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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Raouf, BOUCEKKINE (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Department of Economics); Marc, GERMAIN (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)) |
| Abstract: | The burden sharing of pollution abatement costs raises the issue of how to share the costs between entities (country, region or industry) and how the pollution permits should be distributed between the parties involved. This paper explores this issue in the framework of a dynamic endogenous growth 2 sectors - 2 regions - 2 inputs Heckscher-Ohlin model of a small open multi-regional economy with an international tradable permits market. Give an Òemission-based grand-fatheringÓ sharing rule, capital accumulation is more negatively affected by the environmental policy in the energy intensive sector. We show that such a property does not necessarily hold with a Òproduction-based grand-fatheringÓ sharing rule. We also show that the impact on capital is likely to translate into the sectoral added value level after some time, specially if the economy is submitted to an increasingly constraining environmental policy driving up the ratio price of permits to price of energy. Finally, we show that the impact of environmental policy at the regional level depends crucially on the specialization of the region along the baseline. |
| Keywords: | Pollution permits, Grand-fathering, Sectoral spillovers, Multi-regional economy, Endogenous growth |
| JEL: | D58 H21 E22 O40 |
| Date: | 2007–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2007010&r=env |
| By: | J.B. (Hans) Opschoor |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews what insights environmental and ecological economics have provided regarding the 'poverty-environment'- nexus within the 'EnvironmentDevelopment'-system. Various perspectives are discussed, such as 'the poor as agents' and 'the poor as victims' hypotheses, and more dynamic/interactive variants to these. Earlier reviews are up-dated. New perspectives on the nexus are identified, including: (a) institutions oriented approaches, (b) livelihood based analyses, (c) capabilities frameworks, (d) rights-oriented approaches, (e) pricing of environmental services (PES). Policies forwarded at the international level are discussed. Some of the new perspectives identified are beginning to penetrate into these proposals. The validity of PES as an overall recipe to dealing with the nexus is examined critically. |
| Keywords: | environmental economics, environmental policy, environmental degradation, poverty, sustainable development |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iss:wpaper:437&r=env |
| By: | Timo Goeschl (University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics); Grischa Perino (University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The literature on environmental R&D frequently studies innovation as a two-stage process, with a single R&D event leading from a conventional polluting technology to a perfectly clean backstop. We allow for uncertainty in innovation in that the new technology may turn out to generate a new pollution problem. R&D may therefore be optimally undertaken more than once. Using and externding recent results from multi-stage optimal control theory, we provide a full characterization of the optimal pollution and R&D policies. The optimal R&D program is strictly sequential and has an endogenous stopping point. Uncertainty drives total R&D effort and its timing. |
| Keywords: | stock pollution, backstop technology, multi-stage optimal control, pollution thresholds, uncertainty |
| JEL: | Q55 Q53 O32 C61 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0437&r=env |
| By: | Brechet, Thierry; Peralta, Susana |
| Abstract: | International markets for tradable emission permits (TEP) co-exist with national energy taxation. A firm trading emission permits in the international market also pays energy taxes in its host country, thus creating an interaction between the international TEP-market and national energy taxes. In this paper we model that interaction in a framework of a perfectly competitive international TEP-market, where heterogeneous firms trade their TEP endowments. National governments set energy taxes non-cooperatively so as to maximize fiscal revenue from energy and profit taxes. We identify the driving forces behind Nash equilibrium taxes. We show how they depend on the total amount of TEPs in the market, on firms' TEP-endowment and on the number of participating countries. We also show how energy taxation varies with the introduction of the market on a previously unregulated world. Finally, we highlight the fact that the TEP-market does not achieve abatement cost efficiency, despite its being perfectly competitive. |
| Keywords: | fiscal competition; Kyoto protocol; tradable permits |
| JEL: | H23 H73 Q48 Q52 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6209&r=env |
