New advances in economic modelling and evaluation of environmental issues

This paper gives an overview of recent progress made in modelling economic environmental systems and in environmental policy analysis. In the modelling part attention will be given to new integrating frameworks offered inter alia by materials balance approaches, especially in the context of linkages between physical environmental phenomena and economic production and valuation. These can be relevant for studying materials–product chains, multisectoral materials flows, or even multiple use of complex ecosystems. Modern approaches will be dealt with, such as analysis for sustainable development, and ways of incorporating scenario experiments in environmental modelling approaches. In the context of sustainable development, modelling of multiple use of ecosystems and of spatial dimensions is also discussed. In the last part of the paper new advances in the area of environmental policy analysis will be dealt with. The main focus will be on methods for addressing uncertainty in evaluating environmental policy strategies, in particular fuzzy information and the use of meta-analysis.