research

Sustainability is a concept that is central to much of the research work that takes place in the seven research themes described below.  For a society to be sustainable,  its welfare should not be declining over time [WCED, 1987; Pezzey, 1989]. Sustainability is a concept which embraces the provision of traditional goods and services such as land, minerals, ores, timber, fish and agricultural produce.  Increasingly though the term has come to be associated with a broader set of ecosystem goods and services including regulatory and ecological functions, resilience, environmental amenity, water quality and biodiversity.  Maintaining natural capital is fundamental to sustaining a wide range of ecosystem goods and services to support human welfare. Much of ENRE’s research on sustainability focuses on accounting for natural capital such as the use of valuation to measure natural capital using valuation techniques, or the use of economic instruments to deal with degradation of natural capital, the appraisal of ecosystem goods and services, the valuation of biodiversity and its role in the resilience, stability, sustainability and productivity of ecosystems.

We also recognize the role of governance for sustainability. Economists place great store on economic efficiency but this will not necessarily result in a fair outcome or a sustainable one.  Efficiency does not necessarily guarantee sustainability between say current and future generations in terms of the distribution of natural resources [Perman et al., 2003; Common and Perrings, 1992].  We recognize that communities and civil society can play an important part in achieving sustainability.  Communities that are outside of or are not engaged in this process can come to represent important stumbling blocks in maintaining natural capital stocks and thereby achieving sustainability. To this end we recognize the role of governance, institutions, co-management, community groups and collective action in the management of natural resources and ENRE has developed a research theme on this issue.

Although the ENRE group are all economists much of our work is interdisciplinary in nature. Environmental issues are closely allied with other research in NUIG (public sector, conservation biology, ecology, renewable energy, water resources). ENRE collaborates with staff from a number of different departments at NUIG including Geography, Microbiology and Political Science and Sociology

ENRE’s research falls under seven main interconnected, multidisciplinary themes: valuation; behaviour, welfare and experimental economics; environmental policy and economic instruments; natural resource management and modelling; global environmental issues (biodiversity, climate change); governance institutions and common property; energy, and transport.  Each of these themes contains several funded research projects concerned with valuation of ecosystems goods and services, common property, climate and energy use, transport, industry and natural resource management and valuation. Environmental and resource issues are closely allied to other research areas within the discipline such as SEMRU  (Socioeconomics marine Research Unit), the RAEU (Resources and Agricultural Economics Unit) and the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and the Governance and Sustainable Development Cluster  (GSDC). 

Environmental valuation

Behaviour, welfare and experimental economics

Environmental policy and economic instruments

Natural resource management and modelling (forests, fisheries, organic farming)

Global environmental issues (biodiversity loss, climate change, global commons)

Governance, institutions and common property resources

Energy and transport economics

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