A toolbox of models of a sustainable economy

The system of national accounts needs to be extended and enhanced in order to make it a meaningful tool for monitoring and analyzing the state of sustainability of economies. For Austria, indicators have been developed that measure welfare and quality of life at national scale. Their spatial context, however, has not been specified and these indicators do not refer to rural regions, yet. The tool - or better the toolbox - that allows analyses of sustainable economic development in a spatial context is still missing. Apart from the lack of spatial context, the sustainability indicators related to national accounts do also not cover biodiversity. The goal of this research projects is to measure and evaluate the interdependencies between the economy and the natural environment in a spatial framework. The normative concept is given by the requirements of sustainable development. Existing models (the agricultural sector model PASMA and the macro-economic model PROMETEUS) are used as analytical instruments and their capacities will be enhanced during the project. The aim is to establish an integrated modeling framework in order to take into account a wide range of environmental indicators and biodiversity. The interface to link different types of models and data-constructs is land use in regional context. The whole country of Austria is the object of the analysis, the level of spatial detail is as disaggregated as data allow - the objective is to provide results for all municipalities in Austria. The research questions will be posed in a participatory process. Stakeholders as well as national and international reviewers will participate in the work throughout the project period. The target audience of the project are the scientific community, instructors working in extension and education, farmers and the general public with interest in sustainability issues. Topics and example questions that can be analyzed during the research project are: Policy analysis: What are the economic and environmental consequences of the programme for rural development? In particular, what are the effects on regional value added and biodiversity? Sustainable consumption: What are the differences between households in rural and non-rural regions? How do they react if instruments to encourage sustainable consumption patterns are implemented? Biodiversity and land use conflicts: Marginal lands from an economic point of view are in many cases ecologically valuable - what will be the consequences on such lands if more biomass is produced on it? Climate change: What are the consequences for the management of typical crops if climate changes? How will regional crop yields, water, nutrient, and carbon cycles respond?

The system of national accounts needs to be extended and enhanced in order to make it a meaningful tool for monitoring and analyzing the state of sustainability of economies. For Austria, indicators have been developed that measure welfare and quality of life at national scale. Their spatial context, however, has not been specified and these indicators do not refer to rural regions, yet. The tool - or better the toolbox - that allows analyses of sustainable economic development in a spatial context is still missing. Apart from the lack of spatial context, the sustainability indicators related to national accounts do also not cover biodiversity. The goal of this research projects is to measure and evaluate the interdependencies between the economy and the natural environment in a spatial framework. The normative concept is given by the requirements of sustainable development. Existing models (the agricultural sector model PASMA and the macro-economic model PROMETEUS) are used as analytical instruments and their capacities will be enhanced during the project. The aim is to establish an integrated modeling framework in order to take into account a wide range of environmental indicators and biodiversity. The interface to link different types of models and data-constructs is land use in regional context. The whole country of Austria is the object of the analysis, the level of spatial detail is as disaggregated as data allow - the objective is to provide results for all municipalities in Austria. The research questions will be posed in a participatory process. Stakeholders as well as national and international reviewers will participate in the work throughout the project period. The target audience of the project are the scientific community, instructors working in extension and education, farmers and the general public with interest in sustainability issues. Topics and example questions that can be analyzed during the research project are: Policy analysis: What are the economic and environmental consequences of the programme for rural development? In particular, what are the effects on regional value added and biodiversity? Sustainable consumption: What are the differences between households in rural and non-rural regions? How do they react if instruments to encourage sustainable consumption patterns are implemented? Biodiversity and land use conflicts: Marginal lands from an economic point of view are in many cases ecologically valuable - what will be the consequences on such lands if more biomass is produced on it? Climate change: What are the consequences for the management of typical crops if climate changes? How will regional crop yields, water, nutrient, and carbon cycles respond?