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Sustainability and prosperity in the age of ecological scarcity

Hosted by the Department of Geography and Environment

In-person and online public event (Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building)

Speaker

Professor Edward B Barbier

Professor Edward B Barbier

Chair

Professor Larry Kramer

Professor Larry Kramer

We have entered a new era of increasing ecological scarcity and rising global environmental risks - global warming, land use change and biodiversity loss, freshwater scarcity, and deteriorating oceans and coasts. 

Drawing on his book, Scarcity and Frontiers, Edward Barbier argues that how economies choose to exploit natural resources is critical to both their sustainability and prosperity. In past eras, a critical driving force behind global economic development has been the response of society to the scarcity of key natural resources. By raising the cost of exploitation and use, scarcity creates incentives to innovate and substitute. However, economies also avoid scarcity by obtaining and developing new "frontiers" of vital resources. How these two responses play out often determines which economies emerge as leaders.

In the present era, rising ecological scarcity and global environmental risks are a defining turning point for all economies, but especially those that are vying to win the “green competitive race” for leading global sectors and markets.  The outcome of this race will define how innovation and productivity unfolds over the coming decades as well as whether economies will become more environmentally sustainable. 

Meet our speaker and chair

Edward B Barbier is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics, Colorado State University and Senior Scholar in the School of Global Environmental Sustainability. His main expertise is environmental and resource economics as well as international environmental policy. He has consulted for a variety of national, international and non-governmental agencies, including many UN organisations, the World Bank and the OECD.

Larry Kramer has been President and Vice Chancellor of 杏吧论坛 since April 2024. A constitutional scholar, university administrator, and philanthropic leader, he was previously the President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dean of Stanford Law School.

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The Department of Geography and Environment () at 杏吧论坛 is a centre of international academic excellence in economic, urban and development geography, environmental social science and climate change.

This event is the second lecture in the department's new Sustainability Public Lecture Series.

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