| By: | Timo Goeschl (University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics); Grischa Perino (University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study the optimal R&D trajectory in a setting where new technologies are never perfect backstops in the sense that there is no perfectly clean technology that eventually solves the pollution problem once and for all. New technologies have stings attached, i.e. each emits a specific stock pollutant. Damages are convex in individual pollution stocks but additive across stocks, creating gains from diversification. The research and pollution policies are tightly linked in such a setting. We derive the optimal pollution path and R&D program. Pollution stocks overshoot and in the long run all available technologies produce. Research is sequential and the optimal portfolio of technologies is finite. |
| Keywords: | horizontal innovation, stock pollution, backstop technology, multistage optimal control, pollution thresholds, overshooting |
| JEL: | Q55 Q53 O32 C61 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0436&r=env |
| By: | Ferenc L. Toth; Eva Hizsnyik |
| Abstract: | A comprehensive understanding of the implications of extreme climate change requires an in-depth exploration of the perceptions and reactions of the affected stakeholder groups and the lay public. The project on “Atlantic sea level rise: Adaptation to imaginable worst-case climate change” (Atlantis) has studied one such case, the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and a subsequent 5-6 meter sea-level rise. Possible methods are presented for assessing the societal consequences of impacts and adaptation options in selected European regions by involving representatives of pertinent stakeholders. Results of a comprehensive review of participatory integrated assessment methods with a view to their applicability in climate impact studies are summarized including Simulation-Gaming techniques, the Policy Exercise method, and the Focus Group technique. Succinct presentations of these three methods are provided together with short summaries of relevant earlier applications to gain insights into the possible design options. Building on these insights, four basic versions of design procedures suitable for use in the Atlantis project are presented. They draw on design elements of several methods and combine them to fit the characteristics and fulfill the needs of addressing the problem of extreme sea-level rise. The selected participatory techniques and the procedure designs might well be useful in other studies assessing climate change impacts and exploring adaptation options. |
| Keywords: | sea level rise, West Antarctic ice sheet, climate change |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:74&r=env |
| By: | Uwe A. Schneider (Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg); Bruce A. McCarl |
| Keywords: | Soil carbon sequestration, Sink dynamics, Mathematical programming, Land use, Optimization, Agriculture, Forestry, Greenhouse gas mitigation |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:81&r=env |
| By: | Marie-Laure Guillerminet; Richard S.J. Tol (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin) |
| Abstract: | A collapse of the West-Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) would cause a sea level rise of 5-6 metres, perhaps even within one hundred years, with catastrophic consequences. The probability of such a collapse is small but increasing with the rise of the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas and the resulting climate change. This paper investigates how the potential collapse of the WAIS affects the optimal rate of greenhouse gas emission control. We design a decision and learning tree in which decision are made about emission reduction at regular intervals. At the same time, the decision makers receive new information on the probability of a WAIS collapse and the severity of its impacts. The probability of a WAIS collapse is endogenous and contingent on greenhouse gas concentrations. We solve this optimisation problem by backward induction. We find that a potential WAIS collapse substantially bring the date of the optimal emission reduction forward and increases its amount if the probability is high enough, if the impacts are high enough, or if the decision maker is risk averse enough. We also find that, as soon as a WAIS collapse is a foregone fact, emission reduction falls to free up resource to prepare for adapting to the inevitable. |
| Keywords: | Decision making under uncertainty, West-Antarctic ice sheet |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:79&r=env |
| By: | Thierry, BRECHET (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Department of Economics); Franois, GERARD; Henry, TULKENS |
| Abstract: | Using an updated version of the CWS model (introduced by Eyckmans and Tulkens in Resource and Energy Economics 2003), this paper intends to evaluate with numbers the respective merits of two competing notions of coalition stability in the standard global public goods model as customarily applied to the climate change problem. After a reminder of the model structure and of the definition of the two game theoretical stability notions involved - namely, core stabiilty and internal-external stability, the former property is shown to hold for the grand coalition in the CWS model only if resource transfers of a specific form between countries are introduced. It is further shown that while the latter property holds neither for the grand coalition nor for most large coalitions, it is nevertheless verified in a weak sense that involves transfers (dubbed Òpotential internal stabilityÓ) for most small coalitions. The reason for this difference is brought to light, namely the differing rationale that inspires the transfers in either case. Finally, it is shown that the stable coalitions that perform best (in termes of carbon concentration and global welfare) always are composed of both industrialized and developing countries. Two sensitivity analyses confirm the robustness of all these results. |
