Sustainability Principles and Practice
Fourth Edition
birth rate
The total number of people born in a given year.
capital
The supply of resources available.
common pool resources (CPRs)
Resources from which it is difficult to exclude or limit users and in which use of the resources by one person decreases the benefits for other users.
commons
A common pool resource plus a community plus a set of protocols: the rules and social practices for managing the resources.
decoupling
The condition in which development occurs without increases in environmental impact.
demographic transition
The shift from high birth rates and death rates to low birth rates and death rates in developed countries.
demography
A field of social science that applies the principles of population ecology to human populations.
development
An increase in the quality of goods and services, with or without quantitative growth; development is a qualitative measure.
ecological economics
A discipline that merges economics and ecology and conceives of the economy as a subsystem of the Earth ecosystem.
endangered species
A species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.
externality
A cost which is external to the entity creating the damage and not reflected in the price.
failed state
A state, or self-governing political body, in which the ability to govern has broken down.
failing state
A state which is in the process of breaking down toward a failed state.
governance
The process of decision-making by which an organization or society regulates activities and exercises control over resources; often refers to collective actions of multiple stakeholders working together in order to achieve common goals.
gross domestic product (GDP)
A measure of economic growth consisting of the total value of goods and services produced within the boundaries of a country.
growth
An increase in size or an increase in production; growth is a quantitative measure.
intergenerational equity
The concept that all human generations, including present and future, have an equal right to a stable climate and healthy biosphere.
paradigm
A fundamental framework for understanding the world; a coherent set of assumptions and concepts that defines a way of viewing reality.
replacement fertility rate
The number of births per woman that will maintain the human population size constant at zero population growth.
stakeholder
A person or group who can be impacted by an outcome or decision.
strong sustainability
An approach to economics which says that human and natural capital are not interchangeable and that natural capital is the limiting factor.
total fertility rate
The number of children born to an average woman during her lifetime.