After 40 years of environmental negotiations and the recent inconclusive results of Rio+20, there is an expanding consensus that the current negotiation model composed of a series of subsequent summits and conferences of the parties under the United Nations umbrella has been exhausted. This deadlock lead to a perception that real change is a “political impossibility” and inevitably installed a sense of fatalism.
It is starting to be clear that the main obstacle that we are facing is not technological but consists of the construction of a new juridical-economic structure that is able to provide an answer to the global and structural dimension of the current crisis.
Within this context, the Common Heritage of Mankind continues to be the only structure that can offer an international juridical framework capable of regulating goods that take us to a dimension of the human condition found outside the material realm, but which does involve the whole of humanity.
The proposal to configure the climate system as common to the whole of humanity could serve as a basis to resolve a series of complex operational problems. These include the lack of intergenerational reach of Law that deals with new global phenomena or the global dispersion of positive and negative externalities of countries that affect the common system. The proposed classification would enable accounting and governance of externalities between countries, taking into consideration the actions of past generation and the rights of future ones.
The first step consists of finding out how to describe this juridical object, which finds itself both outside and inside of all states, and how to measure and consequently attribute it to someone. This immaterial and intangible nature is that what really unites us all and turns us all global neighbors. The creation of a new Intangible Natural Heritage relative to the climate and ocean systems of which the owner should be all of humanity serves as the structural support that we propose to construct a new economy.
http://www.earth-condominium.org/en/conference/earth-condominium-conference/
"LLMs for Python Engineers: Advanced Data Analysis and Semantic Kernel",Oleks...
Eco Saldo - An attempted approach to measuring the intangible heritage
1. E c o S a l d o
uma possibilidade real
de gestão global do
património intangível
Nuno Gaspar de Oliveira
Inês Cosme Teixeira
CIGEST | Ambiente & Sustentabilidade
ISG | Business & Economics School
6. "In nature's
economy the
currency is not
money, it is life."
— Vandana Shiva (Earth Democracy: Justice,
Sustainability, and Peace)
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
7. Fonte: Global Risks 2013, World Economic Forum
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
8. Fonte: Global Risks 2013, World Economic Forum
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
9. Examples of worldwide mispricing and market failures that need institutional corrections
include:
• Energy — too cheap due to climate change,
extinctions, and negative effects on future
generations.
• Having children — too cheap since growing
population will raise real prices of land, food, and
energy, and contribute to climate change and
other global environmental problems.
• Endangered species — too cheap because
ecosystem interrelationships are poorly
understood, and indirect effects could be
enormous.
• Economic growth — overvalued because growth
negatively affects aggregate utility and public
goods (“the commons” such as air, water, soil,
species diversity, ecosystem health, and climate)
once we begin to reach the limits to growth.
The Visible Hand: Manipulating Market Prices by Influencing
Laws and Regulations by Max Kummerow
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
13. “Progress is
measured by the
speed at which we
destroy the
conditions that
sustain life.”
― George Monbiot
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
19. “Any intelligent fool can
make things bigger, more
complex, and more
violent. It takes a touch
of genius — and a lot of
courage to move in the
opposite direction.”
― E.F. Schumacher
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
20. 1| Why measuring?
“Not only do we measure what we value, we also come to value what we measure”
D. H. Meadows (1998)
To measure costs
and benefits
Standardize to
compare
Getting to a global
compromise
Variability of
measures
Different regions and
cultures
Different ecosystem
services
Trade-offs,
confidence and
predictability
Improving collective
management
Crucial for the
management of
common goods
Crossing of local,
regional and global
realities
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
21. Ecosystem services valuation
It’s a hard task and it has many limitations
Ethical issues connected to the intrinsic value of natural resources and
biodiversity
It’s not possible to give a monetary value to every ecosystem service
1| Why measuring?
Even if the calculation is not accurate… the
value is never zero!
It’s crucial to keep looking for ways to capture the natural
capital, whether it is in a monetary manner or not
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
22. 2| EcoSaldo – a metric for what is common
• The differential between positive and negative contributes that
each nation gives or takes of the global natural systems
• A value to each unit of available biocapacity
What does EcoSaldo can be?