| Keywords: | climate change, coalitions, simulation, integrated assessment |
| JEL: | C71 C73 D9 F42 Q2 |
| Date: | 2007–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2007006&r=env |
| By: | Robert J. Nicholls; Richard S.J. Tol (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin); Athanasios T. Vafeidis |
| Abstract: | The threat of an abrupt and extreme rise in sea level is widely discussed in the media, but little understood in practise, including the likely impacts of such a rise. This paper explores for the first time the global impacts of extreme sea-level rise, triggered by a hypothetical collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). As the potential contributions remain uncertain, a wide range of scenarios are explored: WAIS contributions to sea-level rise of between 0.5m/century up to 5m/century. Together with other business-as-usual sea-level contributions, in the worst case this gives an approximately 6-m rise of global-mean sea level from 2030 to 2130. Global exposure to extreme sea-level rise is significant: roughly 400 million people (or about 8% of global population) are threatened by a 5-m rise in sea level, just based on 1995 data. The coastal module within the FUND model is tuned with global data on coastal zone characteristics concerning population, land areas and land use, and then used for impact analysis under the extreme sea-level rise scenarios. The model considers the interaction of (dry)land loss, wetland loss, protection costs and human displacement, assuming perfect adaptation based on cost-benefit analysis. Unlike earlier analyses, response costs are represented in a non-linear manner, including a sensitivity analysis based on response costs. It is found that much of the world’s coast would be abandoned given these extreme scenarios, although according to the global model, significant lengths of the world’s coast are worth defending even in the most extreme case. Hence, this suggests that actual population displacement would be a small fraction of the potential population displacement. This result is consistent with the present distribution of coastal population, which is heavily concentrated in specific areas. Hence a partial defence can protect most of the world’s coastal population. However, protection costs rise substantially diverting large amounts of investment from other sectors, and large areas of (dry)land and coastal wetlands are still predicted to be lost. While some observations of response to abrupt relative sea-level rise due to subsidence support the global model results, detailed case studies of the WAIS collapse in the Netherlands, Thames Estuary and the Rhone delta suggest a greater potential for abandonment than shown by the global model. This probably reflects a range of issues, including: (1) economic criteria such as the cost-benefit ratio is not the only factor which drives response decisions, with wider perceptions of risk driving the actual response; (2) the inefficiencies of adaptation in the real world, including indecision and competition for limited resources; and (3) the possible loss of confidence under the scenario of abrupt climate change. Collectively, these results illustrate an area where there are potential limits to adaptation, even when economic analysis suggests that adaptation will occur. The significant impacts found in the global model together with the potential for greater impacts as found in the detailed case studies shows that the response to abrupt sea-level rise is worthy of further research, including exploring the differing impact results by scale. |
| Keywords: | Abrupt climate change, sea-level rise, coastal impacts, adaptation, adaptation limits |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:78&r=env |
| By: | Roger E. Kasperson; Maria T. Bohn; Clark L. Goble |
| Abstract: | Our aim is to make an appropriate characterization and interpretation of the risk problem of rapid large sea level rise that reflects the very large uncertainty in present day knowledge concerning this possibility, and that will be useful in informing discussion about risk management approaches. We consider mainly the potential collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet as the source of such a sea level rise. Our review, characterization and interpretation of the risk makes us conclude that the risk of a rapid large sea level rise is characterized by potentially catastrophic consequences and high epistemic uncertainty; effective risk management must involve highly adaptive management regimes, vulnerability reduction, and prompt development of capabilities for precautionary reduction of climate change forcings. |
| Keywords: | sea level rise, West Antarctic ice sheet, climate change, adaptive management, epistemic uncertainty, risk management arenas, vulnerability |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:73&r=env |
| By: | Marc Poumadere; Claire Mays; Gabriela Pfeifle; Athanasios T. Vafeidis |
