Ecological Economics: Moving towards a Transdisciplinary Research on Sustainability

Abstract

This paper attempts to articulate the rise of ecological economics as a transdisciplinary approach on the research of sustainability. Intensive debates on the relationships between socio-economic development and ecological-environmental conservation have arisen since the 1960s. An emerging field of ecological economics has shifted the focus of the debates from limits of growth to sustainable development. This alternative interpretation goes beyond the perspective of neoclassical economics to view economy and humans as subsystems of ecosystems. In theory, the major objectives of ecological economics are to fill the gap between ecology and economics and to advocate a common framework that encourages productive dialogue and synthesis across a broad range of disciplines and approaches. In practice, it calls for control mechanisms to keep economic systems in balance with ecosystems. Highlighted is the view that ecological economics promotes a transdisciplinary approach that goes beyond the narrow boundaries of conventional disciplines to develop an alternative perspective on human-natural interactions as basis for effective policies for sustainability.