Leadership research has transitioned from studying the character traits, position and background of individuals towards an exploration of the process of leadership. This transition has been welcomed by many scholars who claim that leadership is an ongoing combination of actions that are socially co-constructed by several actors (Crevani, Lindgren & Packendorff, 2010). Previous scholarship has recognised that co-construction of leadership emergence has taken place through the pursuit of common goals, meaning-making and joint outcomes (Bennis, 2007; Drath, McCauley, Palus, Van Velsor, O’Connor & McGuire, 2008; Uhl-Bien, 2006). Research on how leadership is co-created was insufficient to understand how co-creation was happening within the processes of leadership. The study investigated how leadership was co-created within a specific case context. This research was conducted on a global scale but undertaken in South Africa. It was further decided to locate the research during the evolving process of the concept of Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) (the emergent case context), which is one of many multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable development. NCA, however, has been pitched as an innovative tool to bring about well-needed systemic transformative change in society. Relational leadership theory, which is the study of both relationships and relational dynamics of leadership (Uhl-Bien, 2006), in the same breath, has been earmarked as an important mechanism for improving our understanding of the growing need for integration of processes, actions and tenets across disciplines in sustainability research (Nicholson & Kurucz, 2019). Relational leadership was the chosen theoretical frame for the study which provided the evidence of how co-creation happened. Five (5) key themes that underpinned relational leadership were identified and provided the structure for the emerging results of the study. These included “Context”, “Value creation”, “Communication”, “Partnerships and relationships”, and “Emotion.” Key experts from around the world within the emergent case context of NCA were interviewed to provide insights into the micro-dynamics of co-creation. Five (5) key tenets have emerged from the study. These were “Ambiguity”, “Credibility”, “Conversation and/or dialogue”, “Structures and systems”, and “Optimistic”. These tenets, interacting with each other and with other identified elements, contributed to our understanding of how co-creation in relational leadership was taking place. Relational leadership theory has been advanced by presenting a construct of co-creation, where the key tenets and other interacting elements identified were developed into a co-creation model that served as a modest theoretical contribution specifically to the relational leadership trajectory and to other relationship centred leadership theories and philosophies. The model served as an integrated mechanism to improve understanding of leadership and advance the implementation of NCA. Key words: Relational, leadership, Natural Capital Accounting, co-creation / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / University of Pretoria, Postgraduate Bursary / Business Management / PhD / Unrestricted

Economic activities are lacking in many townships around South Africa. The newly developed Reconstruction and Development Programme townships are also facing the problem of encouraging economic activities. These townships are always criticized for being overcrowded by the people who are unable to support economic activities because of lack of capacity to be employed. This study adopted assets pentagon method to find the assets which the people have in the township which they can use to support and encourage economic activities in the area. Assets Pentagon method includes social and political capital, human capital, physical capital, financial capital and natural capital. The availability of these assets in the township will be vital to encourage and support economic activities

Environmental threats to fisheries are a rising concern for fishery managers. Gulf of Mexico hypoxia is particularly concerning. In order to properly manage Gulf fisheries, the sustainability of species stock and its natural capital values should be analyzed. As an empirical effort, I use blue crab in Louisiana waters as a case study to build a bioeconomic model of blue crab under hypoxia. I apply the natural capital valuation approach to estimate the blue crab value function under hypoxia in order to assess blue crab sustainability. I find that blue crab management in Louisiana under hypoxia is not sustainable, being less so under increasing hypoxia severity. In order to manage blue crab fisheries more stably under hypoxia, regulatory agencies along the Mississippi River should continue current efforts to reduce hypoxia, and take steps to sustain more blue crab stocks by management regimes reflecting the severity of hypoxia.

