Cost-benefit analysis has long been a dominant method of policy analysis. When applied to policies affecting the environment, however, it faced a serious problem. Many policies exert environmental impacts that are external to market transactions, so the values of these impacts resist monetary measurement. This shortcoming in cost-benefit analysis led some researchers to develop indirect and nonmarket methods of valuing environmental goods monetarily. They include the travel cost method, hedonic pricing, and contingent valuation. The popularity of these methods has grown since their inceptions, but so have controversies over their use. Economists and others have taken all sides of the debate over the validity of the methods and their normative implications. These methods popularity and controversies necessitate their critical evaluation. This research fills this need through an extensive meta-analysis of 228 existing environmental valuation studies representing the contemporary practices in each method, and capturing varieties of environmental goods and settings. The analysis tested the convergent validity of the three valuation methods, and measured the moderating effects of select variables. The results show that effect sizes of the hedonic pricing and travel cost methods converge, but contingent valuation produces effect sizes that average 40% to 55% less than the other two methods. This difference varies significantly with the environment good being valued. Other significant moderating variables include the magnitude of the environmental change, the description of the change, and the location of the study. The year of study does not significantly moderate effect sizes. These results supplement descriptive and normative frameworks for environmental valuation described by Barbier (1994), Navrud and Pruckner (1997), and Norton (1995). When the evidence and these frameworks are considered together, the defensible uses of these three valuation methods become very limited. Valuation efforts should focus on multiple dimensions of environmental value, besides economic dimensions, that reflect ecological health and public concerns for the environment.

Concern about externalities associated with pesticide use in developing countries has motivated the development of integrated pest management (IPM) programs in these areas. In the Philippines, the IPM Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM CRSP) was established to specifically address the widespread misuse of pesticides in the rice-vegetable systems of Nueva Ecija, one of the major rice and onion producing regions in the country. IPM CRSP initiatives include research on the optimal use of pesticides, complementary weed control strategies, and alternative cultural and biological controls. If successful, the program should generate benefits that can be measured in economic terms. These benefits include improvements in water quality, food safety, pesticide applicator safety, and long run sustainability of pest management systems. This study was designed to measure the health and environmental benefits of the IPM CRSP in the Philippines. A survey questionnaire was administered to 176 onion farmers in five villages in Nueva Ecija to identify farm and farmer characteristics, pesticide usage, pest management practices, perceptions about pesticide hazards, awareness of IPM strategies, and willingness to adopt specific technologies being developed under the IPM CRSP. In addition, a contingent valuation survey was used to elicit farmers' willingness-to-pay to avoid risks posed by pesticides to different environmental categories. A comprehensive economic measure of the benefits of IPM CRSP was derived by 1) assessing the hazards associated with pesticide usage, 2) providing an ex ante measure of program impacts on pesticide usage, 3) predicting IPM adoption rates, and 4) estimating society's willingness-to-pay to avoid the health and environmental risks from pesticides under Philippine conditions. A measure of the amount of risks avoided as a result of IPM CRSP adoption was combined with farmers' willingness to pay bids for risk avoidance to derive a monetary value of the program benefits. The estimated economic benefits of the IPM CRSP to farmer residents in 5 villages in Nueva Ecija amount to 230,912.00 pesos for one onion season. / Ph. D.

Critical raw materials have become an important part in the green transition, and EU is not self-sufficient to secure the supply EU needs. LKAB recently released that the Per Geijer deposit in Kiruna contains large amounts of some critical raw materials, for example rare earth metals. If a mining permit of the deposit is approved, an additional mine would operate in Kiruna. There are different effects from mining, and some can be difficult to evaluate, since the effects may not hold a market price. Therefore, this study intends to assess effects caused by mining of the Per Geijer deposit in Kiruna. A choice experiment is applied which includes the effects of mining on the attributes; reindeer husbandry, outdoor activities and new job opportunities, together with a cost attribute of a potential municipal tax increase. The result identified a significant negative economic impact on both reindeer husbandry and outdoor activities, but positive on potential job opportunities. As well, men and those working in mine related areas are more willing to choose the ‘approved permit for mining’ option.

