Special Issue "Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability in the Anthropocene"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Bertrand G. Guillaume
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
InSyTE (Interdisciplinary research on Society-Technology-Environment), Troyes University of Technology, 10300 Troyes, France
Interests: epistemology of socio-ecological modeling; enviro/tech foresight; philosophical and anthropological foundations of sustainability and the Anthropocene; environmental humanities

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For over thirty years, ecological economics have been addressing the relationship between ecological systems and economic activity, implying broad, pluralist, interdisciplinary, global, and holistic research efforts. Based on willingness to re-embed markets within society, and society within nature, huge theoretical and practical developments have unfolded regarding the biophysical foundations and socio-ecological interdependence of our world, tools and techniques for decision-making, and the widening of environmental valuation. Yet, even in the face of mounting ecological issues of global dimensions, more orthodox approaches have instead been prevailing, through the commodification of nature; the allocation of resources with market-based instruments; and a focus on pricing, economic efficiency, and macro-economic growth alone.

Recent literature has discussed both the legacy and future of ecological economics. The purpose of this Special Issue is to expand and supplement such a retrospective and prospective look, with a focus on the history and philosophy of ecological economics in the face of the Anthropocene.

In the form of conceptual inquiries, methodological reviews, or evidence from case studies, the present call welcomes contributions addressing theoretical and practical issues related to the “core elements” of ecological economics for the science and management of sustainability, such as:

  • the entropy of anthropogenic material, and energy flows and their critical values in scales and thresholds (e.g., decoupling, resilience, and evolutionary patterns within planetary boundaries);
  • the reassessment of “scarcity” in socio-ecological interactions (e.g., non-substitutable natural capital, the nature and future of welfare, and post-growth economies);
  • the implementation within and beyond markets, and normative issues (e.g., political processes in communities and institutions, and intergenerational and intertemporal efficiency and equity);
  • the future and the limits of knowledge (e.g., integration across disciplines; roles of models and scenarios for sustainable futures; science, worldviews, and myths).

Prof. Dr. Bertrand G. Guillaume
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ecological economics
  • Anthropocene
  • history
  • epistemology
  • philosophy

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
Back to TopTop