Integrating Economic Growth, Equity, and Environmental Assets Components of Sustainable Development in Tropical Agriculture: A Conceptual Framework

Carlton G. Davis

No 237428, International Working Paper Series from University of Florida, Food and Resource Economics Department

Abstract: Clarity of, and understanding of the key issues relating to the reconciliation of economic growth, equity, and environmental sustainability dimensions of tropical agriculture development are necessary for the mounting of effective development strategies for the twenty first century. It is argued that conceptual definitions and elaborations are key components of productive dialogue on the issues, and have attempted to facilitate this dialogue by developing a reconciliation framework embedded in certain key concepts. The reconciliation framework consisted of the following processes: (1) development and refinement of key concepts, (2) articulation of the nature of, and functional roles of key concepts within the reconciliation framework and (3) development of the essential arguments in a structured form of analysis. The conclusion reached is that fruitful discussions on the reconciliation issues must at a minimum, recognize that outcomes might vary, depending on: (1) the type of tropical agriculture systems, as defined by interactions between the characteristics of agro-ecological assets and the characteristics of socio-technical environments, and (2) the time period scenario used for the analysis, with respect to the location of the tropical agriculture systems below or at the limits of their agro-ecological sustai~ty capacity. Tropical agriculture systems that have not reached their agro-ecological sustamability limits, faces growth, equity, and environmental reconciliation issues that must be addressed within the context of complementarity between resource use and improved standard-of-living, given certain constraints. Tropical agriculture systems that have reached their agro-ecological sustainability limits, faces growth, equity, and environmental reconciliation issues that must be addressed within the context of trade-offs between improved standard-of-living and resource use, given certain constraints.

Keywords: Environmental Economics and Policy; Public Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38
Date: 1994-09
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ufliwp:237428

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.237428

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