| Abstract: | Risk policy and public attitudes appear disconnected from research predicting warmer climate partially due to human activity. To step out of this stalled situation, a worst case scenario of a 5-6m sea level rise (SLR) induced by the collapse of the WAIS and occurring during the period 2030-2130 is constructed and applied to the Rhone delta. Physical and socio-economic scenarios developed with data from the Rhone delta context are developed and submitted to stakeholders for a day-long workshop. Group process analysis shows a high level of trust and cooperation mobilized to face the 5-6m SLR issue, despite potentially diverging interests. Two sets of recommendations stem from the scenario workshop. A conservative "wait and see" option is decided when the risk of the WAIS collapse is announced in 2030. After WAIS collapse generates an effective 1m SLR rise by 2050, decisions are taken for total retreat and rendering of the Rhone delta to its hydrological function. The transposition of these results into present times policy decisions could be considered. The methodology developed here could be applied to other risk objects and situations, and serve for policy exercises and crisis prevention. |
| Keywords: | Sea level rise, France, Camargue, scenario, extreme climate, stakeholder workshop |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:76&r=env |
| By: | Kevin Guerin (New Zealand Treasury) |
| Abstract: | New Zealand is facing increasing challenges in managing natural resources (land, freshwater, marine space and air quality) under pressures from domestic (population growth, agricultural intensification, cultural expectations) and international (climate change) sources. These challenges can be described in terms of managing ‘wicked problems’; i.e. problems that may not be understood fully until they have been solved, where stakeholders have different world views and frames for understanding the problem, the constraints affecting the problem and the resources required to solve it change over time, and no complete solution is ever actually found. Adaptive governance addresses wicked problems through a framework to engage stakeholders in a participative process to create a long term vision. The vision must identify competing goals and a process for balancing them over time that acknowledges conflicts cannot always be resolved in a single lasting decision. Circumstances, goals and priorities can all vary over time and by region. The Resource Management Act can be seen as an adaptive governance structure where frameworks for resources such as water may take years to evolve and decades to fully implement. Adaptive management is about delivery through an incremental/experimental approach, limits on the certainty that governments can provide and stakeholders can demand, and flexibility in processes and results. In New Zealand it also requires balancing central government expertise and resources, with local authorities which can reflect local goals and knowledge, but have varying resources and can face quite distinct issues of widely differing severity. It is important to signal the incremental, overlapping, iterative and time-consuming nature of the work involved in developing and implementing adaptive governance and management frameworks. Managing the expectations of those involved as to the nature of the process and their role in it, and the scope and timing of likely outcomes, is key to sustaining participation. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive capacity; governance; resilience |
| JEL: | Q28 Q58 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nzt:nztwps:07/03&r=env |
| By: | landiyanto, Erlangga agustino; wardaya, Wirya |
| Abstract: | Selama ini, aktifitas pembangunan yang terfokus pada pertumbuhan mengakibatkan dampak negatif dan meyebabkan penurunan kondisi ekologi dan deplesi sumber daya alam. Oleh karena itu, pengelolaan sumber daya alam nasional dan lingkungan di masa mendatang harus didasarkan pada aspek penting pada produksi dan ruang aktifitas untuk konservasi dan kesehatan lingkungan. Oleh karena itu, analisis dalam makalah ini difokuskan dalam perumusan acuan serta penyusunan kerangka neraca sumber daya alam dan lingkungan (NSDAL) pada suatu wilayah. Selain itu, dalam makalah ini juga dianalisis tentang penyusunan kerangka penghitungan PDRB hijau di suatu wilayah. |
| Keywords: | PDRB Hijau; NSDAL; Lingkungan |
| JEL: | Q5 Q56 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2381&r=env |
| By: | Jacqueline M. Hamilton (Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | The impact of climate change on tourism has been examined in terms of changes in a destinations climate; the impact of ancillary effects such as sea-level rise has been neglected. In this study the role that coastal and other landscape features have on the attractiveness of tourist destinations is examined using the hedonic price technique. The average price of accommodation in the coastal districts of Schleswig-Holstein is explained using landscape and other characteristics of these districts. As the western coastline of Schleswig-Holstein is protected by dikes, adaptation measures as well as natural coastal features are represented in the data set. The analysis shows that an increase in the length of dikes in a given district would result in a reduction in the average price of accommodation. An increase in the length of open coast results in an increase in the average price of accommodation. The impact of sea-level rise is examined through an assessment of the financial losses in the accommodation sector through the modification of the coastline caused by the construction of different coastal protection measures. It was found that, purely in terms of accommodation revenues, beach nourishment rather than dike construction is the more beneficial adaptation measure. |
