There is a growing international interest in and concern about natural resource economics and the environment. The economic activities of humans, during the last 200 years in particular, have had a profound impact on the environment. Reckless depletion of the world's forest resources, fish stocks and fossil fuel deposits has raised many moral as well as political questions. Furthermore, environmental problems such as acid rain, the greenhouse effect of atmospheric pollution and destruction of the earth's ozone layer are causing wide concern internationally. This book looks in detail at the history of economic though on natural resources and the environment, the economics of fisheries, forestry, mining, petroleum, coal and natural gas deposits, there are also chapters devoted to environmental degradation and the economics of the world's natural wonders. A key element in the book's contents is the application of the author's own theory of modified discounting to specific examples of natural resource depletion. Economics of natural resources and the environment provides information, detailed analyses, projections and theories which are relevant to the work of environmental scientists, agricultural economists, fisheries scientists, marine biologists and managers in the forestry, fishing mining and petroleum industries.