According to our theory many more environmental activities could be developed,
much more money should be invested, and in developed and developing regions as
well. There is no reason to wait until economies or human populations are characterized by this or that. Furthermore, economies, political instruments, legal regulations, private and voluntary investments might form coherent systems
complementing one another. We here recommend to use political instruments of
regulation such as taxes and subsidies. The globalized so-called free market is
according to our conviction hardly able to respect requirements of the environment
which are not linked to any profit.
3 Material and Methods
3.1 Data
We used indicators of economic conditions of a country and numbers related to the
natural richness and endangerment of biodiversity (N ¼ 188). Additionally, we used
geographical characteristics. Most data are online available (refs. see below).
3.2 Geography
We used longitude and latitude of centroids (with and without N/S orientation), the
area of the countries (in km
2 ), and the number of residents as geographical parameters (country related information on the internet, http://worldmap.harvard.edu/data/
geonode:country_centroids_az8, assessed 12/2019). The effect of the density of the
human population can also be estimated by comparison of GDP with GDP per
capita.
Furthermore, we used land use data from the CIA factbook with respect to
percentage values of area for arable land, the area of permanent crops, permanent
pasture, forest, and others (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook; assessed in March 2020).
3.3 Economic Power, Affluence and Inequality
As proxies for the economic conditions of a country, we used the gross domestic
product (GDP), mean affluence (GDP per capita), the inequality indices Gini and
Palma, and GDP sectors, i.e. agriculture, industry, services (https://data.worldbank.
org; assessed 3/2020, completed by information of the Human Development Report
2016 and CIA Factbook; https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook; assessed in March 2020).
Economy on Top, Nature on the Brink? A Closer Look on the Relationship Between. . .
205
much more money should be invested, and in developed and developing regions as
well. There is no reason to wait until economies or human populations are characterized by this or that. Furthermore, economies, political instruments, legal regulations, private and voluntary investments might form coherent systems
complementing one another. We here recommend to use political instruments of
regulation such as taxes and subsidies. The globalized so-called free market is
according to our conviction hardly able to respect requirements of the environment
which are not linked to any profit.
3 Material and Methods
3.1 Data
We used indicators of economic conditions of a country and numbers related to the
natural richness and endangerment of biodiversity (N ¼ 188). Additionally, we used
geographical characteristics. Most data are online available (refs. see below).
3.2 Geography
We used longitude and latitude of centroids (with and without N/S orientation), the
area of the countries (in km
2 ), and the number of residents as geographical parameters (country related information on the internet, http://worldmap.harvard.edu/data/
geonode:country_centroids_az8, assessed 12/2019). The effect of the density of the
human population can also be estimated by comparison of GDP with GDP per
capita.
Furthermore, we used land use data from the CIA factbook with respect to
percentage values of area for arable land, the area of permanent crops, permanent
pasture, forest, and others (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook; assessed in March 2020).
3.3 Economic Power, Affluence and Inequality
As proxies for the economic conditions of a country, we used the gross domestic
product (GDP), mean affluence (GDP per capita), the inequality indices Gini and
Palma, and GDP sectors, i.e. agriculture, industry, services (https://data.worldbank.
org; assessed 3/2020, completed by information of the Human Development Report
2016 and CIA Factbook; https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook; assessed in March 2020).
Economy on Top, Nature on the Brink? A Closer Look on the Relationship Between. . .
205