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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Marc, GERMAIN; Alphonse, MAGNUS |
| Date: | 2005–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2005048&r=env |
| By: | Smulders,Sjak; Werf,Edwin van der (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We study how restricting CO2 emissions affcts resource prices and depletion over time. We use a Hotelling-style model with two nonrenewable fossil fuels that differ in their carbon content (e.g. coal and natural gas) and that are imperfect substitutes in final good production. We study both an unexpected constraint and an anticipated constraint. Both shocks induce intertemporal substitution of resource use. When emissions are unexpectedly restricted, it is cost-effective to use high-carbon resources relatively more (less) intensively on impact if this resource is relatively scarce (abundant). If the emission constraint is anticipated, it is cost-effective to use relatively more (less) of the low-carbon input before the constraint becomes binding, in order to conserve relatively more (less) of the high-carbon input for the period when climate policy is active in case the high-carbon resource is relatively scarce (abundant). |
| Keywords: | noon-renewable resources;input substitution; climate |
| JEL: | O13 Q31 Q43 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2005119&r=env |
| By: | Claudia Kemfert; Michael Kohlhaas; Truong P. Truong; Artem Protsenko |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp533&r=env |
| By: | Susmita Dasgupta (The World Bank); Craig Meisner (The World Bank); David Wheeler (The World Bank); Nhan Thi Lam (Tien Giang Preventive Medicine Centre); Khuc Xuyen (National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vietnam) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the authors have assessed the incidence and determinants of pesticide poisoning among rice farmers in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. Blood cholinesterase tests suggest that the incidence of poisoning from exposure to organophosphates and carbamates is quite high in Vietnam. Using the medical test results as benchmarks, the authors find that farmers' self-reported symptoms have very weak associations with actual poisoning. Regression analysis of blood tests reveals a lower incidence of poisoning for farmers who avoid the most toxic pesticides and use protective items. The authors also find very large provincial differences in poisoning incidence after they control for individual factors. The results highlight the potential importance of negative externalities, and suggest that future research on pesticide-related damage should include information on local water, air, and soil contamination. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Health and population |
| Date: | 2005–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3624&r=env |
| By: | Ellen M. Douglas (University of New Hampshire); Kate Sebastian (International Food Policy Research Institute); Charles J. Vörösmarty (The World Bank); Stanley Wood (International Food Policy Research Institute); Kenneth M. Chomitz (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Conservation of high-biodiversity tropical forests is sometimes justified on the basis of assumed hydrological benefits - in particular, the reduction of flooding hazards for downstream floodplain populations. However, the "far-field" link between deforestation and distant flooding has been difficult to demonstrate empirically. This simulation study assesses the relationship between forest cover and hydrology for all river basins intersecting the world's tropical forest biomes. The study develops a consistent set of pan-tropical land cover maps gridded at one-half degree latitude and longitude. It integrates these data with existing global biogeophysical data. The study applies the Water Balance Model - a coarse-scale process-based hydrological model - to assess the impact of land cover changes on runoff. It quantifies the impacts of forest conversion on biodiversity and hydrology for two scenarios - historical forest conversion and the potential future conversion of the most threatened remaining tropical forests. A worst-case scenario of complete conversion of the most threatened of the remaining forested areas would mean the loss of another three million km2 of tropical forests. Increased annual yield from the conversion of threatened tropical forests would be less than 5 percent of contemporary yield in aggregate. However, about 100 million people - 80 million of them in floodplains - would experience increases of more than 25 percent in annual water flows. This might be associated with commensurate increases in peak flows, though further analysis would be necessary to gauge the impact on flooding. The study highlights basins in Southeast Asia, southern China, and Latin America that warrant further study. |
| Keywords: | Environment |
| Date: | 2005–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3635&r=env |
| By: | William Blomquist (Indiana University); Ariel Dinar (The World Bank); Karin Kemper (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This study represents an effort toward understanding conditions that affect successful or unsuccessful efforts to devolve water resource management to the river basin level and secure active stakeholder involvement. A theoretical framework is used to identify potentially important variables related to the likelihood of success. Using a comparative case-study approach, the study examined river basins where organizations have been developed at the basin scale and where organizations perform management functions such as planning, allocation, and pricing of water supplies, flood prevention and response, and water quality monitoring and improvement. This paper compares the alternative approaches to basin governance and management adopted in the following river basins: the Alto-Tiete and Jaguaribe River Basins, Brazil; the Brantas River Basin, East Java, Indonesia; the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada; the Guadalquivir Basin, Spain; the Murray-Darling River Basin, Australia; the Tarcoles River Basin, Costa Rica; and the Warta River Basin, Poland. The analysis focuses on how management has been organized and pursued in each case in light of its specific geographical, historical, and organizational contexts and the evolution of institutional arrangements. The cases are also compared and assessed for their observed degrees of success in achieving improved stakeholder participation and integrated water resources management. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Environment, Governance |
| Date: | 2005–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3636&r=env |
| By: | Ariel Dinar (The World Bank); Karin Kemper (The World Bank); William Blomquist (Indiana University); Michele Diez (The World Bank); Gisèle Sine (International Network of Basin Organizations); William Fru ((Consultant)) |
| Abstract: | Decentralization and increased stakeholder involvement have been major elements of water sector reform as ways to promote sustainable and integrated resource management particularly of river basins. Based on an analytical framework for relating decentralization and stakeholder involvement to improved river basin management, this paper infers several hypotheses about factors associated with greater or lesser likelihood of success of the decentralization process using data from 83 river basins worldwide. The results suggest that physical, political, economic, financial, and institutional characteristics of the basin do affect the process and the level of performance of the decentralization. In particular, the presence of water scarcity may be a stimulus to reform, uniting the stakeholders in the basin and leading to better performance; organized user groups push for the initiation of decentralization reforms but may be associated with costs to the process and difficulty of achieving decentralization; the existence of dispute resolution mechanisms supports stakeholder involvement and improves decentralization performance; where stakeholders accepted greater financial responsibility, complying with tariffs and contributing to the budget for basin management, the decentralization process and performance measures increased; basins with higher percentages of their budgets from external governmental sources benefited from better stability and support and it shows in the performance of the decentralization process. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Environment, Governance |
