die Notwendigkeit einer Innovationsoffensive besteht weitgehende Einigkeit in Politik und Wirtschaft. Aber uber die Richtung besteht Unklarheit. Das Buch zeigt auf, dass eine zukunftsfahige Langfristdynamik fur Umwelt und Beschaftigung moglich ist. Allerdings muss das heutige Produktivitatsverstandnis uberwunden werden, das nahezu ausschliesslich den Faktor Arbeit rationalisiert und keinen geeigneten Zugang zur Produktivitat des Naturhaushalts enthalt. Der Autor begrundet die Einsicht in die Produktivitat der Natur und verbindet die Umweltokonomie mit Forschungsergebnissen uber die Mechanismen eines wirtschaftlichen, technischen und sozialen Wandels. Das Buch leistet somit einen wichtigen Beitrag zur okonomischen Neuausrichtung des technischen Fortschritts.

Deshalb haben sich die Umweltorganisationen Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) und die Organisation der Entwick­ lungszusammenarbeit MISEREOR zusammengetan und gemeinsam beim Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie die Studie Zukunftsfähiges Deutschland - ein Beitrag zu einer global nachhaltigen Entwicklung in Auf­ trag gegeben. Mit der Vorstellung der Forschungsergebnisse wollen die Auftraggeber nicht ein neu es "Modell Deutschland" propagieren. Es geht vielmehr darum, der Frage nachzugehen, wie das Leben in einem "Zukunfts­ fähigen Deutschland" aussehen könnte, wenn nachhaltige Entwicklung mehr sein soll als Bestandteil der Rhetorik internationaler Konferenzen und politischer Sonntagsreden. Die Studie vereint verschiedene Themenfelder: Es werden die Grenzen der ökologischen Belastbarkeit benannt, Umweltziele formuliert, Reduktions­ ziele errechnet und schließlich Wege aufgezeigt, wie diese Ziele erreichbar sind. Doch der Kern der Studie sind die Leitbilder. Sie umreißen Antworten auf grundlegende Fragen, die in der tagespolitischen Diskussion vergessen werden. Wie kann sich ein demokratisch verfaßter Industriestaat so verän­ dern, daß ökologische Grenzen eingehalten werden? Daß die Verhältnisse zwischen Nord und Süd gerechter werden? Welche politischen und wirt­ schaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen sind nötig? Die Studie macht deutlich: Ein "gutes Leben" ist nicht abhängig von stei­ gendem Bruttosozialprodukt, wachsenden Stoffströmen und immer höhe­ rem Energieverbrauch. Sie zeigt das Mögliche auf, Alternativen zu "Vor­ wärts in den Abgrund" und "Zurück in die Steinzeit". Zweifellos bleiben noch offene Fragen. Manches wird Widerspruch auslösen. Aber die Studie zeigt Perspektiven für eine lebenswerte Zukunft und eineglobale Partner­ schaft auf, für die es sich lohnt, technischen Erfindungsgeist und soziale Kreativität einzusetzen.

Human societies face a threatening future of resource scarcity and environmental damages. This book addresses the challenge of turning these risks into opportunities and policies. It is a collection of high level contributions from experts of sustainable growth and sustainable resource management. Focussing on economics, sustainability, technology and policy, the book highlights system innovation, leapfrogging strategies of emerging economies, possible rebound effects and international market development. It puts natural resources centre stage and will make an important contribution to achieving the goal of a 21st century Green Economy.