ABSTRACT
This book was largely motivated by the recognition that any form of economic analysis must be cognisant of the fact that neither production, consumption, nor the exchange of goods and services can occur without drawing on natural capital (KN). Extraction of mineral resources, the use of nutrients in soils, and conversion of energy from either fossil deposits or solar radiation, for example, all have their impacts on KN. It is important to note that the use of KN resources for making infrastructures, food, and a host of other services to enhance society’s welfare does tend to concurrently draw down the KN assets on which that wealth generation depends. Even resources that are in principle renewable can turn into non-renewable ones, for example, when fish catch exceeds the population’s regenerative capacities, or when forests are cut at rates higher than their re-growth. The use of non-renewable resources also can push renewable resources past the point at which they can recover, for example, when burning of fossil fuels results in sulphur emissions that acidify lakes and soils, or when the accumulation of greenhouse gases from land conversion and industrial activity alters the climate and triggers increasingly frequent severe weather events that adversely impact the structure and function of ecosystems, let alone of economies.