| Keywords: | accommodation price, hedonic price technique, coastal landscape, climate change, adaptation |
| JEL: | L83 |
| Date: | 2005–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:91&r=env |
| By: | JINJI Naoto |
| Abstract: | Illegal extractions of renewable resources threaten sustainable use of those resources. The world community has recently paid increasing attention to the issue of illegal logging. This paper tries to explain why it is important to exclude illegally logged timber from the international market by using a stylized model in the literature of trade and renewable resources. It is shown that a fall in the price of timber may cause a switch of management regime from enforced property rights to open-access, expanding the supply of timber and reducing forest stock. When several countries export timber, an increase in illegal logging in one country due to a regime switch may also increase illegal logging in other countries. While conflicting with the GATT/WTO rules for reasons of discrimination by process and production methods (PPMs), import restrictions only on illegally logged timber will be effective to prevent the international diffusion of illegal logging. |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:07011&r=env |
| By: | Arezki, Rabah; van der Ploeg, Frederick |
| Abstract: | We criticize existing empirical results on the detrimental effects of natural resource dependence on the rate of economic growth after controlling for institutional quality, openness, and initial income. These results do not survive once we use instrumental variables techniques to correct for the endogenous nature of the explanatory variables. Furthermore, they suffer from omitted variables bias as they overestimate the effect of initial income per capita and thus underestimate the speed of conditional convergence. Instead, we provide new evidence for the impact of natural resource dependence on income per capita in a systematic empirical cross-country framework. In addition to a significant negative direct impact of natural resources on income per capita, we find a significant indirect effect of natural resources on institutions. We allow for interaction effects and provide evidence that the natural resource curse is particularly severe for economic performance in countries with a low degree of trade openness. Adopting policies directed toward more trade openness may thus soften the impact of a resource curse. We also check the robustness of our results by using a variety of instruments and also employing the ratio of natural capital rather than natural resource exports to national income as an explanatory variable. We find evidence that resource abundance, measured by the stock of natural capital, also induces a resource curse, but less severely for countries that are relatively open. |
| Keywords: | growth performance; income per capita; institutions; resource curse; trade policies |
| JEL: | C21 C82 O11 O41 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6225&r=env |
| By: | Singh, Rajesh; Weninger, Quinn; Doyle, Matthew |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic model of a fishery which simultaneously incorporates random stock growth and costly capital adjustment. Numerical techniques are used to solve for the resource-rent-maximizing harvest and capital investment policies. Capital rigidities bring diminishing marginal returns to the current period harvest, and introduce an incentive to smooth the catch over time. With density dependent stock growth, however, catch smoothing increases stock variability resulting in reduced average yields. The optimal management policy balances the catch smoothing benefits against yield loss. We calibrate the model to the Alaskan pacific halibut fishery to demonstrate the main insights. |
| Keywords: | Stochastic growth; Costly capital adjustment; Pacific halibut fishery |
| JEL: | D2 Q2 |
| Date: | 2007–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12765&r=env |
| By: | Christine Schleupner (Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | Sea level in the Caribbean region is expected to rise approximately10-20 cm by 2025. In some areas of Martinique coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion are already a severe problem. Because the island has a mountainous character, the majority of its settlements are situated along the coast almost at sea level. Considerations and strategies for dealing with potential sea level rise and its consequences for Martinique do not exist. This part of a detailed case study concentrates on the evaluation of sea level rise impacts on Martinique. It is going to test the suitability of spatial data for impact scenarios at a regional scale. Also, it conceptualises the possible effects of sea level rise on the island for future regional planning purposes. An elevation model is created that visualises the low-lying coastal areas and a second model evaluates the sensitivity of each coastal segment to erosion, flooding and inundation. The resulting map distinguishes between coastal parts at high, medium, or low risk to sea level rise impacts. Results show that nearly three quarters of the Martinique coast are highly sensitive to flooding and erosion. |
