Papers by Rigo Melgar-Melgar
Ecosystem Services Journal, 2024
The Ecozoic is defined as an era characterized by the mutual flourishing of humans and the rest o... more The Ecozoic is defined as an era characterized by the mutual flourishing of humans and the rest of Nature. The field of Ecosystem Services should be dedicated to achieving this goal. However, ecosystem services (ES) are commonly defined as Nature’s benefits to people, an anthropocentric concept. Many schemes proposed to assess and value ES are market oriented, thus focused on the satisfaction of subjective individual preferences, an egocentric approach. Yet modern science accepts that all complex species, including humans, are an inseparable part of Nature, incapable of surviving without the ecosystem services Nature generates. Nature is the whole, the economy is the part; we must internalize the economy into nature, not vice versa. This article builds on evolutionary theory, anthropology and ecological economics to explain the necessity of an ecocentric approach to ecosystem services embodied in economic institutions prioritizing Nature. We must create new economic institutions focused on the health of the whole system to complement existing institutions focused on the individual (e.g. markets) and on society (e.g. the public sector and other collective institutions), with the recognition that system health also depends on the health of system components. We therefore propose redefining ecosystem services as Nature’s benefits to the biotic community of which humans are a part. The relationship of humanity to nature should be the same as that of a cell to the human body: prioritize the health of whole and take only the minimum necessary for secure sufficiency.
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Feb 23, 2023
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Frontiers in Sustainability
Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) aims to achieve “energy for all” by improving energy secur... more Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) aims to achieve “energy for all” by improving energy security for the world's poor while supporting a global transition toward low-carbon energy sources. The aim of this policy brief is to evaluate and propose energy sufficiency as a feasible policy response to negative interactions of SDG 7, for climate (SDG 13), the biophysical environment (SDG 14 and 15), and social equity (SDG 10), when linked to the pursuit of unending economic growth (SDG 8). Recommendations for SDG 7 target economy-wide absolute and per capita limits in overall energy use to precede adjustments in technology and behavior, thus shifting from energy excess for some to energy sufficiency for all.
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Sustainability, 2019
Higher education in the global North, and exported elsewhere, is complicit in driving the planet’... more Higher education in the global North, and exported elsewhere, is complicit in driving the planet’s socio-ecological crises by teaching how to most effectively marginalize and plunder Earth and human communities. As students and activists within the academic system, we take a firm stand to arrest this cycle, and to redirect education toward teaching how to create conditions for all life to thrive. In this paper, we articulate a research and education agenda for co-constructing knowledge and wisdom, and propose shifts in the ‘ologies from the current, destructive modes to intended regenerative counterparts. We offer to shift from an ontology of separation to that of interconnectedness; from an epistemology of domination to that of egalitarian relationship; and from an axiology of development to that of plural values for world- and meaning-making. Such paradigm shifts reflect the foundational aspirations of the consilient transdiscipline of ecological economics. We analyze several intr...
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Ecological Economics, 2020
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Ecological economics and systems theory have a long-standing history. As a foregrounding metatheo... more Ecological economics and systems theory have a long-standing history. As a foregrounding metatheoretical framework, systems thinking deepens socio-ecological acuity through comprehensive models of complex relationships between social and biophysical systems. However, critical and soft systems are often overlooked, necessitating a framework for “critical pluralism,” similar to that used by systems theorists themselves. To do this, we argue that ecological economics needs to include paradigm analysis as an integral part of the ecological economic discourse to situate work within sociological paradigms – not just biophysical limits to growth. To help establish a critical pluralism approach, we trained a group of emerging ecological economics scholars to integrate systems thinking more firmly in research approaches. We integrate soft systems methodology and critical systems heuristics to establish foundations for critical soft systems methodology. We then trained emerging scholars on th...
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Ecological Limits of Development
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Papers by Rigo Melgar-Melgar