Aircraft noise, for the first time in Thailand, has gained public attention as a significant environmental issue since Bangkok s Suvarnabhumi Airport opened in 2006. Residential areas around the airport are expanding rapidly while local residents are protesting about the noise from the new airport which suggests a tension between economic benefits and environmental problems at the airport. This thesis sets out to obtain valuation of aviation externalities at Suvarnabhumi airport using the stated choice method. It is the first study to obtain and compare valuations from perspectives of the polluters (Thai air passengers) and the polluted (residents) at the same airport. Furthermore, this is the first study to obtain a valuation of local impacts from aircraft operations and from air passengers. It starts by investigating perceptions and awareness of the benefits and costs of aviation activities among Suvarnabhumi s residents and passengers using focus groups and questionnaires. It then employs the stated choice method to elicit willingness-to-pay (WTP) and willingness-to-accept (WTA) values of aviation externalities. The results found that the perceived environmental problems at Suvarnabhumi airport are in line with the literature mainly involving aircraft noise and its effects. This study also found that the development of the airport and surrounding area, while creating business and employment opportunities, has also created traffic and flooding problems. In terms of air pollution from aircraft, residents concerns are confined to local impacts from aircraft. Thai air passengers were found to be more concerned with engine pollution than noise. These findings were reflected in the values obtained. Two stated choice designs were used to elicit values. The first rerouted the aircraft flight path away from residents homes thus reducing aircraft noise and pollution in the area. This design also included travel time to place of work or to the shops. The rerouting attribute was not statistically significant. However, the travel time attribute reveals that residents were willing to accept 14.23 baht a month to have their travel time to work or shopping increased by 1%. The second design was used to obtain and compare values between Suvarnabhumi s residents and air passengers. In this design, attributes for aircraft noise, local air pollution and carbon emissions were included. Residents willingness to pay to reduce aircraft noise by 1% is 104.76 baht/year whereas passengers are willing to pay less, at 70.63 baht per year. Air passengers place a higher value on local air pollution than the residents. Passengers are willing to pay 97.72 baht to reduce local pollution by 1% per year, whereas residents willingness to pay is 45.36 baht. Lastly, passengers WTP to offset carbon is 473.26 baht per flight, whereas residents carbon offset coefficient is not statistically significant. The obtained values are well within the range of existing studies on aircraft noise and carbon emission valuations. Findings from this study suggest that current mitigation measures at Suvarnabhumi airport are still inadequate. There are areas where the situation is likely to get worse given the rapid growth in aviation activities and urban development at the airport. The values from this study may be used to help form the basis of fairer and more transparent compensation system alongside an operational mitigation policy to address aviation impacts. On the passenger side, the stated willingness-to-pay to reduce the impact gives an opportunity for the Thai aviation industry to promote an environmentally friendly behaviour among the travelling public.

Plantation forests ecosystem functions provide a range of indirect benefits known as forest services. There is lack of knowledge and estimation of the value of forest services.The main aim of the research was to investigate the environmental and social value of plantation forests in New Zealand. Each step of the research was built up on the perspectives of the stakeholder groups identified. A stakeholder analysis revealed that the most relevant stakeholder group was Adjacent neighbours. Through a postal survey forest managers and stakeholders indicated they considered as most relevant Erosion control and Water regulation (quality and quantity) Employment, Increased living standard, and Recreation. These services became the focus for the rest of the study. Through focus groups, the most relevant stakeholder groups, identified and ranked positive and negative aspects in forestry, and selected attributes describing the forest services. These were: Amount of sediment in water (water quality), Algae in water (water quality), Percentage of land stabilisation (erosion control), and Level of water flow (water quantity). The attributes for the attitudinal questions were classified as Community, Employment, and Recreation. The environmental value of plantation forests was estimated through choice modelling. The valuation survey was carried out only in Hawke's Bay. The payment vehicle used was increased regional council rates with the objective of monitoring environmental quality of soil and water. Several models were estimated by adding interactions between variables. Model 15b was selected as it provided best model fit and integrated respondents' demographic and attitudinal characteristics. The results of the model indicated that respondents who had university studies and positive attitude towards plantation forest community values were more willing to pay for improved levels of land stabilisation. The implicit prices estimated indicated that the wider community in Hawke's Bay have a greater appreciation for water quality (lower levels of algae and sediments). The responses to the attitudinal questions indicated that most respondents had positive attitudes towards the community and practical uses of plantations and employment-related values, particularly older respondents. The environmental and social values identified were linked with forest operations in order to analyse the impact they have. Land preparation and planting, road construction, and harvesting are the forest operations that have a greater impact on the levels of sediment in water.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Willingness to Pay (WTP) of conserving a ten hectares forest area in Rutvik, amongst the population of Luleå municipality. Furthermore, the study investigated the factors influencing the WTP and its impact on a Faustmann-Hartman rotation period. The tested influential factors were both socio-economic and attitudes towards use values and non-use vales that a forest stand can provide the society. The study used an empirical approach, were a survey was created using a Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). The survey consisted of three parts, where the first part asked the respondents general questions, the second part let the respondent rate different type of forest values and finally a last part where an open-ended question asked the respondents of their maximum WTP. The results indicated that the mean WTP was equal to 15.9 SEK for the total forest area. The results also demonstrated that income had a significant positive impact on WTP and that living nearer the targeted forest gave a higher probability of having a WTP. The only service that indicated significant result was altruistic values, which value had a positive impact on the WTP. It also indicated that the researched WTP extended the traditional Faustmann rotation formula from 56 to 58 years for pine and 75 to 78 years for spruce.