Natural capital is a way of conceptualizing the linkages between economics and the environment. The concepts foundations can be traced back to the environmental movement of the 1970s and the works of influential economists at that time. Natural capital has come to have an elevated position in environmental conservation approaches in the United Kingdom. The UK government's advisory body, the Natural Capital Committee, is the first of its kind in the world to be established. The concept of natural capital points to those aspects of the environment that directly or indirectly are of value to people. Such aspects include the functions and services of ecosystems, species, and habitats, as well as atmospheric protection and clean air and rivers. Natural capital is also a central concept in the capital approach to sustainable development and the ecological economics field. However, natural capital has not been accepted into environmental conservation approaches in the UK without criticism. Considering natural capital's history then, and its current popularity in environmental conservation, this thesis is interested in addressing the key question: what is natural capital? To be able to account for natural capital's origins, definitions, development, and issues and debates about it, the method used for this thesis is wholly comprised of a literature-review. Throughout the review, reference is made to key scholarly works where natural capital is defined, developed, and used as a central concept. With regard to literature about natural capital, much of it is comes from scholars strongly associated with ecological economics. In addition, natural capital is analysed from three different perspectives. The first perspective is conceptual-historical, the second is a sustainable-development perspective, and the third a political-ecology perspective. From a conceptual-historical perspective, natural capital can be understood as a concept which has developed out of a body of thought of environmentally-aware economists who argue that economics must better take account of ecological systems and their complexity. From a sustainable development perspective, natural capital is a central concept underpinning a capital-based approach to sustainable development. Natural capital also features centrally in debates about how to give an operational meaning to 'sustainability' based around the traditional economic concept of capital. The key debate in this regard concerns weak versus strong sustainability. From a political-ecology perspective, the natural capital approach to environmental conservation is, in ideological terms, of a neo-liberal nature. Natural capital and economic valuation in environmental conservation arguably facilitate the 'monetization' and 'economization' of the environment. Natural capital is opposed for ideological and ethical reasons. Another view would present natural capital as a key part of the economists pragmatic attempts to improve the way economies are managed through better linking economics and the environment. By conveying the economic value of the environment we may be able to put it in a better standing in the priority policy-lists and economic-development agendas of governments and international development agencies. In the United Kingdom there continues to be an ongoing debate about natural capital's place in environmental conservation. This thesis is intended to be a contribution to that debate.

