How should We Operationalize Bioeconomics for Strong Sustainability? Toward a Transdisciplinary and Systemic Approach in Line with a Goergescu-Roegen Epistemology

Abstract

Strong sustainability has not been truly operationalized despite the fact that it is one of the major challenges facing society today. Thus, this work proposes a way to rediscover the bioeconomic epistemology of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen as an approach toward informing strong sustainability operationalizations. Through a literature review, this article demonstrates how various bioeconomic studies (stock-flow or fund-flow models, multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism (MuSIASEM), mainstream bioeconomy, etc.) fail to operationalize strong sustainability as it remains trapped either in normalization or marginalization. To overcome such limitations, a systemic and transdisciplinary approach of bioeconomic epistemology is proposed to fundamentally redefine the logic of development as a qualitative change driven by immaterial objectives that are defined by the main stakeholders.