Provision costs - agreed compensation value that will
allow the preservation/restoration of that same unit
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
23. 2| EcoSaldo – a metric for what is common
Compensation value provision cost
Non-use value
Maintenance cost
Necessary investment for recovering and/or
maintaining biodiversity
Final goal
Maintenance or improvement to the provision of ecosystem services
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
24. 2| EcoSaldo – a metric for what is common
Global hectare (gha)
Number of hectares with biological productivity equal to the
global average
Ecological Footprint
Biocapacity
Which metric?
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
25. 2| EcoSaldo – a metric for what is common
Ecological Footprint (EF)
Quantity of biological productive soil that is necessary to produce resources
and to absorb the waste produced, having in consideration the available
technology and the current resource management
• Necessary area to produce resources for the consumers
(cropland, grazing land, forest, fishing grounds)
• Built area
• Carbon sequestration area (forests)
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
26. 2| EcoSaldo – a metric for what is common
Has implications in the
consumption and
available biocapacity
Efficiency with which the natural
resources are converted into
goods and services
Different populations have
different consumptions
EF= Population x consumption per
person x intensity of the footprint
(gha)
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
27. 2| EcoSaldo - uma métrica para o que é comum
Biocapacity (BC)
Aggregation of production yield of various ecosystems in a
certain area (ex. arable land, forests)
It depends on factors such as
type of ecosystem, management
and health, agricultural practices
and meteorological factors
Available area to crops,
grazing land, fishing grounds
and forests
BC = area x bioprodutivity (gha)
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
28. 2| EcoSaldo – a metric for what is common
Ecological footprint and biocapacity tendencies per capita, between 1961 and 2008(source:
adapted from WWF, 2012)
EcoSaldo = BC - EF
(gha)
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
29. 2| EcoSaldo – a metric for what is common
Figura 2. Mapa de comparação entre pegada ecológica e biocapacidade (fonte:
chartsbin.com/view/571)
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
31. 2| EcoSaldo – a metric for what is common
World-map of EcoSaldo (source: earth-condominium.org)
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
33. "All truth passes through
three stages. First, it is
ridiculed. Second, it is
violently opposed. Third,
it is accepted as being
self-evident."
- Arthur Schopenhauer
Oliveira & Cosme, 16.01.2013; Earth Condominium Conference, Gaia, PT
Since medieval times that the limits of access to resources and geopolitics are determining factors of global governance. The conquest of the new world resulted of an agreement between the two then super powers, Portugal and Spain, in order to be able to be made with minimal conflicts and mutual income maximization
A few centuries later, and faced with the evidence of hard facts, we are unable to see the global systems and resources as Commons and manage them in the same way, we are stuck between the group decision-making factors - the prisoner's dilemma – and unable to reach a global agreement by lacking to understanding the value and management models
The problem is that we’ve created a linear economic system in which happiness is represented by wealth which in turn is obtained from the exploitation and processing of resources thus generating profit in the markets without taking into account its limits. It’s even worse, the more limited resources are, the higher its market value and the greater the difficulty in getting a global agreement for the management and, if possible, restoration.
Often this is a problem of perspective. For Norway and Japan catching whales is a scientific matter, for the remaining OECD countries its an atrocity. The CO2 emissions for industrialized countries is a handicap, for the emerging economies is an acquired right. So it becomes impracticable to determine a common value for the assets of global goods and services, we are always held hostage by one or another perspective, because there is no global valuation principle that is consistent and acceptable to all parties
And it is here that we find the first barrier. Everything that is not translated into dollars, euros, yuan or dinars does not fit in the current concept of value, and everything that is not tangible, material or transactionable is out of the market or has substitutes often highly fallible.
So, what do economists say? Let's start by analyzing the World Economic Forum data on global risks for 2013 in terms of likelihood and financial impact. It clearly highlights the monumental failure of financial economics, with the alarming collapse of credit and debt, savings, tax inequality and disparity of income, along with the increasing volatility in the price of food and energy on a global scale
Still analysing the WEF data. Regarding the environment it is clear that the price to pay for a policy which continues to be generally unable to reduce and mitigate the impact of climate change, with cumulative losses estimated at more than 10% of global GDP. Also shows the tendency for landgrap and land pricespeculation, with huge results in terms of water pollution and loss of biodiversity.
In a linear economy where only what you can buy and sell generates income and sets growth, markets are the backbone and the final destination. The flaws are huge and widely defined as 'externalitie', with the creation of massive problems in energy management, ecosystems and biodiversity, inter alia.