Thesis (MScConsEcol)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Wetland systems provide vital hydrological ecosystem goods and services to mankind. When wetlands are transformed, through invasion by alien plants or replaced with agriculture, natural capital is lost, and the system is no longer able to provide the same quality of hydrological ecosystem services. Natural capital can be restored, but it involves substantial financial investment, and there is no guarantee that these hydrological ecosystem services will be fully recovered. This thesis aimed to investigate the hydrological impact of the land-cover changes in the Kromme River Catchment over the last 50 years, by using a combination of mapping and hydrological modelling techniques. We hypothesized that wetland loss in the Kromme has resulted in a shift in the flow regime, greater responsiveness to floods as a result of less storage, lower baseflow, and reduced water quality. We also hypothesised that the riparian invasion by Acacia mearnsii has caused flow reductions as a result of increased evaporation relative to the wetlands. Modelling results predict that over the past 50 years, the transformation of the floodplain wetlands in the Kromme River has shifted the flow regime, reducing baseflows and increasing the responsiveness of the catchment to extreme rainfall events. The invasion of A. mearnsii over time has also been predicted to have caused a reduction in river flow. Various restoration scenarios were considered, however if the Kromme were to be restored back to a land-cover state comparable to the 1950’s, 26.9 km2 (65.1%) of A. mearnsii would have to be cleared, and 5.2 km2 (34.2%) of the wetlands would have to be restored. The hydrological benefits would include a predicted increase in riverflow (42 mm/a), baseflow (2.9 mm/a), an increase in flood protection and improved water quality. This restoration strategy could be regarded as a type of insurance plan, and the benefits gained in terms of increased ecosystem service delivery would be the insurance premium. In conclusion it appears that restoration, insuring natural capital in the Kromme River, would provide significant economic returns on investment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Moeraslandstelsels voorsien die mens van noodsaaklike hidrologiese ekosisteemgoedere en -dienste. Wanneer moeraslande verander word, hetsy deur die indringing van uitheemse plante of vervanging met landboubedrywighede, gaan natuurlike kapitaal verlore en kan die stelsel nie meer dieselfde gehalte hidrologiese ekosisteemdienste lewer nie. Hoewel natuurlike kapitaal herwin kan word, behels dit beduidende finansiële belegging, en is daar boonop geen waarborg dat die hidrologiese ekosisteemdienste ten volle sal herstel nie. Hierdie tesis het ten doel gehad om die hidrologiese impak van die grondbedekkingsveranderinge in die Krommerivier-toeloopgebied oor die afgelope 50 jaar met behulp van ’n kombinasie van karterings- en hidrologiese modelleringstegnieke te ondersoek. Die hipotese was dat moeraslandverlies in die Kromme tot ’n verandering in die vloei-regime, hoër responsiwiteit op erge reënval as gevolg van minder bergingsruimte, ’n laer basisvloei en swakker watergehalte gelei het. Daar is voorts gehipoteseer dat die oewerindringing deur Acacia mearnsii ’n verlaging in vloei veroorsaak het weens ’n toename in verdamping uit die moeraslande. Modelleringsresultate dui daarop dat die transformasie van die vloedvlakte-moeraslande in die Krommerivier oor die afgelope 50 jaar die vloei-regime verander het, basisvloei verminder het en die toeloopgebied se responsiwiteit op erge reënval verhoog het. Die indringing van A. mearnsii het ook volgens aanduidings mettertyd ’n vermindering in riviervloei tot gevolg gehad. Verskeie herstelscenario’s is oorweeg. Om die grondbedekking in die Kromme te herstel tot wat dit in die 1950’s was, moet 26,9 km2 (65,1%) van die A. mearnsii verwyder en 5,2 km2 (34,2%) van die moerasland herwin word. Die hidrologiese voordele kan ’n verwagte toename in riviervloei (42 mm/a) en basisvloei (2,9 mm/a), ’n toename in vloedbeskerming sowel as beter watergehalte insluit. Hierdie herstelstrategie kan as ’n soort versekeringspolis beskou word, en die voordele verbonde aan beter ekosisteemdienslewering as die versekeringsuitbetalung. Ten slotte blyk dit dat die herstel van die Kromme, en die gepaardgaande versekering van natuurlike kapitaal, beduidende ekonomiese opbrengste op belegging sal meebring.

The natural capital approach (NCA) has increasingly become mainstream in environmental governance. This approach involves highlighting the economic value of the natural environment in order to make better informed decisions. Despite its mainstreaming and growing appeal, critical voices endure. These critiques frame natural capital in the context of global neoliberalisation, primarily focusing on its adverse implications for the Global South. By contrast, this thesis examines the role NCA has in a national, developed, Western setting – where the issues created by global power imbalances and neo-colonialism are less pertinent. The UK is at the forefront of NCA, with its 25 Year Environment Plan outlining its ambition to embed the approach into environmental decision-making. This thesis adopts a poststructural approach in order to examine the underlying assumptions, constructions, and moral framework of the UK’s NCA. It constitutes a policy analysis that employs the tools of the ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’ approach to three distinct sites of analysis - nature, instrumentation, and justice. Findings point to how NCA rests on a number of contingent assumptions, produces specific problematisations, subjects and objects, and ultimately derives from a presentism ethic.

>Coastal and marine resources have been in global decline the past three decades. Research suggests that the decline is due to an undervaluation of ecosystem services. The Natural Capital Project (Natcap) has developed models to assess the impact of human activities on the sustained delivery of ecosystem services within terrestrial and marine environments. With the use of Natcap models, this case study (located at Cox Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada), examined coastal protection services provided by nearshore habitats, and provides an economic valuation of these services. The model results indicate that nearshore habitats do play a role in reducing coastal vulnerability and coastal erosion, with an "avoided damages" cost of $1 million. Sand dunes provided the greatest amount of coastal protection, whereas seagrasses were found to have a negligible effect. These outcomes can inform policy and decision makers about trade-offs regarding habitat protection, coastal development and climate change adaptation.

