Abstract
Current practices in natural resources consumption are unsustainable and may eventually lead to ecosystem extinction. Sustainable ecosystem management is necessary to ensure that human and ecological needs of the present are satisfied without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. This paper uses a simple mathematical model of an integrated ecological and economic system representing our planet’s sectors, including, but not limited to, natural, industrial, housing, and energy production sectors. The aim of the project is to maximize the sustainability of this system, using Fisher information as a statistical measure as a measure of sustainability, and derive socio-economic policies using optimal control techniques. By controlling six policy parameters, we were able to sustain all the ecological mass compartments (which were not sustainable in the consumption increase scenario of the future), thus significantly increasing the lifespan of all the species in the model.
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This work was made possible and supported by VRI-CUSTOM (Vishwamitra Research Institute - Center for Uncertain Systems: Tools for Optimization & Management).
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Doshi, R., Diwekar, U., Benavides, P.T. et al. Maximizing sustainability of ecosystem model through socio-economic policies derived from multivariable optimal control theory. Clean Techn Environ Policy 17, 1573–1583 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-014-0889-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-014-0889-2