As the environment is now more of an economic concern, economics and ecology are no longer being thought of as separate disciplines. In the third article in the Wilding for Conservation series, Jonathan Spencer explores this relatively new concept known as environmental economics, and specifically how rewilding fits in to this.
There is a reason why the words ecology and economics are so similar: they both have their origins in the Greek for home (oikos). Ecology studies the ‘homes’ of living things, while eco-nomics considers the stewardship of the household. What is surprising is that it has taken so long for the two disciplines to converge – environmental econo-mics has very much come of age in the 21st century.