Economics of Ecology and Natural Capital

Professor Gurudas Nulkar is Professor and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, India. He teaches undergraduate and graduate students, supervises PhD students, and is engaged in empirical and applied research in the field of ecological economics and sustainable development. He has an experience of 19 years working in the industry, after which he shifted to academia where he has been teaching for the last 13 years. His doctoral research was in environmental sustainability within industrial ecosystems. This was followed by Post-doctoral Endeavour Fellowship of the Government of Australia. He has published four books, of which three are in Marathi language and one in English. His Marathi book "Anartha Shashtra" has received the Maharashtra State Literature Award in the category “C.D.Deshmukh Award for Economic Literature”. His papers have been published in reputed journals and as research reports. Prof. Nulkar hasserved as an expert on several committees and panels, including UN-ESCAP program, Government of Maharashtra, and Pune Divisional Commissioner’s Office. He contributed to the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority Draft Plan as an ecological expert. He is a member of Pune International Centre, Energy, Environment and Climate Change, and a member of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE). He has completed several projects funded by organisations such as World Resources Institute, Global Forest Watch, Centre for Environmental Education, UNICEF, and others.

1.      Section 1: Natural Capital.- a.      Natural Capital – definition, stocks, and flows                          .- b.      Ecological integrity and carrying capacity. -c.       Resource use and Economic growth.- d.      Biosphere as a sink for the Economy.- 2.      Section 2: Water Resources.- a.      Food security.- b.      Rivers and the economy.- c.       Oceans and livelihoods.- d.      Economic impacts of floods and natural disasters.- 3.      Section 3: Biodiversity.- a.      Forests as providers.- b.      Non-timber forest produce.- c.       Vulnerable communities and their livelihoods.- d.      Marine Fisheries.- 4.      Section 4: Ecosystem services.- a.      Ecosystem services and carrying capacity of land.- b.      Market mechanisms for valuing ecosystem services.