As with other approaches to eco-efficiency, the ecosystem ecology perspective is coloured by a number of underlying assumptions and ways of approaching reality. Of particular relevance to this thesis is the world view that follows from adopting an ecosystem approach, the implications that follow from evolutionary change perspective of the natural environment and adopting ecological energetics as a means to characterise efficiency concepts.
Ecosystem-based assumptions and implications for eco-efficiency
The ecosystem focus results in a world view, and consequent approach to eco-efficiency that:
• promotes a judicious mix of holistic and reductionistic analysis; • emphasises the importance of boundaries;
• acknowledges complexity and questions an equilibrium view of systems;
Each of these is discussed in more detail below.
An holistic versus reductionistic approach
A major theme of ecological discourse is the argument between an holistic versus reductionistic approach (Hagen, 1 992). Reductionism claims the nature of a phenomenon can be understood by reducing it to its parts. Holism takes another approach. It builds on a concept of unified structures (wholes), that include physical bodies, chemical compounds, organisms; a creative synthesis in which the whole is the synthesis of the parts (Smuts, 1 926).
The debate between holistic versus reductionistic approaches is still unresolved in ecological literature. However, Golley (1993) points to a compromise solution. He suggests that what is needed is a judicious mix of analysis at both scales; the parts and the whole. The work of Koestler ( 1 978) complements Golley's call. Koestler points out that neither end of the reductionism-holism 'spectrum' is sufficient on its own for scientific research. "Both reductionism and holism, if taken as sole guides, lead into a cul-de-sac" (Koestler, 1 978, p. 26). Koestler offers an approach that attempts to account for the relations between wholes and parts through his concepts of 'holon' and 'holarchy.' A holon is "a stable, integrated structure, equipped with self-regulatory devices and enjoying a considerable degree of autonomy or self government" (Koestler, 1978, p. 26). A holon is Janus-faced in that it can be both a part and a whole. Holarchy implies a hierarchy of holons.
The lessons from Golley and Koestler are pertinent to an ecological understanding of eco efficiency. They suggest that an ecological approach to eco-efficiency would ideally promote a judicious mix of scales in analyses as well as a change of mind set that accepts that parts can be wholes and vice versa. From a pragmatic perspective, this suggests that examination of eco efficiency at various levels, from the individual production process, to the firm, to the sector and the national level all provide an important part of the emerging eco-efficiency picture.
The importance of boundary definition
In ecosystem ecology, the definition of system boundaries is of fundamental importance. In fact, the need to clarify system boundaries is a direct implication of the ecosystem concept (Golley, 1993) and the application of thermodynamic laws to ecosystems (Ruth, 1 993). However, ecology does not provide any direction on how to define boundaries. The common approach is to define them arbitrarily for the purpose at hand. As O'Neill et al.(1986, p. 4) state, "boundaries are abstract and precise definition is far from easy."
The definition of system boundaries is important for measuring eco-efficiency. This is because boundary placement influences the scope of the inputs and outputs included in eco-efficiency calculations (see section 2.4.3). Without a clear boundary definition, for example, the range of possible indirect inputs that could be traced back through the system would be essentially limitless. While ecology offers no prescription for where to place boundaries for economy environment interactions, the work by Odum ( 1 996), for example, suggests that an
'environmental window' as shown in Figure 4-12 is appropriate.
Figure 4-12: Odum's environmental window boundary (Source: Odum, 1996, pp. 3 & 6)
Complexity, dynamical behaviour and non-equilibrium assumptions
An ecosystem approach acknowledges the complexity of the interrelationships between system elements - in the case of eco-efficiency, between the environment and the economy. In the
words of Malcolm Slesser ( 1989, p. 423) "the science of ecology entails an examination of nature in all its interconnected complexity."
Acknowledgement of complexity leads many ecologists to reject detenninism. It is not true, Golley (1993) states, that the ecosystem approach requires ecosystems to function deterministically. Rather, it is likely that ecosystems evidence complex probabilistic behaviour over space and time.
