Human Well-being and the Natural Environment: Research Challenges in Mathematical Sciences

Given the impact that humans have on the environment and the fundamental role that the environment plays in supporting human well-being, sustainable development will require improved understanding of human-environment interactions and intelligent decisions to guide human actions in ways consistent with maintaining human well-being in the long-run. Human well-being requires, at the very minimum, an acceptable level of safe food, clean air and drinking water, safe shelter (housing) and protection from diseases. Two large problems are facing humanity in this century: (i) nearly half of the world population lives in poverty (less than $2.00 per day), and (ii) the high level of total energy and materials use are leading to global changes that threaten the life-support system of the planet. Increasing the material well-being of people in developing countries seems to be a global priority, yet bringing the entire world population to levels of consumption prevalent in developed countries, given current technology, is unsustainable. Key issues for sustainable development involve precise definition of human well-being, how natural capital contributes to human wellbeing, how human actions impact on natural capital, multiple tradeoffs among ecosystem services and other components of human wellbeing, and the role of institutions, technology and knowledge in promoting sustainable development. In this paper I will focus on specific areas in the relationship