| Keywords: | Caribbean, Lesser Antilles, Regional Planning, GIS, Climate Change, Coastal Change, Erosion, Inundation |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:71&r=env |
| By: | Grafton, Quentin R.; Arnason, Ragnar; Bjorndal, Trond; Campbell, David; Campbell, Harry F.; Clark, Colin W.; Connor, Robin; Dupont, Diane P.; Hannesson, Rognvaldur; Hillborn, Ray; Kirkley, James E.; Kompas, Tom; Lane, Daniel E.; Munro, Gordon R.; Pascoe, Sean; Squires, Dale; Steinshamn, Stein Ivar; Turris, Bruce R.; Weninger, Quinn |
| Abstract: | The failures of traditional target-species management have led many to propose an ecosystem approach to fisheries to promote sustainability. The ecosystem approach is necessary, especially to account for fishery–ecosystem interactions, but by itself is not sufficient to address two important factors contributing to unsustainable fisheries: inappropriate incentives bearing on fishers and the ineffective governance that frequently exists in commercial, developed fisheries managed primarily by total-harvest limits and input controls. We contend that much greater emphasis must be placed on fisher motivation when managing fisheries. Using evidence from more than a dozen natural experiments in commercial fisheries, we argue that incentive-based approaches that better specify community and individual harvest or territorial rights and price ecosystem services and that are coupled with public research, monitoring, and effective oversight promote sustainable fisheries. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable fisheries, incentive-based approaches |
| Date: | 2007–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12766&r=env |
| By: | Kate G. Lonsdale; Thomas E. Downing; Robert J. Nicholls; Dennis Parker; Athanasios T. Vafeidis; Richard Dawson; Jim Hall |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the perceptions and responses of selected stakeholders to a scenarion of rapid rise in sea-level due to the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which could produce a global rise in sea-level of 5 to 6 metres. Through a process of dialogue involving one-to one interviews and a one-day policy exercise, we addressed influences on decision-making when information is uncertain and our ability to plan, prepare for and implement effective ways of coping with this extreme scenario. Through these interactions we hoped to uncover plausible responses to the scenario and identify potential weaknesses in our current flood management approaches to dealing with such an occurrence. By undertaking this exploratory exercise we hoped to find out whether this was a feasible way to deal with such a low probability but high consequence scenario. It was the process of finding a solution that interested us rather than the technical merits of one solution over another. We were not intending to produce definitive set of recommendations on how to respond but to gain insights into the process of making a decision, specifically what influences it and what assumptions are made. |
| Keywords: | Sea level rise, London |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:77&r=env |
| By: | Agustin, PEREZ-BARAHONA |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the possibilities of technical progress to deal with the growth limit problem imposed by the usage of non-renewable energy resources, when physical capital production is relatively more energy-intensive than consumption. In particular, this work presents the conditions under which energy-saving technologies can sustain long-run growth, although energy is produced by means of non-renewable energy resources. The mechanism behind that is energy efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Nonrenewable resources, Energy-saving technical progress, Economic growth |
| JEL: | O31 O41 Q30 Q43 |
| Date: | 2007–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2007007&r=env |
| By: | Hogberg, M. G.; Fales, S. L.; Kirschenmann, F. L.; Honeyman, M. S.; Miranowski, John; Lasley, P. |
| Abstract: | Animal agriculture is closely interrelated to both the natural environment and human systems, including rural communities. Accordingly, changes in animal agriculture can have wide-ranging consequences across many areas. During the past 50 yr, there has been tremendous change in animal agriculture, involving an increase in the size of production units, greater reliance on technology, a corresponding decrease in human labor, increased confinement of animals, and a general trend toward monoculture or specialized production systems. At least in part, these changes were brought about as a consequence of animal science research in nutrition, breeding, reproduction, growth, and so on. A long-term goal for animal scientists has been to increase the biological efficiency of animal-based food production, and the success in reaching this goal has been remarkable, with the time to market, growth rates, milk and egg production, etc., per animal increasing two- to threefold in some cases during the last 50 yr. The increase in the efficiency of animal agriculture has brought about a parallel decrease in food prices. Nonetheless, whereas animal science in one sense has been very successful, new questions or issues