IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v3y2014i2p383-394d34560.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mounting Debt in a World in Overshoot: An Analysis of the Link between the Mediterranean Region’s Economic and Ecological Crises

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandro Galli

    (Global Footprint Network, International Environment House 2, 7-9 chemin de Balexert, Chatelaine 1219, Geneva, Switzerland)

  • Martin Halle

    (Global Footprint Network, International Environment House 2, 7-9 chemin de Balexert, Chatelaine 1219, Geneva, Switzerland)

Abstract

During the period of 1961–2008, demand for renewable resources and ecological services (as measured through the Ecological Footprint methodology) in the Mediterranean region grew by 52% (from 2.06 to 3.12 global hectares per capita), while availability of such resources and services (or biocapacity (BC)) decreased by 16% (from 1.49 to 1.26 global hectares per capita). As all economic activities ultimately depend on ecological assets—such as productive land and marine areas, and the services and resources they produce—this paper presents a reflection on the economic implications of such resource and service overconsumption in the Mediterranean region. Our conclusion is that, in a world characterized by the existence of biophysical limits, risks may exist for Mediterranean economies due to the concurrence of: (1) resource scarcity; (2) increasing resource prices; and (3) challenging national economic situations.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Galli & Martin Halle, 2014. "Mounting Debt in a World in Overshoot: An Analysis of the Link between the Mediterranean Region’s Economic and Ecological Crises," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-12, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:3:y:2014:i:2:p:383-394:d:34560
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/3/2/383/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/3/2/383/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allouche, Jeremy, 2011. "The sustainability and resilience of global water and food systems: Political analysis of the interplay between security, resource scarcity, political systems and global trade," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 3-8, January.
    2. Paolo E. Giordani & Nadia Rocha & Michele Ruta, 2012. "Food Prices and the Multiplier Effect of Export Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 3783, CESifo.
    3. Allouche, Jeremy, 2011. "The sustainability and resilience of global water and food systems: Political analysis of the interplay between security, resource scarcity, political systems and global trade," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(S1), pages 3-8.
    4. White, Thomas J., 2007. "Sharing resources: The global distribution of the Ecological Footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 402-410, December.
    5. Lou, Bo & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2013. "Identifying the environmental support and constraints to the Chinese economic growth—An application of the Emergy Accounting method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 217-233.
    6. Peretto, Pietro F., 2012. "Resource abundance, growth and welfare: A Schumpeterian perspective," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 142-155.
    7. Niccolucci, Valentina & Pulselli, Federico M. & Tiezzi, Enzo, 2007. "Strengthening the threshold hypothesis: Economic and biophysical limits to growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 667-672, February.
    8. Wackernagel, Mathis & Onisto, Larry & Bello, Patricia & Callejas Linares, Alejandro & Susana Lopez Falfan, Ina & Mendez Garcia, Jesus & Isabel Suarez Guerrero, Ana & Guadalupe Suarez Guerrero, Ma., 1999. "National natural capital accounting with the ecological footprint concept," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 375-390, June.
    9. Hassan Aly & Mark Strazicich, 2011. "Did the Global Financial Crisis and Recession Contribute to the Uprisings in North Africa?," Working Papers 651, Economic Research Forum, revised 12 Jan 2011.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maria Serena Mancini & Mikel Evans & Katsunori Iha & Carla Danelutti & Alessandro Galli, 2018. "Assessing the Ecological Footprint of Ecotourism Packages: A Methodological Proposition," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-37, June.
    2. Mehmet Erdoğmuş, 2023. "Do Shocks Permanently Affect Ecological Balance Per Capita in Brazil, South Africa, and New Zealand?," EKOIST Journal of Econometrics and Statistics, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(39), pages 147-160, December.
    3. Li Yang & Sumaiya Bashiru Danwana & Fadilul-lah Yassaanah Issahaku, 2022. "Achieving Environmental Sustainability in Africa: The Role of Renewable Energy Consumption, Natural Resources, and Government Effectiveness—Evidence from Symmetric and Asymmetric ARDL Models," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-26, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferng, Jiun-Jiun, 2014. "Nested open systems: An important concept for applying ecological footprint analysis to sustainable development assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 105-111.