O trabalho aqui realizado teve como principal objetivo estudar o processo de consolidação da noção de capital natural no debate ambiental internacional e suas possíveis consequências. A noção de capital natural demonstrou, em nossa pesquisa, ser um grande mecanismo de simplificação e tecnificação do debate ambiental. Por meio dela, as pautas ambientais são transformadas em pautas de mercado e traduz-se os processos ecológicos na linguagem do valor, de forma que o debate ambiental passe a ser feito dentro do universo linguístico e simbólico do modo de produção capitalista. Para explorar essa problemática e pensar as consequências desse processo, escolhemos como principal objeto de estudo deste trabalho a noção de capital natural da forma como é definida e promovida pela Natural Capital Coalition (Coalizão do Capital Natural). Esta é uma grande coalizão internacional formada com o objetivo de promover uma possibilidade específica de entendimento do que viria a ser capital natural. Existem diversos tipos de definições de capital natural, porém analisaremos somente a promovida por essa coalizão, de forma que a noção de capital natural propagada pela Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) constitui-se no eixo central deste trabalho. Para realizar essa proposta, seguimos o seguinte percurso de análise: primeiro, produzimos um estudo acerca da história material e da história das ideias que possibilitaram o surgimento da NCC e da noção de capital natural que ela promove; em seguida, analisamos o discurso da NCC e relacionamos as principais ideias nele contidas com a visão de mundo moderna e capitalista. Por fim, argumentamos que a consolidação da noção de capital natural em âmbito global é um grave empecilho à superação da crise ambiental, a qual pode inviabilizar a existência humana no planeta. / The main objective of this work was to study the process which consolidated the notion of natural capital in the international environmental debate and the possible consequences associated to it. The notion of natural capital has shown, in our research, to be a great mechanism for simplifying and technifying the environmental debate. Through it, the environmental agenda is transformed into a market agenda and the ecological processes are translated into the language of value, so that the environmental debate occurs within the linguistic and symbolic universe of the capitalist mode of production. In order to explore this problem and think about the consequences of this process, we have chosen as the main object of this study the notion of natural capital as defined and promoted by the Natural Capital Coalition. This is a big international coalition formed with the aim of promoting a specific understanding of what is natural capital. There are several types of definitions of natural capital, however we are going to analyze only those promoted by this coalition, so the notion of natural capital propagated by the Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) is the central axis of this work. To carry out this proposal, we proceeded along the following course of analysis: first, we produced a study about the material history and the history of the ideas that allowed the emergence of the NCC and the notion of natural capital that it promotes; then, we analyzed the discourse of the NCC and related the main ideas contained in it with the modern and capitalist worldview. Finally, we argued that the consolidation of the notion of natural capital at the global level is a serious obstacle to overcoming the environmental crisis, which may threaten human existence in the planet.

