Environment Economics And Their Mathematical Models

When working on problems of environment, for global scales or for more local smaller scales, one has to deal with deep questions of economics. Following the first volume of this series of "Curso de Verano", published as RMA 27, this volume presents some new results on the modelling and mathematical treatment of problems of Environment. Moreover it contains many original contributions devoted to the economics of Environment. This '-dual- or complementary approach of all problems of environment is fundamental. We hope that the publication of this volume will provide further insight and give incentives for young researchers to enter this promising field. The texts correspond to extended versions of lectures presented by the authors in the Curso de Verano de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Almeria, June 26 to July 3, 1992).

The problems of interrelation between human economics and natural environment include scientific, technical, economic, demographic, social, political and other aspects that are studied by scientists of many specialities. One of the important aspects in scientific study of environmental and ecological problems is the development of mathematical and computer tools for rational management of economics and environment. This book introduces a wide range of mathematical models in economics, ecology and environmental sciences to a general mathematical audience with no in-depth experience in this specific area. Areas covered are: controlled economic growth and technological development, world dynamics, environmental impact, resource extraction, air and water pollution propagation, ecological population dynamics and exploitation. A variety of known models are considered, from classical ones (Cobb Douglass production function, Leontief input-output analysis, Solow models of economic dynamics, Verhulst-Pearl and Lotka-Volterra models of population dynamics, and others) to the models of world dynamics and the models of water contamination propagation used after Chemobyl nuclear catastrophe. Special attention is given to modelling of hierarchical regional economic-ecological interaction and technological change in the context of environmental impact. Xlll XIV Construction of Mathematical Models ...

Updated to textbook form by popular demand, this second edition discusses diverse mathematical models used in economics, ecology, and the environmental sciences with emphasis on control and optimization. It is intended for graduate and upper-undergraduate course use, however, applied mathematicians, industry practitioners, and a vast number of interdisciplinary academics will find the presentation highly useful. Core topics of this text are: · Economic growth and technological development · Population dynamics and human impact on the environment · Resource extraction and scarcity · Air and water contamination · Rational management of the economy and environment · Climate change and global dynamics The step-by-step approach taken is problem-based and easy to follow. The authors aptly demonstrate that the same models may be used to describe different economic and environmental processes and that similar investigation techniques are applicable to analyze various models. Instructors will appreciate the substantial flexibility that this text allows while designing their own syllabus. Chapters are essentially self-contained and may be covered in full, in part, and in any order. Appropriate one- and two-semester courses include, but are not limited to, Applied Mathematical Modeling, Mathematical Methods in Economics and Environment, Models of Biological Systems, Applied Optimization Models, and Environmental Models. Prerequisites for the courses are Calculus and, preferably, Differential Equations.

This book demonstrates how mathematical models constructed in system dynamics modelling platforms, such as Vensim, can be used for long-term management of environmental change. It is divided into two sections, with the first dedicated to theory, where the theory of co-evolutionary modelling and its use in the system dynamics model platform is developed. The book takes readers through the steps in the modelling process, different validation tools applicable to these types of models and different growth specification, as well as how to curve fit using numerical methods in Vensim. Section 2 comprises of a collection of applied case studies, including fisheries, game theory and wildlife management. The book concludes with lessons from the use of co-evolutionary models for long-term natural resource management. The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental economics, natural resource management, system dynamics, ecological modelling and bioeconomics.

This reference offers both a basic introduction and advanced technical details of available mathematical and computing methods for modeling sustainable development, closing an exisiting gap in this field, as well as illustrating their use through case studies and examples. The methods and case studies presented here are targetted at sustainable development, although they have a wide range of other applications, including economics, medicine and control systems.

This book covers a wide range of topics within mathematical modelling and the optimization of economic, demographic, technological and environmental phenomena. Each chapter is written by experts in their field and represents new advances in modelling theory and practice. These essays are exemplary of the fruitful interaction between theory and practice when exploring global and local changes. The unifying theme of the book is the use of mathematical models and optimization methods to describe age-structured populations in economy, demography, technological change, and the environment. Emphasis is placed on deterministic dynamic models that take age or size structures, delay effects, and non-standard decision variables into account. In addition, the contributions deal with the age structure of assets, resources, and populations under study. Interdisciplinary modelling has enormous potential for discovering new insights in global and regional development. Optimal Control of Age-structured Populations in Economy, Demography, and the Environment is a rich and excellent source of information on state-of-the-art modelling expertise and references. The book provides the necessary mathematical background for readers from different areas, such as applied sciences, management sciences and operations research, which helps guide the development of practical models. As well as this the book also surveys the current practice in applied modelling and looks at new research areas for a general mathematical audience. This book will be of interest primarily to researchers, postgraduate students, as well as a wider scientific community, including those focussing on the subjects of applied mathematics, environmental sciences, economics, demography, management, and operations research.

Presents mathematical ideas and models that can be used to facilitate rational environmental policy making. Describes classical models for biological community performance, ecological system stability, and population dynamics, presents air pollution models and methods for solving emission problems, and highlights major results of the application of

Nowadays, environmental issues including air and water pollution, climate change, overexploitation of marine ecosystems, exhaustion of fossil resources, conservation of biodiversity are receiving major attention from the public, stakeholders and scholars from the local to the planetary scales. It is now clearly recognized that human activities yield major ecological and envir- mental stresses with irreversible loss of species, destruction of habitat or c- matecatastrophesasthemostdramaticexamplesoftheire?ects.Infact,these anthropogenic activities impact not only the states and dynamics of natural resources and ecosystems but also alter human health, well-being, welfare and economic wealth since these resources are support features for human life. The numerous outputs furnished by nature include direct goods such as food, drugs, energy along with indirect services such as the carbon cycle, the water cycle and pollination, to cite but a few. Hence, the various ecological changes our world is undergoing draw into question our ability to sustain economic production, wealth and the evolution of technology by taking natural systems into account. The concept of “sustainable development” covers such concerns, although no universal consensus exists about this notion. Sustainable development - phasizes the need to organize and control the dynamics and the complex - teractions between man, production activities, and natural resources in order to promote their coexistence and their common evolution. It points out the importance of studying the interfaces between society and nature, and es- ciallythecouplingbetweeneconomicsandecology.Itinducesinterdisciplinary scienti?c research for the assessment, the conservation and the management of natural resources.