The Economic Benefits of Cleaning Up the Chesapeake

Information on the economic benefits of environmental improvement is an important consideration for anyone (firms, organizations, government agencies, and individuals) concerned about the cost-effectiveness of changes in management designed to achieve that improvement. In the case of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment), these benefits would accrue due to improvements in the health, and therefore productivity, of land and water in the watershed. These productivity changes occur both due to the outcomes of the TMDL and state implementation plans, also known as a "Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint" itself (i.e., cleaner water in the Bay) as well as a result of the measures taken to achieve those outcomes that have their own beneficial side effects. All such changes are then translated into dollar values for various ecosystem services, including water supply, food production, recreation, aesthetics, and others. By these measures, the total economic benefit of the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint is estimated at $22.5 billion per year (in 2013 dollars), as measured as the improvement over current conditions, or at$28.2 billion per year (in 2013 dollars), as measured as the difference between the Clean Water Blueprint and a business-as-usual scenario. (Due to lag times—it takes some time for changes in land management to result in improvements in water quality, the full measure of these benefits would begin to accrue sometime after full implementation of the Blueprint.) These considerable benefits should be considered alongside the costs and other economic aspects of implementing the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint

Transforming Philanthropic Transactions

Evaluates the approach and effectiveness of SVP's first five years working to inspire philanthropy and volunteerism and build organizational capacity among nonprofits. Describes SVP's model that fuses donor education and capacity building activities

Which economic model for a water-efficient Europe? Report of a CEPS Task Force. CEPS Task Force Report, 27 November 2012

This CEPS Task Force Report focuses on how to improve water efficiency in Europe, notably in public supply, households, agriculture, energy and manufacturing as well as across sectors. It presents a number of recommendations on how to make better use of economic policy instruments to sustainably manage the EU’s water resources. Published in the run-up to the European Commission’s “Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters”, the report contributes to the policy deliberations in two ways. First, by assessing the viability of economic policy instruments, it addresses a major shortcoming that has so far prevented the 2000 EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) from becoming fully effective in practice: the lack of appropriate, coherent and effective instruments in (some) member states. Second, as the Task Force report is the result of an interactive process involving a variety of stakeholders, it is able to point to the key differences in interpreting and applying WFD principles that have led to a lack of policy coherence across the EU and to offer some pragmatic advice on moving forward

Lessons Learned from Developing a New Distance-Learning Masters Course in the Green Economy

It is widely recognised that for the green economy to develop successfully, new educational curricula will be required to help professionals develop appropriate knowledge and skills. Relatively few university courses have been developed to date that explicitly focus on the green economy, reflecting its recent origins. Here we present the lessons learned from developing and implementing a new Masters course in the green economy, at Bournemouth University in the UK. The most significant challenges were institutional barriers, such as different departmental policies and procedures and decentralised budget strategies, which inhibited the cross-departmental collaboration desired for interdisciplinarity. Uncertainty about the future development of the green economy and its value as a concept, among both teaching staff and prospective students, presented a further challenge. In addition, the development of an appropriate curriculum for green economy courses has received little attention previously. Here, we present an overview of the curriculum developed for this Masters-level course, and, based on our experience, we demonstrate how the challenges in developing such a course can successfully be overcome

The Price of Progress: Funding and Financing Alzheimer\u27s Disease Drug Development

