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Ecological debt refers to the supposed accumulation of
debt
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
of the
Global North
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
to
Global South countries, due to the net sum of historical
environmental injustice
Environmental racism or ecological apartheid is a form of institutional racism leading to landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionally placed in communities of colour. Internationally, it is also associated with ...
, especially through
resource exploitation
The exploitation of natural resources is the use of natural resources for economic growth, sometimes with a negative connotation of accompanying environmental degradation. It started to emerge on an industrial scale in the 19th century as the ...
,
habitat degradation
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
, and
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
by
waste
Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...
discharge. The concept was coined by Global Southerner
non-governmental organizations
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
in the
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...
and its definition has varied over the years, in several attempts of greater specification.
Within the ecological debt broad definition, there are two main aspects: the
ecological damage caused over time by a country in one or other countries or to
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
s beyond national jurisdiction through its production and consumption patterns; and the exploitation or use of ecosystems over time by a country at the expense of the
equitable rights to these ecosystems by other countries.
History
The term 'ecological debt' first appeared on paper in 1985, in a yellow booklet with the title “Women in movement" made by the German ecofeminist
Eva Quistorp and edited by the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
in Germany in 1985. The work was intended to be used for a workshop she gave on 'women, peace and ecology' in
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
during the
United Nation Women’s Conference (the first workshop of this kind).
In 1992, the term appeared again in two reports published in different places around the world: “''Deuda ecológica''” by Robleto and Marcelo in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and “''Miljöskulden''” by Jernelöv in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.
Robleto and Marcelo's report, published by the critical NGO
Instituto de Ecologia Politica' (IEP), was a political and activist response to the global environmental negotiations happening during the Rio Summit. It shed light on the debate occurring in Latin America since the 1980s about the crucial nature's heritage that had been consumed and not returned (i.e. ecological debt). On the other hand, Jernelöv's report goal was to calculate the Swedish debt for
future generations
Future generations are cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future generations are contrasted with current and past generations, and evoked in order to encourage thinking about intergenerational equity. The moral patienthood of future ge ...
and was intended to serve nationally for the
Swedish Environmental Advisory. Although the last one had less world-wide influence in the concept's debate, it is important to note that both reports have opposite approach in considering the ecological debt: Robleto and Marcelo's report expresses it in symbolic terms, focusing on the moral and political aspects, whereas Jernelöv's report tries to quantify and monetize it in economic terms.
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In 1994, the Colombian lawyer
Borrero, wrote a book on ecological debt. It referred to the environmental liabilities of Northern countries for the excessive per capita production of greenhouse gases, historically and at present. The concept has then been reused by some
environmental organization
An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements
that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces.
In this sense the environment ...
s from the
Global South. Campaigns on the ecological debt were launched since 1997 by
Accion Ecologica of
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
and
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...
.
Overall, the ecological debt 'movement' was born of the convergence of three main factors during the 80s-90s: 1) the consequences of the debt crisis in the 70s due to the
Volcker shock
Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended the ...
s or the drastic increase of interest rates (followed by
structural adjustments made by the US to solve the
stagflation
In economics, stagflation or recession-inflation is a situation in which the inflation rate is high or increasing, the economic growth rate slows, and unemployment remains steadily high. It presents a dilemma for economic policy, since action ...
in 1981, and thus putting heavily indebted third world countries in an impossible situation in regards to debt repayment); 2) the rising of environmental awareness as seen previously (activists and NGOs attending the
Rio Summit in 1992); 3) an increase in recognition of the violence caused by
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
over the years
(the demand of recognition is over 500 years, since
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
arrived in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
).
In 2009,
ecofeminist
Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
scholar
Ariel Salleh
Ariel Salleh is an Australian sociologist who writes on humanity-nature relations, political ecology, social change movements, and ecofeminism.
Background
Salleh is a Founding Member of the Global University for Sustainability, Hong Kong; Vis ...
explained how the
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
processes at work in the global North
exploit nature and
people
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
simultaneously, ultimately sustaining a large ecological debt in her article, "Ecological Debt: Embodied Debt".
At the 1992
Rio Earth Summit
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992.
