Ecological Debt. The Health of the Planet and the Wealth of Nations

The book analyses climate change as a problem of ecological debt. Using the economic analogy of financial debt it then explores what adjustment might mean in high consuming Western countries. It explores obstacles to change and which global frameworks are most likely to succeed in overcoming them.

With case studies, Ecological Debt also explores the impact of climate change on the pursuit of international poverty reduction targets and investigates a paradox of our age : how the global wealth gap was built on ecological debts, which the world’s poorest are now having to pay for. The book shows what can be done differently in the future - and what steps we can take to stop pushing the planet to the point of environmental bankruptcy.

Andrew Simms is policy director of nef (new economics foundation). He led campaigns for several major aid and development agencies and was one of the original organisers of the Jubilee 2000 debt relief campaign. He is on the board of Greenpeace UK and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Europe.

For more information go to : www.neweconomics.org