Policies to promote the waste management hierarchy : with special attention to the paper cycle in Europe

The main objective of this study was to review policy instruments available to promote aspects of the waste management hierarchy. The motivation of this review is embedded in two questions: (1) What policy instruments are most effective in promoting the waste hierarchy? and, (2) Should EU policies in the European paper cycle be harmonised? With respect to the first question, the most effective policy instrument to promote the waste hierarchy for the European paper cycle, it is concluded that none of the policy categories is sufficient to ‘do the job’ alone. Firstly, it is important to note that most of the policies reviewed in this study impact on only a small part of the waste hierarchy and so a range of policies are required to promote the full hierarchy. Secondly, it is recognised that an appropriate balance needs to be struck between regulatory, economic and communicative instruments. Regarding the second question, harmonisation of EU policies, it is concluded that for the most part, it is better to have country-specific policy strategies, while for some part EU wide policies are more appropriate

Economic Valuation of Landscape Fragmentation

Verhoef, E.T. [Promotor]Florax, R.J.G.M. [Promotor]Bergh, J.C.J.M. van den [Copromotor

The values of natural and constructed wetlands: A meta-analysis

The values of goods and services provided by natural and constructed wetlands are examined through a meta-analysis of 418 observations of the economic value of 186 wetlands. Water quality improvement, non-consumptive recreation, and provision of natural habitat and biodiversity turn out to be highly valued services. Substitution effects are observed through the negative correlation between values and proximity to other wetlands. Values are found to increase with anthropogenic pressure. Constructed wetlands are highly valued for biodiversity enhancement, water quality improvement, and flood control. This study provides a substantially new contribution in relation to previous meta-analyses of the wetland valuation literature

The recreational value of coral reefs: A meta-analysis

Coral reefs are highly productive ecosystems that provide a variety of valuable goods and services, including recreational opportunities. The open-access nature and public good characteristics of coral reefs often result in them being undervalued in decision making related to their use and conservation. In response to this, there now exists a substantial economic valuation literature on coral reefs. For the purposes of conducting a meta-analysis of this literature, we collected 166 coral reef valuation studies, 52 of which provided sufficient information for a statistical meta-analysis, yielding 100 separate value observations in total. Focusing on recreational values, we use US$ per visit as the dependent variable in our meta-analysis. The meta-regression results reveal a number of important factors in explaining variation in coral reef recreational values, notably the area of dive sites and the number of visitors. Different valuation methods are shown to produce widely different values, with the contingent valuation method producing significantly lower value estimates. Using a multi-level modelling approach we also control for authorship effects, which proves to be highly significant in explaining variation in value estimates. We assess the prospects for using this analysis for out-of-sample value transfer, and find average transfer errors of 186%. We conclude that there is a need for further high-quality valuation research on coral reefs. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Preferences of vulnerable social groups for ecosystem-based adaptation to flood risk in Central Vietnam

Developing countries are increasingly impacted by floods, especially in Asia. Traditional flood risk management, using structural measures such as levees, can have negative impacts on the livelihoods of social groups that are more vulnerable. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) provides a complementary approach that is potentially more inclusive of groups that are commonly described as more vulnerable, such as the poor and women. However, there is a lack of disaggregated and quantitative information on the potential of EbA to support vulnerable groups of society. This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the differences in vulnerability to flooding as well as preferences for EbA benefits across income groups and gender. We use data collected through a survey of households in urban and rural Central Vietnam which included a discrete choice experiment on preferences for ecosystem services. A total of 1,010 households was surveyed during 2017 through a random sampling approach. Preferences are measured in monetary and non-monetary terms to avoid issues that may arise from financial constraints faced by respondents and especially the more vulnerable groups. Our results reveal that lower income households and women are overall more vulnerable than their counterparts and have stronger preferences for the majority of the EbA benefits, including flood protection, seafood abundance, tourism, and recreation suitability. These findings strongly indicate that EbA is indeed a promising tool to support groups of society that are especially vulnerable to floods. These results provide crucial insights for future implementation of EbA projects and for the integration of EbA with goals targeted at complying with the Sendai Framework and Sustainable Development Goals