This book explores some of the complexities of decision-making under risk and uncertainty in environmental and natural resource economics. Risk and uncertainty are inherent problems for economists, and the authors in this volume offer numerous challenges and opportunities to improve the tools we use to assess these concepts. They begin by studying various environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity conservation to underline the importance of identifying different forms of uncertainty and irreversibility. They move on to consider the implications risk and uncertainty have on economic development and environmental policies, and study the attitudes of different user-groups to these issues. Finally, they examine the natural resource management dilemmas faced by the private sector including issues of optimal resource allocation, insurance problems and consumer behaviour. Presenting cutting-edge research on the management of the environment under risk and uncertainty, this book will interest and inform academics and researchers in the fields of environmental and resource economics, and decision-makers in governmental and non-governmental agencies. It will also be of value to economists who want to understand the importance of analysing the impact of risk and uncertainty on environmental and economic processes.

This book is concerned with the paradox that humanity depends on biodiversity and landscape systems for its survival, yet, at the same time, the current burden of humanity's use of living resources places the existence of these natural systems at risk. The role of human values, technological society and social and political processes in the creation and solution of the paradox are explored in this volume, whose origins lie in an international discussion meeting held at the PennState Center for BioDiversity Research. Leading contributors to the fields of biodiversity conservation, ecology, economics, entomology, forestry, history, landscape management, philosophy and sociology draw from their unique disciplinary perspectives to consider the origins, bases and possible solutions to this pressing problem.

Global environmental problems are much more severe and complex than many of the public believe. This book explores the paradox of humanity's dependence on biodiversity and landscape systems for survival while simultaneously placing an enormous stress on the existence of these natural systems. Leading contributors to the fields of biodiversity conservation, ecology, economics, entomology, forestry, history, landscape management, philosophy and sociology draw from their unique disciplinary perspectives to consider the origins, bases and possible solutions to this pressing problem. The volume shows that the need for a solution is one of the most urgent facing humanity, yet the challenge of solving it is one that will require a major shift in the composite of human values.