Earth Su ...
, politicians and corporate leaders from the global North introduced the supposed solution for the
foreign debt
A country's gross external debt (or foreign debt) is the liabilities that are owed to nonresidents by residents. The debtors can be governments, corporations or citizens. External debt may be denominated in domestic or foreign currency. It incl ...
crisis in the global South.
They proposed 'debt for nature swaps', which essentially means that those countries that possess abundant
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
and
environmental resource
A biophysical environment is a life, biotic and Abiotic component, abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environ ...
s would give them up to the global North in return for the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
reducing their debt.
Feminist
environmentalist
An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
s, Indigenous activists, and peasants from the Global South, exposed how the Global North is much more indebted to the Global South.
Salleh justified this by explaining how the 500-year-long colonization process involving the extraction of resources has caused immense damage and destruction to the ecosystem of the
Global South.
In fact, scientists at the US National
Academy for Sciences state that in the time period of 1961–2000, by analyzing the cost of
greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...
created by the rich (the Global North) alone, it has become apparent that the rich have imposed climate changes on the poor that greatly outweigh the poor's foreign debt.
All of this
environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...
amounts to ecological debt, seizing the people's livelihood resources in the Global South.
In 2009 as well,
Andrew Simms
Andrew Simms is an author, analyst and co-director of the New Weather Institute. He is a research associate with the Centre for Global Political Economy at the University of Sussex and Fellow at the New Economics Foundation.
Andrew Simms advoca ...
used the ecological debt in a more bio-physical way and defined it as the consumption of resources from within an ecosystem that exceeds the system's regenerative capacity. This is seen in particular in
non-renewable resource
A non-renewable resource (also called a finite resource) is a natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a pace quick enough to keep up with consumption. An example is carbon-based fossil fuels. The original organic mat ...
s wherein consumption outstrips production. In a general sense in his work, it refers to the depletion of global resources beyond the Earth's ability to regenerate them. Andrew Simms. The concept in this sense is based on the bio-physical
carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as t ...
of an ecosystem; through measuring
ecological footprints human society can determine the rate at which it is depleting natural resources. Ultimately, the imperative of
sustainability
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
requires human society to live within the means of the ecological system to support life over the long term. Ecological debt is a feature of unsustainable economic systems.
Political dimension
Historical context
There have been several debates around the notion of ecological debt, and this is mostly because the concept arises from various social movements in response to the distributional injustice of climate change's consequences on the environment and people's livelihood.
Salleh, in particular, showed how the ecological debt manifested in the destruction of the environment and associated climate change the North has created is made possible through the process of
modernization
Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, ...
and
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
.
[Salleh, A. (2009). Ecological debt: embodied debt. Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice. London: Pluto Press.] The rise of the nature-culture divide that emerged due to rapid
industrialisation
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
is a perfect illustration of a human-nature dualism in which
human being
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedality, bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex Human brain, brain. This has enabled the development of ad ...
has the central role above everything else. The notion of humans being embedded in the ecosystem that they live in is crucial to the discipline of
political ecology.
In political ecology, which reconnects nature and the economy, ecological debt is crucial because it recognizes that colonization has not only resulted in a loss of culture, way of life, and language for
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, but it has shaped the
world economy
The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans of the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities which are conducted both within and between nations, including production, consumption, ...
into one that
monetizes and
commodifies the environment. For example, when the
colonization of South America occurred over 500 years ago, European settlers brought with them their
Eurocentric
Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism)
is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world ...
values, seeing themselves as better than and therefore entitled to the
Indigenous people's knowledge and the land they lived on. In a perceived
postcolonial world, large corporations and Western governments tend to present solutions to global warming by
commodifying nature and hoping to make a profit out of it. This better-than-thou attitude has created the conditions for
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
to occur, making the North’s
ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a method promoted by the Global Footprint Network to measure human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people or an economy. It tracks this demand through an ecological accounti ...
soar, while also constructing an ecological debt so large as to completely rid the entire Global South of their
financial debt.
During the
Rio Earth Summit
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992.