| Date: | 2005–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3637&r=env |
| By: | Kenneth M. Chomitz (The World Bank); Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff (University of Heidelberg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Although private forest use in Brazil has been regulated at least since the Forest Code of 1965, cumulative deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached 653,000 km2 by 2003 (INPE 2004). Much of this deforestation is illegal. In 1999, the State Foundation of the Environment (FEMA) in Mato Grosso introduced an innovative licensing and enforcement system to increase compliance with land use regulations. If successful, the program would deter deforestation that contravenes those regulations, including deforestation of riverine and hillside forest (permanent preservation areas), and reduction of a property's forest cover below a specified limit (the legal forest reserve requirement). This study seeks to assess whether introduction of the program affected landholder behavior in the desired direction. Simple before/after comparisons are not suitable for this purpose, because there is considerable year to year variation in deforestation due to climatic and economic conditions. Nor is it valid to assess program impacts by comparing licensed and unlicensed landholders, even though the program focused its enforcement efforts on the former. This is because, first, landholders with no intention of deforesting may choose to become licensed; and second, unlicensed landholders may be deterred from deforestation by the mere existence of a serious program that aims for universal licensing. To meet these challenges, the study applies a difference-in-difference approach to geographically explicit data. It looks for, and confirms, post-program declines in deforestation in high-priority enforcement areas relative to other areas; in more easily observed areas relative to less easily observed areas; and in areas of low remaining forest cover (where further deforestation is probably illegal) relative to high remaining forest cover. Thus, even against a backdrop of higher aggregate deforestation (driven in part by higher agricultural prices), there is evidence that the program in its early stages (before 2002) did shift landholder behavior in a direction consistent with reduced illegal deforestation. (The legality of deforestation was not however directly observed). The study hypothesizes that this behavioral change resulted from an initial perception of increased likelihood of the detection and prosecution of illegal deforestation, following announcement of the program. The study does not assess Mato Grosso's new system for environmental regulation (SLAPR) impacts following the change of state administration in 2003. |
| Keywords: | Environment |
| Date: | 2005–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3762&r=env |
| By: | Jean-Marie Codron (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UMR MOISA - Place Viala - 34060 Montpellier Cedex 1 - FRANCE); Lucie Sirieix (Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier - UMR MOISA - Place Viala - 34060 Montpellier Cedex 1 - FRANCE); Thomas Reardon (Department of Agricultural Economics - Michigan State University - East Lansing, Michigan - USA) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the environmental and ethical attributes of food products and their production processes. These two aspects have been recently recognized and are becoming increasingly important, in terms of signaling and of consumer perception. There are two thematic domains: environmental and social. Within each domain there are two movements. Hence the paper first presents the four movements that have brought to the fore new aspects of food product quality, to wit: (1) aspects of environmental ethics (organic agriculture and integrated agriculture) and (2)social ethics (fair trade and ethical trade). Then it describes how the actors in the movements producers, retailers, NGOs, and governments) are organized and how consumers perceive each of the movements. From the perspective of the actors in the movements themselves, the movements are grouped into two 'actors' philosophies' : a “radical” philosophy (the organic production and fair trade movements that arose in radical opposition to conventional agriculture or unfair trade relations) and a “reformist” philosophy (the integrated agriculture and ethical trade movements that arose as efforts to modify but not radically change conventional agriculture). From the point of view of consumers, the classification of the movements is based on perceptions of the 'domain' of the movements. That is, consumers tend to perceive as a grouping the organic production movement and the integrated agricultural movement, as they both deal with the environment. By contrast, consumers tend to group the fair trade movement and the ethical trade movement, as they both deal essentially with social ethics. Recently, key players such as large retailers and agribusinesses have adopted as part of their overall quality assurance programs both the environmental and the ethical attributes. Their involvement in and adoption of the goals of the movements have, however, generated tensions and conflicts, in particular within the radical movements, because of concerns of cooptation. The paper identifies challenges for those promoting food products with environmental and social/ethical attributes to communicate coherent signals to consumers at this crucial moment of an emerging mass market for these products. |
| Keywords: | Consumer perception, Ethical trade, Fair trade, Integrated agriculture, Organic agriculture, Organization, Quality signals |
| JEL: | L |
| Date: | 2005–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpio:0512002&r=env |
| By: | Antonio Morillas (Universidad de Málaga); Elías Melchor (Universidad de Granada); J Marcos Castro (Universidad de Málaga) |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se relaciona la especialización productiva de una región española (Andalucía) con el crecimiento económico, el consumo de recursos naturales y la polución atmosférica. Para ello, nos hemos centrado en dos de los recursos naturales básicos, como son el agua y la energía, así como en otros indicadores de calidad atmosférica, tales como las emisiones de CO y SO2. La metodología seguida parte de la aplicación de la dinámica de sistemas, proponiendo un modelo que pone en relación ciertas variables medio ambientales con las de otros subsistemas (laboral y macroeconómico). En el modelo se integran las tablas input-output de Andalucía (Instituto de Estadística de Andalucía) y los resultados recientes, respecto a consumos de agua, energía y emisión de contaminantes, obtenidos en la contabilidad ambiental, elaborada por la Consejería de Medio Ambiente de esta Comunidad Autónoma. |
| Keywords: | environment economics, dymamic systems, input-output analysis, regional analysis |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512003&r=env |