have emerged. The scale of animal systems today sometimes concentrates large numbers of animals into smaller areas that cannot handle the resultant animal manure. Stream and ground water pollution is increasingly a concern in some regions. Odor is a nuisance problem that increasingly places neighbors and urban growth in conflict with confinement animal systems. Possibly one of the biggest issues can be stated in terms of sustainability: Can all current food animal production systems continue as they currently exist? Additionally, the decrease in the number of producers has affected rural communities, and in some cases has brought about the demise of small towns. Animal scientists typically contend that they serve the interests of producers and strive to promote practices that are environmentally sound. Bringing about a discussion among animal scientists as to whether these goals are always met, or could be better met, is important if both the industry and our rural communities are to survive and thrive. |
| Keywords: | Animal Agriculture, Environment, Rural Communities |
| Date: | 2006–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12628&r=env |
| By: | Hennessy, David A. |
| Abstract: | Concerns about biosecurity in the food system raise a variety of issues about how the system is presently organized, why it might be vulnerable, what one could reasonably do to better secure it, and the costs of doing so. After presenting some facts about US agriculture and food, this paper considers three economic aspects of the general problem. One is the global problem, or the way biosecurity measures can affect how countries relate to each other and the global consequences that result. Another is how to best manage the immediate aftermath of a realized threat in order to minimize damage. The third is how to seek to prevent realization of the threat. Some policy alternatives are also presented. |
| Keywords: | agro-terrorism, animal disease, biosecurity, epidemic, food system policy. |
| Date: | 2007–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12771&r=env |
| By: | Agustin, PEREZ BARAHONA |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the implications of assuming different technologies for physical capital accumulation and consumption. More precisely, we assume that physical capital accumulation is relatively more energy-intensive than consumption. We conclude that this hypothesis, together with the possibility of technical progress (in particular, energy-saving technical progress), has important implications on economic growth. This model entails some technical difficulties. However, we provide a full analytical characterization of both short and long-run dynamics usig Gauss Hypergeometric functions |
| Keywords: | Non-renewable resources, Energy-saging technical progress, Special Functions |
| JEL: | C68 C30 Q41 Q30 Q43 |
| Date: | 2007–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2007008&r=env |
| By: | Christine Schleupner (Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | Based on a spatial model, the Martinique beaches and coastal wetlands are examined to identify the risks of coastal squeeze. In many cases coastal development prevents coasts from adapting by shifting landward. Also tourism infrastructure augments the vulnerability of beach reduction and mangrove squeeze. More than 70% of all Martinique beaches and 29% of mangrove forests are highly endangered by coastal squeeze if sea level rises. The majority of coastal constructions and especially tourist hotels are built at heights between 1 and 10 m above the present sea level and therefore also within the zone at risk to flooding and erosion. Spatial analysis based on a conducted GIS model is carried out that evaluates the tourist destinations most vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise. If sea level rises and beach reduction becomes an increasing problem the attractiveness of Martinique beaches as tourist destination is likely to decline. |
| Keywords: | Caribbean, Lesser Antilles, Regional Planning, GIS, Climate Change, Coastal Change, Erosion, Inundation |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:72&r=env |
| By: | David M. McEvoy (Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst); Sylvia Brandt; Nathalie Lavoie (Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst); Sven Anders (Department of Rural Economy, University of Alberta Edmonton) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use a general model of imperfect competition to predict welfare changes within an open-access fishery transitioning to individual transferable quota (ITQ) management. Although related research has explored the effects of market power in the harvesting sector on ITQ performance, none have considered the implications of an imperfectly competitive processing sector. This study addresses this question specifically in the context of the Atlantic herring fishery, although its implications are relevant to all fisheries with similar industry structure. Our results show that ITQs could have a negative impact on fishermen’s welfare when processors have market power and the cap on aggregate harvest is binding or becomes binding with the implementation of ITQs. |
| Keywords: | ITQ, imperfect competition, welfare analysis, fisheries |
| JEL: | D43 Q22 Q28 L13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dre:wpaper:2007-3&r=env |