Este trabalho tem como meta uma exposição sucinta sobre as relações entre economia e meio ambiente, que foram, durante muito tempo, ignoradas ou relegadas a um plano secundário pela grande maioria dos economistas. Essas relações passaram a ser melhor investigadas após os choques do petróleo na década de 70, que mudaram radicalmente o enfoque sobre o binômio economia-meio ambiente, contribuindo também para essa mudança os efeitos cada vez mais visíveis causados pela poluição desenfreada do planeta. Discute-se também sobre o conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável, bem como sobre sua evolução ao longo do tempo e as duas visões concorrentes sobre essa questão, além de abordar, resumidamente, a qualidade ambiental e os recursos naturais de propriedade comum como bens públicos. O trabalho também traça um paralelo entre os modelos de crescimento neoclássicos e os modelos de crescimento endógeno, no que se refere à incorporação de variáveis ambientais, como poluição, energia e recursos naturais. Como contribuição empírica para a conexão entre capital natural e crescimento econômico, procuramos estimar a relação entre estoque de terras, empregado como proxy para o capital natural, e o crescimento da renda per capita para as unidades federativas brasileiras, a partir de 1970, por meio de uma relação cúbica empregando dados de painel. Verificamos que, quando se consideram, para o cálculo do índice de expansão agrícola, os dados referentes à área agrícola utilizada, que é a soma da área agrícola permanente mais a área agrícola temporária, o modelo empregado é significativo e bem especificado. Neste caso, constatamos um padrão de “explosão e quebra” do processo de crescimento econômico associado à expansão da lavoura agrícola das unidades federativas brasileiras. / This work shows, briefly, the relations between environment and economy, as well as your evolution along of the time. These relations were, for most the economists, during a long time, refused to secondary plan. But the shocks of oil in 1970’s changed this approach over economy and environment, contributing for this change the effects origined for the polution of the planet. We also shall discuss the concept of sustainable development, as well as your evolution and the two vision over this question, beyond the environmental quality and natural resources of unrestricted open acess as public goods. Will also be showed the embodied of the environmental assets in models of economic growth, both neoclassics as endogenous. We estimate, as empirical contribution, the relation between per capita growth and lands, employed as proxy to the natural capital, for the Brazilian states and the federal district, since 1970. We verify that, when is considered, for the calculation of the index of agricultural expansion, the data regarding to the used agricultural area, that is the sum of the permanent agricultural area plus the temporary agricultural area, the employed model is significant and correctly specified. In this case, we evidence one “boom and boost” pattern of the process of economic growth associated to the expansion of the agricultural farming of the Brazilian federative units.

