Measuring the Economic Value of Two Habitat Defragmentation Policy Scenarios for the Veluwe, The Netherlands

This paper offers an economic value assessment of a nature protection programme in the Veluwe. This programme involves two defragmentation scenarios: the first scenario connects the central part of the Veluwe with the IJssel river forelands in a north-eastern direction, while the second scenario is focused on defragmentation in a south-western direction, where the Rhine river forelands are located. The valuation is based on a questionnaire that was administered during face-to-face interviews in the Veluwe area and through the Internet. We employ a contingent valuation approach to assess the respondents’ willingness to pay for the realisation of the defragmentation scenarios. It appears that the mean willingness to pay for the two defragmentation scenarios are € 59.7 and € 162.2 per respondent. These two willingness-to-pay estimates, which refer to a lump sum payment (or ‘once-and-for-all payment’), are based on a lognormal and Weibull distribution respectively. In addition to the willingness to pay, we also estimate recreation benefits of the Veluwe. To that end, we use the travel cost technique, the purpose of which is to arrive at an estimate of the site’s consumer surplus. According to this technique, the yearly recreational benefits are estimated between € 0.06 and € 0.45 per visitor. Whereas the former estimate is based on the fuel costs only, the latter covers also insurance and maintenance costs, and capital depreciation. Finally, we performed an aggregation of individual WTP estimates over Dutch households. With the resulting aggregate estimates we are able to compare the total costs and benefits of the two scenarios for habitat fragmentation in the Veluwe. The result of such a simple comparison turns out to critically depend on whether the mean or median estimate is used for aggregation. If aggregation of individual WTP estimates is based on mean values, then the benefits far exceed the estimated costs of defragmentation. In other words, based on an integrated economic-ecological analysis it makes sense to execute the defragmentation measures described in the scenarios. However, aggregate estimates obtained by using median values result in higher costs than aggregate estimates that are based on mean values. Even stronger, median-based estimates show that the costs of implementing scenario 2 are higher than the total benefits of this scenario.Economic value, Nature protection, Defragmentation policy, Veluwe

Multiple-Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis of Staphylococcus Aureus: Comparison with Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis and spa-Typing

(MRSA) is required to study the routes and rates of transmission of this pathogen. Currently available typing techniques are either resource-intensive or have limited discriminatory ability. Multiple-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) may provide an alternative high throughput molecular typing tool with high epidemiological resolution.-sequence typing and PFGE, at the MLVA complex level with group separation values of 95.1% and 89.2%. MLVA could not discriminate between pig-related MRSA strains isolated from humans and pigs, corroborating the high degree of relationship. MLVA was also superior in the grouping of MRSA isolates previously assigned to temporal-spatial clusters with indistinguishable SpaTypes, demonstrating its enhanced epidemiological usefulness. that yields discrete and unambiguous data that can be used to assign biological meaningful genotypes and complexes and can be used for interlaboratory comparisons in network accessible databases. Results suggest that MLVA offsets the disadvantages of other high discriminatory typing approaches and represents a promising tool for hospital, national and international molecular epidemiology

Habitat Banking and Its Challenges in a Densely Populated Country: The Case of The Netherlands

Contains fulltext : 220243.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)36 p

Agriculture in the Netherlands: Its recent past, current state and perspectives

The driving forces that determine the prospects of the agricultural sector are dominated by international and European developments related to the demand for and supply of products. In this context, European policy, (such as the CAP), and national policy (e.g. nature management) can greatly influence the development of the agricultural sector.A further reduction of the support by the government forms an important element in the expected future developments

Agriculture in the Netherlands: Its recent past, current state and perspectives

The driving forces that determine the prospects of the agricultural sector are dominated by international and European developments related to the demand for and supply of products. In this context, European policy, (such as the CAP), and national policy (e.g. nature management) can greatly influence the development of the agricultural sector.A further reduction of the support by the government forms an important element in the expected future developments

Globalisation and Nature Policy: An Integrated Environmental-Economic Framework

The search for a framework to study globalisation, economics and ecology for nature conservation andbiodiversity protection requires the integration of concepts, theories and models from economics andecology. This allows for the study of interactions between economic and ecological processes, includingprotection of species and biodiversity, sustainable and optimal use of renewable resources, land use andphysical planning, maintenance of nature areas, acquisition of nature areas, and development of outdoorrecreation areas. Economic theories relating to nature and ecosystems have focused on notions of capitaltheory and intertemporal trade-offs, decision making under uncertainty and irreversibility, and marginalvaluation and cost-benefit analysis. Recently, the conservation and valuation of biodiversity, and theresilience of ecological and combined ecological-economic systems, have attracted a great deal of attentionin the environmental and resource economics literature. In addition, the distinction between local and globalcosts and benefits of environmental and biodiversity policies is regarded to have significant impacts oninternational co-operation.Ecology can be incorporated in economic analyses in various ways, notably by offering informationabout the hierarchy of dynamic ecological processes, including population dynamics, ecosystem successionand cycles, and long run trends of selection and evolution. Biodiversity has been linked to resilience in theanalysis of complex ecological-economic systems. Understanding of ecosystem irreversibility anduncertainty can improve economic analysis of decisions with impacts on ecosystem. Ecosystemperformance indicators, such as those proposed around the concept of ecosystem health, can be useful formultidisciplinary modelling and evaluation studies. Finally, monetary valuation studies of goods and servicesprovided by ecosystems can be complemented by detailed information about ecosystem scenarios andfunctions.The paper discusses existing approaches to integrate economics and ecology, reviews the mostimportant studies found in the literature, and suggests a number of general frameworks and models toaddress pressing policy questions relating to globalisation, conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use ofnatural resources, and sustainable land use.