New Books: Greening India's Growth Costs, Valuations and Trade-offs Edited by Muthukumara Mani (26 Sep 2013)

Greening India's Growth

Costs, Valuations and Trade-offs

Edited by Muthukumara Mani

Routledge – 2014 – 194 pages

Descriptions:

India’s sustained and rapid economic growth offers an opportunity to lift millions out of poverty. But this may come at a steep cost to its environment and natural resources. This insightful book analyses India’s growth from an economic perspective and assesses whether India can grow in a "green" and sustainable manner. Three key issues are addressed.

The first is the physical and monetary costs and losses of environmental health and natural resources driven by economic growth. The authors undertake a monetary valuation and quantification of environmental damage, using techniques that have been developed to better understand and quantify preferences and values of individuals and communities in the context of environmental quality, conservation of natural resources, and environmental health risks. The second part estimates the value of ecosystem services from the major biomes in India using state-of-the art methods with a view to preserving them for the future. The third section provides a menu of policy instruments to explore trade-offs between economic growth and environmental sustainability using a Computable General Equilibrium approach with particular attention to air pollution.

The conclusions focus on the way forward in terms of policies, measures and instruments as India has to balance the twin challenges of maintaining economic prosperity while managing its environmental resources.

Contents:

1. Growth vs. Environment Debate

2. How much does it Cost?

3. How to Value?

4. What are the Trade-offs?

5. Way Forward: Striving for Green Growth

Annex 1: Methodology of Environmental Health Losses Valuation

Annex 2: Methodology for Estimating the Cost of Natural Resource Degradation

Annex 3: Details of the Meta-Analysis Functions used in Estimating Value of Ecosystem Services

Annex 4: Description of the CGE Model

For more information: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415719353/