Without solving the question of shared value, the common heritage and unifying vision we will undertake more severe global risks. As long as we are unable to agree on what really sustains us and that should be the basis of the new economy we will continue to have situations like the current allocation of 1% of global GDP the subsidies to the oil and gas sector. There are more than 1 trillion dollars that contribute to our dependency and collapse of support systems and which must be reconquered by the true economics of sustainable human development
We continue to wait for a post-Kyoto global agreement in which all parties commit themselves to the defense of the common heritage of mankind, using CO2 as a global metric for this agreement. But such continues and will continue to fail due to the simple fact that a linear economy CO2 is a measure of progress and wealth, then the agreement is unobtainable and even unwanted by definition
On our quest for "easy fixes" we’ve made the mistake of using the same rationale for the new models, as is the case of offsetting derived from forest degradation and deforestation, the REDD mechanism and its derivatives, which are often committed two 'capital sins': there must be a prior rate of deforestation to compensate for positive change in this rate, i.e. in pristine forests without deforestation plans REDD is not applicable. The other error is the deliberate omission of rights of use on the part of local communities to areas where REDD projects are being implemented, that is, becomes a restricted area for the investor who buys the offsetting.
So here’s our global challenge: redefining progress, rethink the linear growth and reform the linear economy and introduce a circular economy, efficiency and ethics in the use of resources, a notion of common heritage and global mechanisms for its governance. For this we need a unifying language in relation to the material and intangible value of our heritage and its management.
And we don't have a lot of time, for example, the main mineral resources that are at the base of the technological revolution are becoming rarer, more expensive and reaching unthinkable limits. This gives us from of one to five decades to create a circular economy on the risk of becoming hostages of the limits to technological development itself.
In order to deconstruct the linear economy it is essential to rethink its support instruments, beyondthe markets. If we look to how Member States tax policy is when comparing taxes on labour with taxes on resource usage we are able to see that the difference is dismaland unacceptable. Virtually 100% of the EU taxes are based on labour and consumption and practically nothing about limiting the exploitation and use of resources that are in fact the basis of the economy!
And these problems will persist if the unit used to define wealth and growth isGDP. Based on OECD data is predictable that Europe will lose almost half of its GDP by 2060 with this being transferred to emerging countries such as China and India, where resource exploitation is dramatic, the control of local and global environmental impact is almost residualand the average working conditions are usually at the level of a post-war Europe.
One of the most dramatic examples of the use of GDP to resolve the current crisis in sovereign credit is the Greek case, where the troika imposes austerity after austerity with the rational of growth throughGDP recovery (in order to pay the interest on the debt) with systematically failure and after each failure, applying more of the same medicine.
É impressionante como no auge da era da informação, com a criação de agências de rating super evoluidas e todo o conhecimento de modelos de economia financeira, o sucesso ou insucesso das medidas impostas ou adoptadas parece estar mais ligado ao acaso do que à real previsão dos modelos. Porventura porque a unidade de valor onde nos estamos a focar - o dinheiro – está ela própria viciada.It is amazing how at the height of the information age, with the creation of super evolved rating agencies and all knowledge on financial economics, the success or failure of measures imposed or adopted seems to be more connected to random factors than to model forecast. Perhaps because the unit of value on which we focus - money – is itself flawed.
Well, as one of the most disruptive economists of contemporary history once said, it takes courage to dare propose a real change in the system. So what’s our proposal?
However even this metric has a number of issues that need to be analyzed and resolved. For instance, the Ecological Footprint is still too linked to direct consumption accounting and in the case of biocapacity, it doesn’t capture the full value of ecosystem services and biodiversity. An example of the difficulty of interpretation of these results is the fact that the USA and the Iberian Peninsula have similar negative EcoSaldo values
In a graphical representation of the EcoSaldo, we realize that the ideal range of global hectares should fall between the limits of ecological footprint and biocapacity and that the majority of countries is far from this ' security range’ or below minimum limits of human development or getting beyond the maximum limits of biocapacity
So this is the challenge: to create a global mechanism of settling the global accountsbetween provision of biocapacity and consumption necessary for sustainable human development, the difference that comes of this settling is the ecosaldo and the same planetary scale should be towards zero, that would mean a human development within the limits of the planet, and ideally positive, allowing a new future to the creation and diversification of human activities within the limits of the planet
It’s time to change the tune and start a new melody