Ecosystem ecology is also strongly grounded in a dynamical-system view of the world (Odum, 1983). Flows, cycles and feedbacks are all part of such an approach (see Chapter 2). Allied to this dynamical view is one that questions the existence of a stable equilibrium. While the concept of equilibrium has played an important role in the development of the ecosystem concept, (Golley, 1993; Hagen, 1992), there is still considerable debate over whether ecosystems tend towards equilibrium or not. Odum ( 1992) summarises current thinking when he states that ecosystems can be regarded as 'far-from-equilibrium systems' (Odum, 1 992, p. 542). The modern approach to the existence of equilibrium is through the concepts of resistance75 and resilience76• These describe how an ecosystem might respond to, or recover from, a disturbance (Golley, 1 993).
The implication of these lessons for eco-efficiency is significant. From an ecological perspective, it appears that systems do not necessarily reach (or perhaps even tend to) a stable equilibrium. Therefore, predictive statements about an 'optimal' equilibrium goal for eco efficiency are inappropriate (as stated in 4.3.3). Rather, ecologists use efficiency concepts as measures of the functioning of a dynamic system.
Evolutionary change and the maximum power principle
The many attempts (such as the MPP) to develop laws of evolution based on Lotka' s thennodynamic conjectures must be treated with caution. While there is empirical evidence for energetic regularities in the development of ecosystems and in both biological and economic evolution, Buenstorf (2000, p. 125) argues that "the generality of the evidence is not sufficient to support the proposed laws of evolution as strict laws of nature."
75 Resistance to disturbances describes how a system arranges itself to avoid or reduce change. According to Golley ( 1 993) this is a function of a number of things, including the structural mass of the biota, the capacity to store the essential resources, the redundancy of essential components and a history of survival of past disturbances.
76 The capacity of an ecosystem to respond after being disturbed is called resilience. Resilience is a function of several things, including the scale and intensity of the disturbance, the presence or absence of the biota, and efficiency. The resilience concept is central to many ecologist's notions of sustainability (see section 2.4.4).
Second, although the principle operates in some straightforward systems, its generality and applicability to more complex systems have not been fully demonstrated (Buenstorf, 2000; Hall,
1995). In response, Buenstorf (2000, p. 128) suggests Lotka's principles can be explained as
emergent properties of the self-organisation of dissipative structures which arise in systems made up by a number of interdependent elements competing for energy resources.
Ecological efficiency concepts depend on an 'ecological energetics' approach
An ecological approach to eco-efficiency is firmly rooted in what Wiegert ( 1 988) refers to as ecological energetics; a focus on energy flows through the ecosystem. O'Neill et al. ( 1 986) call ecological energetics a functional approach to ecology because it focuses on the functions and processes between the biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem.
The ecosystem ecologist' s primary focus on energy and matter flows provides them with a unified framework within which to incorporate and measure concepts such as eco-efficiency. The application of thermodynamics to ecosystem ecology reinforces the need for attention to both first and second laws of thermodynamics (Ruth, 1 993, p. 77). Both laws are important when considering eco-efficiency. By accepting the importance of the second law in particular, ecology maintains time irreversibility "with an emphasis on time as the axis of change, and on the incompleteness of systemic evolutions" (O'Connor, 1994, p. 66). Time, in this view, is "the Nemesis of any pretension to have determined the future, and connotes indeterminancy, ambivalence, and mutability of historical trajectories" (O'Connor, 1994, p. 66).
However, an ecological energetic approach to eco-efficiency is limited in three important ways. First, the functional analysis ignores some of the complex interrelationships (such as interspecies relationships or social and economic interdependencies). Whenever a functional analysis looks at fluxes of energy, materials and information through a system, it does so as though the fluxes existed independently of the species involved in the system. It is important to note that the functional approach cannot provide a comprehensive perspective of eco-efficiency. Second, Holling ( 1 973, p. 1) notes that the ecologist' s traditional analysis in theoretical and empirical ecology is "largely inherited from developments in classical physics and its applied variants." This is particularly the case for ecological energetics. The application of classical science to ecology inevitably implies a tendency to emphasise the quantitative rather than the qualitative (and the related pars pro toto problem as discussed in section 4.3.3).
Finally ecological energetics implies an 'objective' view of ecological interactions. However, the concept of efficiency per se, and eco-efficiency in particular are anthropocentric concepts, which involve value judgments (such as assigning a positive 'value' to assimilation and a negative 'value' to waste) (Ruth, 1 993, p. 76). In this context, ecology's putative objectivity is
misleading. The mere focus on efficiency in ecological research belies a value judgment about the importance of efficiency.
4.4.4 Summary of ecosystem ecology interpretations of efficiency and insights