Earth Su ...
in 1992, attending
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
created the Debt Treaty, a document gathering all information to better define the ecological debt concept. They demanded compensation for damages over 500 years (1992 is exactly 500 years after the arrival of
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
in North America). It was the first push back, reversing the stream, but it stayed as a draft paper not recognized by international institutions or lead countries at that time.
Today
In the 2000s, two networks were created and still exist today: th
Southern Peoples Ecological Debt Creditors Alliance (SPEDCA)which is a network of
creditor
A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property ...
s that launched a campaign for the recognition of ecological debt, and the European Network for the Recognition of Ecological Debt (ENRED) which is a network of
debtor
A debtor or debitor is a legal entity (legal person) that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of this ...
s.
During the
COP in Copenhagen in December 2009, some governments from developing countries or countries most
vulnerable to climate change consequences (such as Bolivia, Mauritania, Chad, or island countries as Maldives or Haiti) have argued that the principle of shared responsibility demands that rich nations or
developed economies (such as the United States, some European countries, China) go beyond donations or adaptation
credits and make reparations that recognize an ecological debt for excessive
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
over several decades. The top United States ambassador,
Todd Stern
Todd D. Stern (born May 4, 1951) was the United States Special Envoy for Climate Change, and was the United States' chief negotiator at the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Education
Stern graduated from Dartmouth College in 1973, and earned a J.D. a ...
, flatly rejected arguments by diplomats from these countries that the United States owed such a debt.
The
COP 21
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Conve ...
in Paris brought minor progress with an increase in financial aid for developing countries. Although the goal was to prepare future action to be undertaken for adapting to climate change and consider loss and damages (especially
displaced people
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...
) of some countries, no real action was adopted. There were no recognition of responsibilities but recommendations only.
Calculations
Climate debt
When discussing ecological debt,
climate debt
Climate debt is the debt said to be owed to developing countries by developed countries for the damage caused by their disproportionately large contributions to climate change. Historical global greenhouse gas emissions, largely by developed countr ...
appears to be the only example of a scientific attempt to quantify the debt. It incorporates two different elements: the
adaptation debt which is the cost to communities of adapting to
climate damages they are not responsible for, and the consumption debt or emission's debt which is compensation due for emitting carbon in the present time. Emission debts should hypothetically be paid for by those countries that have over-emitted their fair-share of emissions. To determine this debt, an emissions or
carbon budget
A carbon budget is "the maximum amount of cumulative net global anthropogenic carbon dioxide () emissions that would result in limiting global warming to a given level with a given probability, taking into account the effect of other anthropogen ...
can and is calculated, and distributed among countries.
Calculations
Academic work on calculations of the ecological debt came later. An article published in 2008 looked at the distribution of
ecological impacts for various human activities.
Studies were also produced at regional level within countries, for instance for Orissa in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
As seen previously, calculation of the ecological debt implies various aspects related to
political ecology. While calculating the amount of emissions, some scholars have disregard inequalities of emissions from the past whereas others have considered historical accountability. In addition, there is a connection between ecological issues and the economy due to the value natural resources have and the important role they play in benefiting our economy.
In 2000, Neumayer calculated what he named the 'historical emissions debt', consisting on the difference in emissions of actual historical emissions (from a specific date in the past) and equal per-capita emissions (current emissions).
Theoretically, it may be possible to put a money value on ecological debt by calculating the value of the environmental and social
externalities
In economics, an externality or external cost is an indirect cost or benefit to an uninvolved third party that arises as an effect of another party's (or parties') activity. Externalities can be considered as unpriced goods involved in either co ...
associated with historic resource extraction and adding an estimated value for the share of global
pollution problems borne by poor countries as the result of higher consumption levels in rich ones.
This includes efforts to value the
external costs
In economics, an externality or external cost is an indirect cost or benefit to an uninvolved third party that arises as an effect of another party's (or parties') activity. Externalities can be considered as unpriced goods involved in either co ...
associated with climate change.
In 2015, Matthews proposed a method to calculate the ecological debt, by looking at the accumulated `carbon debts' for each country.