    2. Leonardsson, Hanna & Kronsell, Annica & Andersson, Erik & Burman, Anders & Blanes, Ruy & Da Costa, Karen & Hasselskog, Malin & Stepanova, Olga & Öjendal, Joakim, 2021. "Achieving peaceful climate change adaptation through transformative governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    3. Xiao Lu & Yi Qu & Piling Sun & Wei Yu & Wenlong Peng, 2020. "Green Transition of Cultivated Land Use in the Yellow River Basin: A Perspective of Green Utilization Efficiency Evaluation," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, November.
    4. Fazlullah Akhtar & Bernhard Tischbein & Usman Awan, 2013. "Optimizing Deficit Irrigation Scheduling Under Shallow Groundwater Conditions in Lower Reaches of Amu Darya River Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(8), pages 3165-3178, June.
    5. R. Quentin Grafton & Mahala McLindin & Karen Hussey & Paul Wyrwoll & Dennis Wichelns & Claudia Ringler & Dustin Garrick & Jamie Pittock & Sarah Wheeler & Stuart Orr & Nathanial Matthews & Erik Ansink , 2016. "Responding to Global Challenges in Food, Energy, Environment and Water: Risks and Options Assessment for Decision-Making," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 275-299, May.
    6. Moon, Wanki, 2011. "Is agriculture compatible with free trade?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 13-24.
    7. Ozturk, Ilhan, 2015. "Sustainability in the food-energy-water nexus: Evidence from BRICS (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa) countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 999-1010.
    8. Hassani-Mahmooei, Behrooz & Parris, Brett W., 2013. "Resource scarcity, effort allocation and environmental security: An agent-based theoretical approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 183-192.
    9. Valeria Sodano & Maria Teresa Gorgitano, 2022. "Framing Political Issues in Food System Transformative Changes," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Asma Souissi & Nadhem Mtimet & Laura McCann & Ali Chebil & Chokri Thabet, 2022. "Determinants of Food Consumption Water Footprint in the MENA Region: The Case of Tunisia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, January.
    11. Vassallo, P. & Paoli, C. & Buonocore, E. & Franzese, P.P. & Russo, G.F. & Povero, P., 2017. "Assessing the value of natural capital in marine protected areas: A biophysical and trophodynamic environmental accounting model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 355(C), pages 12-17.
    12. Alasam Alzaabi, Mohammed S.M. & Mezher, Toufic, 2021. "Analyzing existing UAE national water, energy and food nexus related strategies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    13. José Antonio Peña-Ramos & Philipp Bagus & Daria Fursova, 2021. "Water Conflicts in Central Asia: Some Recommendations on the Non-Conflictual Use of Water," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-24, March.
    14. Akoto-Danso, Edmund Kyei & Karg, Hanna & Drechsel, Pay & Nyarko, George & Buerkert, Andreas, 2019. "Virtual water flow in food trade systems of two West African cities," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 760-772.
    15. David Lin & Laurel Hanscom & Adeline Murthy & Alessandro Galli & Mikel Evans & Evan Neill & Maria Serena Mancini & Jon Martindill & Fatime-Zahra Medouar & Shiyu Huang & Mathis Wackernagel, 2018. "Ecological Footprint Accounting for Countries: Updates and Results of the National Footprint Accounts, 2012–2018," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-22, September.
    16. Sergio René Araujo‐Enciso & Thomas Fellmann, 2020. "Yield Variability and Harvest Failures in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan and Their Possible Impact on Food Security in the Middle East and North Africa," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 493-516, June.
    17. Tukufu Zuberi & Kevin J.A. Thomas, "undated". "Demographic Projections, the Environment and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2012-001, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    18. Badir S. Alsaeed & Dexter V. L. Hunt & Soroosh Sharifi, 2022. "Sustainable Water Resources Management Assessment Frameworks (SWRM-AF) for Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-31, November.
    19. Hualiang Wei & Grant R. Bigg, 2017. "The Dominance of Food Supply in Changing Demographic Factors across Africa: A Model Using a Systems Identification Approach," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-16, October.
    20. Ruchie Pathak & Nicholas R. Magliocca, 2022. "Assessing the Representativeness of Irrigation Adoption Studies: A Meta-Study of Global Research," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-31, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:3:y:2014:i:2:p:383-394:d:34560. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.