SPECIAL ISSUE THE HUMAN ACTOR IN ECOLOGICAL-ECONOMIC MODELS

PREFACE

This article introduces the methodology of agent-based modelling (ABM), explains how it contributes to understanding the dynamics of climate-relevant behaviour and discusses the challenges to implementing behavioural theory in ABMs. Next, an overview will be given on recent advances in environmentally relevant ABMs. The conclusions address the future of the ABM tool in the context of environmentally relevant behaviour in research and education.

Many ecological economists advocate the need to evolve beyond capitalism if we want to flourish as a society as well as respect the safe boundaries of our planet. While becoming clearer of the shape and underlying value-structure of such a new system, we also need to think about how we can motivate people to take part in such a major social transition. This paper tackles this question by critically evaluating the underlying hedonistic-normative assumptions of current mainstream models for pro-environmental behaviours (PEB). In a self-determination theory perspective on human motivation and well-being, the paper proposes a 2-pathway model of PEB that integrates a relational pathway for environmental motivation. Based on insights from neurobiology and psychology, this paper advances current PEB theories and lays the groundwork for a new category of environmental interventions: experiential strategies. Thus, the 2-pathway model provides important theoretical insights into the link between mindfulness and sustainable lifestyles, as well as the interface between environmental behaviours and well-being. By recognising and investing in the relational capacities of individuals, we might be able to promote a society that prioritises self-actualisation over self-interest.

Formal models are commonly used in natural resource management (NRM) to study human-environment interactions and inform policy making. In the majority of applications, human behaviour is represented by the rational actor model despite growing empirical evidence of its shortcomings in NRM contexts. While the importance of accounting for the complexity of human behaviour is increasingly recognized, its integration into formal models remains a major challenge. The challenges are multiple: i) there exist many theories scattered across the social sciences, ii) most theories cover only a certain aspect of decision-making, iii) they vary in their degree of formalization, iv) causal mechanisms are often not specified. We provide a framework- MoHuB (Modelling Human Behavior) - to facilitate a broader inclusion of theories on human decision-making in formal NRM models. It serves as a tool and common language to describe, compare and communicate alternative theories. In doing so, we not only enhance understanding of commonalities and differences between theories, but take a first step towards tackling the challenges mentioned above. This approach may enable modellers to find and formalize relevant theories, and be more explicit and inclusive about theories of human decision making in the analysis of social-ecological systems.

In this paper, we attempt to build a new microeconomic approach that could be considered as a basis of the degrowth macroeconomic view. As degrowth is a critique of the dominant macroeconomic model of the endless search for economic growth, its microeconomic foundations can be built by searching a relevant grass-root economic initiative to theorise. Our approach is based upon the case study research of a self-harvesting Community Supported Agriculture in Belgium. The mainstream microeconomic model is based on the well-known Homo economicus assumption of individual self-interest and competitive behaviour. By contrast, our model is based on a holistic approach of producers and consumers, based upon trust, cooperation and ecologically responsible behaviours. This contribution participates to the flourishing literature on degrowth in Ecological Economics. We begin by reviewing the debate on degrowth and economic behaviour. We discuss the case study and its accounting expression that departs from the capitalist profit-seeking model. We conclude by explaining the limits and challenges of our model that implements degrowth on a small scale and in a capitalist environment.

Iran faces a serious and worsening water crisis, and water conservation by its farmers is rightly seen as crucial to any resolution. Whilst many farmers are profligate in their use of water, some are parsimonious: behavioural strategies vary and these strategies, we hypothesise, are accompanied by differing perceptions. These perceptions, we further hypothesise, are generated by the four different ways of organising – individualism, hierarchy, egalitarianism and fatalism – that are predicted by the theory of plural rationality. Informal guided interviews with 330 farmers in Boushehr Province support these hypotheses and show that both perceptions of and behaviour in relation to water are closely tied to the farmers’ ways of organising which, in turn, are influenced by the socio-technological origin of their water: wells, irrigation canals, qanats. “Egalitarian” farmers are already behaving in the desired way; they are most prevalent among those who rely on wells. “Individualist” and “fatalist” farmers are profligate in their water use; they are most prevalent among those who rely on irrigation canals. The modern technology, we suggest, could be re-cast, in part, along the lines of the traditional qanat socio-technological system, so that water, at times and in places, is delivered as a common-pool good (egalitarianism) and not just in the current public good (hierarchy) or private good (individualism) modes.

The debates questioning the meaning of growth point to a need for a more holistic understanding of human beings and of the economic actor, fundamental to economic theory and practice. This contribution turns to virtue ethics in order to reframe the self in more reflexive, relational and environmental terms. We explore the significance of understanding humans' sense of responsibility that is quintessentially relational, and of their capacity and need to relate to nature as well as community and society. We begin by reviewing the main arguments in the thriving debate in ecological economics, around what the characteristics of the human being can contribute to implement an ecologically sustainable development. Our aim is then to draw a link between this debate and that of virtue ethics, that leads to a different understanding of the human being, of what can contribute to individual wellbeing (and a good life): responsibility, we argue, is not only a value but a virtue, that enables individuals to find meaning in acting responsibly towards the environment, emphasising the multiple benefits that arise from framing good lives in active terms. We conclude reflecting on the challenges to, and implications of our proposition for government institutions, particularly education.