Introduction Advancing research and treatment for Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and the search for effective treatments depend on a complex financial ecosystem involving federal, state, industry, advocacy, venture capital, and philanthropy funding approaches. Methods We conducted an expert review of the literature pertaining to funding and financing of translational research and drug development for AD. Results The federal government is the largest public funder of research in AD. The National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and National Center for Advancing Translational Science all fund aspects of research in AD drug development. Non-National Institutes of Health federal funding comes from the National Science Foundation, Veterans Administration, Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Academic Medical Centers host much of the federally funded basic science research and are increasingly involved in drug development. Funding of the “Valley of Death” involves philanthropy and federal funding through small business programs and private equity from seed capital, angel investors, and venture capital companies. Advocacy groups fund both basic science and clinical trials. The Alzheimer Association is the advocacy organization with the largest research support portfolio relevant to AD drug development. Pharmaceutical companies are the largest supporters of biomedical research worldwide; companies are most interested in late stage de-risked drugs. Drugs progressing into phase II and III are candidates for pharmaceutical industry support through licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and co-development collaborations. Discussion Together, the funding and financing entities involved in supporting AD drug development comprise a complex, interactive, dynamic financial ecosystem. Funding source interaction is largely unstructured and available funding is insufficient to meet all demands for new therapies. Novel approaches to funding such as mega-funds have been proposed and more integration of component parts would assist in accelerating drug development

Connecting the Dots: Linking Sustainable Wild Capture Fisheries Initiatives and Impact Investors

Wilderness Markets undertook a series of fishery value chain assessments to better understand the opportunities and constraints for private impact capital to flow into wild capture fisheries markets. Given the investments in developing sustainable fisheries pilots, Wilderness Markets expected to identify a range of investment opportunities in each of the fisheries assessed. However, they did not find investment opportunities that could address the suite of challenges associated with improving financial and social outcomes, while also contributing to conservation outcomes, particularly in developing country fisheries. Wilderness Markets' research indicates the lack of triple-bottom line (TBL) investment opportunities is due to six main constraints to an economically sustainable fisheries value chain—data, management, market differentiation, infrastructure, finance and the lack of investable entities

Managing Up in Down Times

Examines issues confronting foundation senior management during both up and down economic cycles. Focuses on the concepts of resource stewardship, change management, and achieving successful results

Measuring Urban Green Space in Australia

The Hort Innovation Green Cities project “Measuring Australia’s Green Space Asset” (MUGS) undertook a global review of urban green space (UGS) measurement research and engaged with Australian stakeholders to gauge current practice. The overall aim of the project was to foster best-practice UGS planning and management by juxtaposing the scientific state of the art with the contextualised needs expressed by potential Australian end users. The synthesis of findings informed a ‘blueprint’ which sketches the contours of a possible nationally consistent UGS decision-support framework. The framework is illustrated with a worked example from Australia (rapid assessment of urban green space assets using satellite imagery)

A state-of-the-art analysis of innovation models and innovation software tools

This paper presents an analysis of existing innovation models and innovation software tools. An innovation model is a representation of the components and interactions that would foster the creation of novel solutions, systems or processes. Those models are mechanisms designed to help producing effective and efficient collaborations within organisations, or among large organisations (LO) and Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). However, although they have been often used by some LOs, their utilisation has been very limited in SMEs. This research addressed two research questions: First, investigate the components of current innovation models and their use in different organisations; and second, analyse the characteristics of innovation software tools and how they could be improved. This paper will contribute to the development of more efficient and enhanced models that can help addressing LOs’ challenges and help creating new markets for SMEs by constant engagement with LOs. A qualitative analysis of 17 publications from a selection of 400 academic abstracts, and 10 innovation software tools available in the market, was carried out. Results show that innovation models have been designed to support innovation activities in sectors such as healthcare, public services, aerospace, education and businesses. The results also show that innovation software tools can provide a platform to capture, discuss, vote and rate new ideas from internal and external organisations’ stakeholders. However, despite innovation models and software tools seem to be democratic mechanisms for the management of ideas crowd-sourcing, they lack a symbiotic environment that goes beyond a simple collection device, and provide improved innovation support. For example, better support to solve LOs’ needs efficiently, better support in the management of the collaboration among multiple organisations and the management of organisation's knowledge, capabilities, human resources, intellectual property rights, financial resources, reputation, innovation costs and project risks. The review highlights the need to design and implement improved innovation models and software tools that empower innovation and efficient collaboration among organisations, which in turn would produce increased economic growth and jobs creation