The model uses historical estimates of
national fossil fuel CO2 emissions and
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
and this since 1960. Furthermore, it runs a comparison between
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
changes each year by each country's emissions compared to a proportional temperature change of each country's share of the world population (this same year). This gives the accumulated credits and debts related to a larger range of emissions and the 'climate debts' obtained would be the difference between the actual temperature change (caused by each country) and their
per-capita share of global temperature change.
Other scholars have proposed a different approach, a `modified equal shares' approach, that would consider each country's
basic needs
The basic needs approach is one of the major approaches to the measurement of absolute poverty in developing countries globally. It works to define the absolute minimum resources necessary for long-term physical well-being, usually in terms of c ...
and would weight each ones' share of emissions. However, this approach brings potential
ethical
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
and political difficulties to quantitatively defining what would thus be the equal shares.
Key debates
Although some recent emerging countries have participated in the increase of
carbon emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and larg ...
, the situation tend to stay uneven in-between developing and developed countries regarding who is affected the most versus who pollutes the most.
Recent studies on ecological debt focus more on sub-topics as the notion of historical responsibility
(whether or not a country is considered ethically responsible or accountable for carbon emissions prior 1990, i.e. when global warming was universally recognized), the components of
climate debt
Climate debt is the debt said to be owed to developing countries by developed countries for the damage caused by their disproportionately large contributions to climate change. Historical global greenhouse gas emissions, largely by developed countr ...
(see above sections), the difficulties in deciding when to start counting past emissions and if this debate is slowing the implementation of programs or the legal and political consecration of the debt through treaties.
Present key debates focus on how is the debt going to be paid back. First, some academia have pushed for financial
debt cancellation Debt relief or debt cancellation is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations.
From antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, in particu ...
rather than being paid for ecological damages and then paying back the country's national financial debt. However, financial debts were not even agree by people (in developing countries especially) in the first place, calling it the unfair "
Volcker debt". Accepting this option could hold the risk of giving legitimize credits to these financial debts. A second solution proposed is the
Basic Income Guarantee
Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...
(BIG) or the universal basic income. It consists on regular cash payments to everyone in a community (or country) and has proven a certain efficacy in some places around the world (like Namibia).
Another debate addresses the fact that the ecological debt risks “commodifying nature” is exhausting ecosystem services. Researchers have tackled this risk by showing how it will expand the inclination of objectifying, monetizing and ultimately commodifying nature.
Moreover, the language of debt, repayments, credits and so forth is understood in Northern countries mostly, and is mostly focused on recognition of wrongdoing but not payment for loss of services for instance.
Resources
Books
Ecological debt: the health of the planet and the wealth of nations Andrew Simms
Andrew Simms is an author, analyst and co-director of the New Weather Institute. He is a research associate with the Centre for Global Political Economy at the University of Sussex and Fellow at the New Economics Foundation.
Andrew Simms advoca ...
, Pluto books, 2005
*Larkin, Amy (2013). ''Environmental Debt: The Hidden Costs of a Changing Global Economy ''
Reports
Ecological debt. History, meaning and relevance for environmental justice, Warlenius, R. et al., 2015*
*
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120425075237/http://www.cdo.ugent.be/publicaties/005.ecodebt_report_presentation.pdf Elaboration of the concept of ecological debt, Centre for Sustainable Development, Ghent University, 2004]
Credit Where it's Due: The Ecological Debt Education Project, Friends of the Earth Scotland, 2003
See also
*
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...
*
Carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as t ...
*
Ecological economics
*
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a method promoted by the Global Footprint Network to measure human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people or an economy. It tracks this demand through an ecological accounti ...
*
Environmental racism
Environmental racism or ecological apartheid is a form of institutional racism leading to landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionally placed in communities of colour. Internationally, it is also associated with ...
*
Green imperialism
Green imperialism or eco-imperialism or eco-colonialism or environmental imperialism is a derogatory epithet alluding to what is perceived as a Western strategy to influence the internal affairs of mostly developing nations in the name of env ...
References
External links
Global Footprint Network - Ecological Debt DayNew Economics Foundation - Ecological Debt Day{{modelling ecosystems, expanded=other
Sustainability
Global environmental issues