Este trabalho tem como meta uma exposição sucinta sobre as relações entre economia e meio ambiente, que foram, durante muito tempo, ignoradas ou relegadas a um plano secundário pela grande maioria dos economistas. Essas relações passaram a ser melhor investigadas após os choques do petróleo na década de 70, que mudaram radicalmente o enfoque sobre o binômio economia-meio ambiente, contribuindo também para essa mudança os efeitos cada vez mais visíveis causados pela poluição desenfreada do planeta. Discute-se também sobre o conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável, bem como sobre sua evolução ao longo do tempo e as duas visões concorrentes sobre essa questão, além de abordar, resumidamente, a qualidade ambiental e os recursos naturais de propriedade comum como bens públicos. O trabalho também traça um paralelo entre os modelos de crescimento neoclássicos e os modelos de crescimento endógeno, no que se refere à incorporação de variáveis ambientais, como poluição, energia e recursos naturais. Como contribuição empírica para a conexão entre capital natural e crescimento econômico, procuramos estimar a relação entre estoque de terras, empregado como proxy para o capital natural, e o crescimento da renda per capita para as unidades federativas brasileiras, a partir de 1970, por meio de uma relação cúbica empregando dados de painel. Verificamos que, quando se consideram, para o cálculo do índice de expansão agrícola, os dados referentes à área agrícola utilizada, que é a soma da área agrícola permanente mais a área agrícola temporária, o modelo empregado é significativo e bem especificado. Neste caso, constatamos um padrão de “explosão e quebra” do processo de crescimento econômico associado à expansão da lavoura agrícola das unidades federativas brasileiras. / This work shows, briefly, the relations between environment and economy, as well as your evolution along of the time. These relations were, for most the economists, during a long time, refused to secondary plan. But the shocks of oil in 1970’s changed this approach over economy and environment, contributing for this change the effects origined for the polution of the planet. We also shall discuss the concept of sustainable development, as well as your evolution and the two vision over this question, beyond the environmental quality and natural resources of unrestricted open acess as public goods. Will also be showed the embodied of the environmental assets in models of economic growth, both neoclassics as endogenous. We estimate, as empirical contribution, the relation between per capita growth and lands, employed as proxy to the natural capital, for the Brazilian states and the federal district, since 1970. We verify that, when is considered, for the calculation of the index of agricultural expansion, the data regarding to the used agricultural area, that is the sum of the permanent agricultural area plus the temporary agricultural area, the employed model is significant and correctly specified. In this case, we evidence one “boom and boost” pattern of the process of economic growth associated to the expansion of the agricultural farming of the Brazilian federative units.

Este trabalho tem como meta uma exposição sucinta sobre as relações entre economia e meio ambiente, que foram, durante muito tempo, ignoradas ou relegadas a um plano secundário pela grande maioria dos economistas. Essas relações passaram a ser melhor investigadas após os choques do petróleo na década de 70, que mudaram radicalmente o enfoque sobre o binômio economia-meio ambiente, contribuindo também para essa mudança os efeitos cada vez mais visíveis causados pela poluição desenfreada do planeta. Discute-se também sobre o conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável, bem como sobre sua evolução ao longo do tempo e as duas visões concorrentes sobre essa questão, além de abordar, resumidamente, a qualidade ambiental e os recursos naturais de propriedade comum como bens públicos. O trabalho também traça um paralelo entre os modelos de crescimento neoclássicos e os modelos de crescimento endógeno, no que se refere à incorporação de variáveis ambientais, como poluição, energia e recursos naturais. Como contribuição empírica para a conexão entre capital natural e crescimento econômico, procuramos estimar a relação entre estoque de terras, empregado como proxy para o capital natural, e o crescimento da renda per capita para as unidades federativas brasileiras, a partir de 1970, por meio de uma relação cúbica empregando dados de painel. Verificamos que, quando se consideram, para o cálculo do índice de expansão agrícola, os dados referentes à área agrícola utilizada, que é a soma da área agrícola permanente mais a área agrícola temporária, o modelo empregado é significativo e bem especificado. Neste caso, constatamos um padrão de “explosão e quebra” do processo de crescimento econômico associado à expansão da lavoura agrícola das unidades federativas brasileiras. / This work shows, briefly, the relations between environment and economy, as well as your evolution along of the time. These relations were, for most the economists, during a long time, refused to secondary plan. But the shocks of oil in 1970’s changed this approach over economy and environment, contributing for this change the effects origined for the polution of the planet. We also shall discuss the concept of sustainable development, as well as your evolution and the two vision over this question, beyond the environmental quality and natural resources of unrestricted open acess as public goods. Will also be showed the embodied of the environmental assets in models of economic growth, both neoclassics as endogenous. We estimate, as empirical contribution, the relation between per capita growth and lands, employed as proxy to the natural capital, for the Brazilian states and the federal district, since 1970. We verify that, when is considered, for the calculation of the index of agricultural expansion, the data regarding to the used agricultural area, that is the sum of the permanent agricultural area plus the temporary agricultural area, the employed model is significant and correctly specified. In this case, we evidence one “boom and boost” pattern of the process of economic growth associated to the expansion of the agricultural farming of the Brazilian federative units.