| Chapter : | Introduction: Putting Ecological Economics into Sustainable Agricultural Practices |
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As the macro goal of ecological economics is the sustainability of the combined ecological economic system, it emphasises the two-way interdependencies between the micro and macro levels. In ecological economics, social organisation and cultural institutions at higher levels of the space/time hierarchy ameliorate the conflicts produced by the myopic pursuit of micro goals at lower levels, and vice versa (Costanza, 1991). Although the questions about ecological agricultural research arise from the local level, their answers may lie at higher levels within the realm of the political economy. As Bryant (1992) pointed out, the role of state policy in human-environmental interaction is that ‘such policies help to structure social discourse about environmental change, and are crucial to a broader understanding of the politics of such change’ (p. 18). Thus, agricultural policy formulation requires substantial research on the links between local production systems and the larger national economy, political structures, and decision-making processes, as well as on the roles and the limitations of the national and local authorities in policy development and implementation. This study employs a transdisciplinary approach to investigate the connections and the discrepancies between knowledge and actions. A major purpose of the work presented in this book is to present methodological perspectives and practical suggestions for the comprehensive analysis of ecological agriculture that will ultimately lead to improved agricultural policy making for sustainability practices. In this way, it offers hope for bridging the gap between local-level implementation and the larger political-economic processes.
Based on the research problems identified earlier, this investigation has two related objectives:
Objective 1: A transdisciplinary methodological framework will be defined, developed, and applied in this research to address the issue of sustainability. This methodology will be employed in studying the problems of complex systems (e.g., ecological agriculture) to demonstrate its relevance and effectiveness as a holistic approach in dealing with complex problems (e.g., agricultural sustainability). Within this context, the proposed methodological framework should have the potential to beget the effective analysis and integration of the ecological, economic,