A erosão acelerada do solo constitui um processo importante de degradação dos solos e da água e no entanto as consequências econômicas dessas perdas são ainda pouco conhecidas. Este estudo objetivou analisar o emprego de um SIG na estimativa do valor monetário da perda de solo nas áreas de produção de cana-de-açúcar e pastagem na Microbacia Hidrográfica do Ceveiro (MHC). Para a realização da modelagem da erosão laminar foi utilizado a Equação Universal de Perdas de Solo (USLE) e para a estimativa do custo o método Custo de Reposição dos Nutrientes (CRN). A estimativa de perda de solo por erosão da MHC mostrou que 38,5% da área da microbacia apresenta perda de solo entre 0 e 10 Mg.ha-1.ano-1; 20% na classe de 20 e 50 Mg.ha-1.ano-1; 25% na classe de 50 e 100 Mg.ha-1.ano-1. Em 91% das áreas de cana-de-açúcar a perda de solo estimada é maior que a perda tolerável. O CRN estimado médio para as áreas de cana-de-açúcar foi R$ 285,64 .ha-1.ano-1 e de e R$27,21 .ha-1.ano-1 para as áreas de pastagem. Quando analisadas separadamente a cultura da cana-de-açúcar e a pastagem, o valor médio do CRN é de R$ 285,64. ha-1.ano-1 e R$ 27,21. ha-1.ano-1 respectivamente. Além disso, para ambas as culturas o nitrogênio é o nutriente com maior participação na composição do CRN estimado e efetivo, sendo responsável por aproximadamente 82% para as áreas de cana-de-açúcar. A aplicação do Custo de Reposição de Nutrientes por Sistema de Informação Geográfica forneceu indicadores que permitem a análise comparativa quanto ao custo de reposição de nutrientes perdidos por erosão. / Accelerated soil erosion is an important process of land and water degradation; however the economics consequences of these losses are still little known. This pourpose of this study was to analyze the use of a GIS to estimate the monetary value in the areas of sugarcane and pasture cultivation in the Ceveiro Watershed. Average annual soil loss rates had been estimated using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), and the monetary costs had been estimated using the Replacement Cost of Nutrients Method. The estimated soil loss by erosion of MHC showed that 38.5 % of the area of the watershed presents soil loss between 0 and 10 Mg ha - 1.year - 1; 20 % in the class of 20 and 50 Mg ha - 1.year - 1 ; 25 % in class 50 and 100 Mg. ha -1.year -1. In 91% of the areas of sugarcane the soil loss estimated is greater than the tolerable loss. The CRN estimated average for the areas of sugarcane was R$ 285.64 year - 1 .ha - 1 and R$ 27.21 year -1 ha - 1 for pasture areas. When analyzed separately, the culture of sugarcane and pasture, the average value of the RCN is R$ 285.64. ha -1 year-1 and R$ 27.21 . ha -1 .year-1 respectively. Moreover, for both crops nitrogen is the nutrient with the highest participation in the composition of Estimate and Effective RCN, accounting for approximately 82 % to the areas of sugarcane. The application of the method of economic valuation of natural resources for Replacement Cost provides indicators that allow comparative analysis regarding the cost of replacing nutrients lost through erosion.

Environmental economics is the application of economic principles to the study of how natural resources are developed and managed. The methodologies used attempt to value ecosystem services provided by healthy, functioning natural lands and ecosystems. Ecosystem services attributed to natural lands contribute significant human welfare benefits that go largely undervalued or misrepresented in the decision-making process for the development of land. As environmental valuation methodologies and techniques continue to advance, policy decisions will be better able to create outcomes that maximize benefits for targeted populations and landscapes. The purpose of this paper is to first describe the methodologies used in environmental economics. These methodologies will then be applied to the Big Cottonwood Canyon Watershed located to the east of Salt Lake City, Utah. The case study will describe the ecosystem services provided by the watershed and value them. Using these values, the study focuses on the proposed development of SkiLink, a gondola system that would connect two separate ski resorts in two separate canyons – the Solitude Mountain Resort, located in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and Canyons Resort, located near Park City, Utah. The debate over the proposed SkiLink focuses on weighing its potential contribution to Utah’s economy against its potential environmental consequences. Based on a detailed analysis of the economic benefits and ecosystem losses created by the proposal, a cost-benefit analysis of the project will be presented along with recommendations for further study of potential development that would likely accompany the building of SkiLink.