Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Economic Valuation (economic + valuation)
Selected AbstractsECONOMIC VALUATION OF RIPARIAN BUFFER AND OPEN SPACE IN A SUBURBAN WATERSHED1JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 6 2006Zeyuan Qiu Abstract: This study evaluates the economic value of riparian buffers and open space in a suburban watershed through two nonmarket valuation methods. A contingent valuation survey was implemented in the Dardenne Creek watershed, a suburban watershed of the St. Louis metropolitan area in Missouri, to evaluate the residents' perceptions of and willingness to pay (WTP) for adopting riparian buffers and preserving farmland in a hypothetical real estate market. A hedonic pricing model based on actual sale prices of homes in the watershed was applied to estimate the market value of open space and other environmental conditions such as flood zone and stream proximity in the study area. The results showed that residents' WTP was consistent with the economic values of open space and proximity to streams embedded in existing home prices. Through a better understanding of residents' perceptions and values, riparian buffer and open space programs can be designed and promoted to achieve greater implementation success and environmental benefit. [source] The European Water Framework Directive and economic valuation of wetlands: the restoration of floodplains along the River ElbeENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2007Jürgen Meyerhoff Abstract This paper concerns the economic valuation of riparian wetlands ecological services within the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). The directive is an integrated approach to river basin management in Europe and aims at achieving a good water status for both surface and ground water. It introduces economic analysis as a core part of the development of integrated river basin management plans. However, to date the WFD has not clearly stated to what extent wetlands should be used for the achievement of environmental objectives, or what scope the economic analysis should have. Our study of the river Elbe shows that riparian wetlands provide significant benefits that should be considered in river basin management decisions. To neglect these benefits would lead to biased cost,benefit analysis results and might therefore misguide the decision-making process. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] The Governance of Rural Land in a Liberalised WorldJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2007Ian Hodge Abstract Liberalisation of agricultural policies reduces the influence of policy on land-use decisions, but environmental policy objectives remain. Governance provides an approach that recognises the role of institutions and collective action. The formulation of environmental policy objectives in terms of the provision of public goods raises questions as to the role of economic valuation and as to whether the definition of ,goods' may misdirect policy attention. An alternative approach relates to ecosystem services and sees management issues in terms of ecosystem resilience and the adaptive governance of socio-ecological systems. Governance involves a mix of regulation, markets, government incentives and collective action. Regulation sets the domain within which markets operate and social judgements as to property rights are required as a basis for exchanges. Depending on commodity prices, agri-environment schemes may be required either to reduce agricultural production intensity or to keep land under production. The diffuse nature of the environmental benefits and costs of land uses, the complexity of ecosystems and the need to co-ordinate land management decisions indicate a role for local adaptive co-management of land resources. Governments play a major role in supporting the institutional framework within which this can take place. [source] Valuing groundwater recharge through agricultural production in the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands in northern NigeriaAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2000Gayatri Acharya Production function approach; Valuation; Wetlands; Groundwater recharge; Ecosystem function Abstract This study applies a production function approach to value the groundwater recharge function of the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands in northern Nigeria. The groundwater recharge function supports dry season agricultural production which is dependent on groundwater abstraction for irrigation. Using survey data this paper first carries out an economic valuation of agricultural production, per hectare of irrigated land. We then value the recharge function as an environmental input into the dry season agricultural production and derive appropriate welfare change measures. Welfare change is calculated using the estimated production functions and hypothetical changes in groundwater recharge and hence, groundwater levels. By focusing on agricultural production dependent solely on groundwater resources from the shallow aquifer, this study establishes that the groundwater recharge function of the wetlands is of significant importance for the floodplain. [source] | ||||||||||