Stakeholder-oriented Valuation to Support Water Resources Management Processes
Stakeholder-oriented Valuation to Support Water Resources Management Processes

Author: Leon Hermans

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 9789251054772

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Today, raising capacity in water resources management entails supporting stakeholders and decision-makers to reach a common understanding on the priorities and necessary arrangements for sharing and allocating water-related goods and services. Valuation is central to this process, as setting priorities and making choices implies valuing certain uses and arrangements above others. Water valuation can help stakeholders to express the values that water-related goods and services represent to them. It also offers a means for conflict resolution and planning, informing stakeholders, supporting communication, and facilitating joint decision-making on priorities and specific actions. This report confronts concepts from the literature on water valuation with practical experiences from three local cases where an effort was made to embed existing valuation tools and methods in ongoing water resources management processes. It uses the lessons from this exploration to provide a first outline for a stakeholder-oriented water valuation process. This is expected to provide a useful starting point to help water professionals and policy-makers improve the use of water valuation as a means to support participatory processes of water resources management.

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Local and Regional Policy and Management
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Local and Regional Policy and Management

Author: Heidi Wittmer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-05-23

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 1136344594

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In this volume of the TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) publication series, the key concepts of the project are applied to local and regional policy and public management. The aim is to show that by taking nature's benefits into account, decision makers can promote local development to ensure human well-being and economic growth and stability, while maintaining environmental sustainability. The book explores the potential for local development provided by an approach based on nature. It offers examples of successful implementation of this approach from across the world, highlighting the importance of local decision making in management and planning. It provides tools and practical guidance for reform, and throughout the volume the economic benefits of environmental consideration at a local level are expounded. This book is intended to offer inspiration and practical suggestions for the improvement and sustainable management of the environment and human well-being. The local aspect of this book complements the focus of the previous three volumes, completing the set to provide a comprehensive approach to simultaneously improving and maintaining economic and environmental stability, as well as human well-being.

Economic Models for Conservation Planning and Policy
Economic Models for Conservation Planning and Policy

Author: Paul J. Jacobs

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781339064826

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It has been acknowledged that conservation planners miss out on great opportunities to achieve more efficient objectives when not integrating rigorous economic analysis in their modeling. This thesis presents economic modeling and research methods that not only provide critical information for conservation planning, but also for conservation policy analysis. Using the Delta Agricultural Production (DAP) model, I simulate a spatially differentiated greenhouse gas offset market for wetlands on agricultural lands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California, United States. I also derive a Delta wetland pseudo-supply function based on payments in addition to the simulated offset market. The DAP is a regional agricultural production and economic optimization model that simulates farmer's decisions based on actual observations in the Delta. Results reveal that current greenhouse gas offset prices are not high enough to incentivize farmers to convert any current crop acreage into wetlands, but additional payments will induce this conversion. These results can be used to identify the quantity, location, and costs of potential wetlands on agricultural landscapes in the Delta. In this thesis I also quantify the values of ecosystem services that Delta wetlands provide through nutrients reduction and recreation opportunities, by drawing on estimates from the published literature. The avoided treatment costs estimate of reducing nitrogen and phosphorus is $125 per acre and the recreational consumer's surplus is $113 per acre. Combined with average greenhouse gas sequestration values, a conservative and minimal ecosystem service value estimate for an acre of wetland in the Delta is around $450. These estimates, along with other services identified, are an innovative and essential tool for conservation policy development and benefit/cost analyses of public expenditures. My methods show that economic modeling and valuation techniques can play a vital and powerful role in informing conservation planning and policy decision-making. In addition, this thesis presents a transferable example that can be applied to other conservation habitat types and geographic locations using other economic modeling tools.