Environmental laws and

project of the Philippines and

the world
How Are Economic Systems Related to the
Biosphere?

šEcological economists regard human economic

systems as subsystems of the biosphere.
Resources Supporting Economic Systems

šEconomics
šProduction, distribution, and consumption of goods and services
to satisfy wants and needs
šMarket-based systems interact through sellers and buyers
šSupply and demand determines prices
Resources Supporting Economic Systems

NATURAL CAPITAL HUMAN CAPITAL/HUMAN MANUFACTURED

RESOURCES CAPITAL/MANUFACTURED
RESOURCES
Fig. 17-3, p. 426
Economic Importance of Natural Resources

š Neoclassical economists
š Ecological economists
š Environmental economics
takes middle ground
š Some forms of
economic growth
discouraged
š Environmentally
sustainable economy –
eco-economy
 How Can We Use Economic Tools to
Deal with Environmental Problems?

šWe can use resources more sustainably by including their

harmful environmental and health costs in the market
prices of goods and services (full-cost pricing), subsidizing
environmentally beneficial goods and services, taxing
pollution and waste instead of wages and profits, and
reducing poverty.
 Market price leaves out
environmental and health costs
associated with its production =
External external costs (hidden costs)

Costs
Goods and services exclude
external costs

Hinders
development of
green goods and
Excluding external services

costs Promotes pollution

Fosters waste and
environmental
degradation
Use of Gross domestic product
Environmental (GDP) does not measure
environmental degradation
Economic
Indicators
Genuine progress indicator
(GPI) monitors
environmental well-being
Genuine Progress Indicator

Genuine Benefits not Harmful

progress GDP included in environmental
š =
indicator
+ -
market transactions & social costs
 Include Harmful Environmental Costs in Prices
of Goods and Services

š Environmentally honest market system

š Not widely used
š Wasteful and harmful producers would go out of business
š Difficult to estimate environmental costs
š Most consumers do not connect environmental costs with purchases

š Government action needed

Reward Environmentally Sustainable
Businesses

š Encourage shifts
š Phase out harmful subsidies and tax breaks
š Phase in environmentally beneficial subsidies
š Harmful subsidies cost $2 trillion per year globally
 Green taxes discourage
pollution and waste
Tax
Pollution Discourages jobs
and profit-driven
Current tax
and Waste
innovation
Encourages
system pollution,
resource waste,
degradation

Tax shift towards green

taxes needed
 Regulation

Encouraging
Innovations Laws – command and control

Incentive-based regulations

European experience positive for

innovation-friendly regulations
Use of the Marketplace

š Incentive-based model
š Government caps on total
pollution levels
š Tradable pollution
š Resource-use permits
š Shown to reduce pollution
 Shift from material-flow
economy to service-flow
Selling economy

Services
Make more money by
Instead of eco-leasing
Things
Eco-leasing Xerox
examples Carrier
 Poverty – harmful health
Reducing and environmental
Poverty Helps effects
the
Environment Reducing poverty
benefits individuals,
economies, and the
environment
 Combat malnutrition

Actions to Combat infectious diseases

Reduce Provide primary school education

Poverty Stabilize population growth

Reduce national ecological footprints

Invest in small-scale infrastructure

Encourage small loans to poor people

Millennium Development Goals

šReduce poverty, hunger, and improve

health care
šDeveloped countries agreed to devote 0.7%
of national income
šAverage has only been 0.28%
Fig. 17-8, p. 433
Fig. 17-8, p. 433
Fig. 17-9, p. 434
Fig. 17-10, p. 435
 17-3 How Can We Implement More
Sustainable and Just Environmental Policies?

šConcept 17-3 Individuals can work together to

become part of political processes that influence
how environmental policies are made and
implemented. (Individuals matter)
 Four Principles of Public Land Use

1. Protect biodiversity, wildlife

habitat, and ecosystems
2. No subsidies or tax breaks to
extract natural resources
3. Fair compensation for use of
property
4. Users of resource extractions
responsible for environmental
damage
Fig. 17-13, p. 439
Importance of As important as military
Environmental and economic security
Security
Depletion of natural
capital leads to
instability
What Are Some Major Environmental
Worldviews?

šMajor environmental worldviews differ over what is

more important – human needs and wants, or the
overall health of ecosystems and the biosphere;
different worldviews include varying mixes of both
priorities.
Planetary
Management HUMANS APART FROM
NATURE
MANAGE NATURE TO
MEET OUR NEEDS AND
TECHNOLOGY WILL
KEEP US FROM

Worldview WANTS RUNNING OUT OF

RESOURCES

ECONOMIC GROWTH MANAGE EARTH AND

POTENTIAL ESSENTIALLY LIFE FOR OUR BENEFIT
UNLIMITED
 Ethical responsibility to be
stewards

Stewardship Probably won’t run out of

Worldview
resources, but don’t waste
them

Encourage environmentally
beneficial economic growth

Success depends on
managing earth’s systems for
our benefit and the rest of
nature
 We are part of nature

Environmental
Wisdom Nature exists for all species

Worldview Resources are limited and shouldn’t be

wasted

Encourage earth-sustaining economic

growth

Success depends on learning about nature

and integrating ourselves into nature
Fig. 17-15, p. 444
How Can We Live More Sustainably?

We can live more sustainably by becoming

environmentally literate, learning from nature, living
more simply and lightly on earth, and becoming
active environmental citizens.
 Natural capital matters

Three
Important
Our ecological footprints are
Ideas immense and are expanding
rapidly

Ecological and climate change

tipping points are irreversible
and should never be crossed
 Understand as much as possible about how
earth works and sustains itself

Environmental Use knowledge of earth and sustainability to

Literacy (1) guide our lives, communities, and societies

Understand the role of economics in

promoting sustainability

Use critical thinking skills

Understand and evaluate environmental

worldviews
Fig. 17-16, p. 446
We Can Learn from
Nature

š Kindle a sense of awe, wonder,

mystery, and humility
š Develop a sense of place
š Choose to live more simply and
sustainably
š Gandhi’s principle of enoughness
š Reduce environmental footprint
 Gloom-and-doom pessimism

Avoid the
Mental Blind technological optimism

Traps
Paralysis by analysis

Faith in simple, easy answers

Fig. 17-18, p. 448
 Biodiversity protection

Interrelated Commitment to eco-efficiency

Components Energy transformation

of Pollution prevention

Sustainability
Revolution
Emphasis on sufficiency

Demographic equilibrium

Economic, political transformation

Fig. 17-19, p. 449
Fig. 17-20, p. 450
Environmental issues in the Philippines
 List of environmental laws in Philippines
LAW TITLES
Philippine clean air act of 1999
The Philippine fisheries code of 1998
Wildlife resources and conservation
act of 9147
Presidential degree no705 revised
forestry code
FOCI
• To reduce and eliminate contaminants emitted to air
• To conserve and protect and sustain management of the
country/s aquatic resources
• To conserve and protect wild life species and their habitats
to promote ecological balance and enhance biological
diversity
• To regulate the collection and trade of wildlife
• To initiate or support scientific studies on the coral reeds
• To pursue, with due regard to the national interest, the
Philippine commitment to international conventions,
protection of wild life and their habitats
• To protect, develop, and rehabilitate forest lands; these shall
be emphasized so as to ensure their continuity in productive
conditions
Environment agencies in Philippines
 Homework time

šIndividual
šList down all of the
environmental
projects implemented
by our government