Monetary Green Accounting and Ecosystem Services

The point of departure in this paper is that monetary green accounting aims at serving as indicator of wealth changes, sustainable use of natural capital, and performance of environmental policy. It is then investigated how wealth changes and sustainable development of natural capital can be estimated by means of ecosystem services. These services are defined as outputs from natural capital. The value of changes in natural capital, or wealth change, is thus measured as the value of impacts on current and future production of ecosystem services. It is then shown how this measure can be used as an indicator of sustainable use of the aggregate natural capital, and also how it can be applied efficient environmental policies. An empirical demonstration is made to the calculation of wealth changes to Swedish forests, agricultural landscape, wetlands, air quality, and coastal and marine ecosystems. The demonstration shows that the net welfare contribution from these natural capital assets during the period under study is positive, but that the use of the assets is unsustainable.

Willingness to pay for recreational fisheries in Europe

Few studies have acknowledged and quantified the economic contribution in expenditures of recreational fisheries. Additional economic value attributed to fishers' willingness to pay (WTP) for recreational fisheries in excess of expenses was estimated for 33 countries in Europe. Benefit transfer was used in a meta-regression analysis of 184 studies and 1001 observations of WTP per day for recreational fisheries. Most studies of fishing were in the USA, but also in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America and Canada. Mixed-effects regression models were estimated with income, climate variables, population density and study characteristics as explanatory variables. Income and temperature positively affected WTP per day. Benefit transfers with these variables and different transfer methods among European countries showed that the estimated total WTP could amount to 11.4 billion USD (purchasing power parity corrected to 2020 prices). Variation in WTP per day was large, and ranged 9-62 USD among countries and transfer methods. For several countries, WTP for recreational fisheries exceeded 0.1% of gross domestic product

Härskarsymbol och högsäte - om betydelsen av västmarkeringar i romanska kyrkor

While the liturgical centre of the church is the high altar in the chancel, the western part of the Romanesque church has often been ascribed a more secular character. This seems to be an area where those in power could assert their authority in a religious setting. The magnitude of these manifestations vary greatly, from the ostentatious westworks of the cathedrals and the miscellaneous forms of western towers of many ordinary country churches, down to the humble elevated western benches of the towerless houses of worship. The variation in scale and form has mostly been viewed as a consequence of varying economic resources among the builders, but in this article it is argued that different expressions were chosen because they also had different functional, social and symbolic connotations

Nurses’ responses in spiritual encounters with patients, and issues that influenced these responses; a comparison of medical nurses, oncology nurses and Macmillan nurses

Background Spiritual care is considered an important aspect of palliative care. Patients with heart failure have palliative care needs, but are more likely than those with cancer to be cared for on general wards. Aims To explore the responses of nurses in encounters that could be considered spiritual and issues that influenced these responses, and to explore the differences between medical ward nurses, oncology ward/department nurses and Macmillan nurses. Methods The Critical Incident Technique, with semi-structured interviews of 9 medical, 9 oncology and 9 Macmillan nurses. Demographical data was collected using a questionnaire. Setting A regional hospital and the Macmillan nursing service in the Highlands of Scotland. Results Nurses constantly negotiated the boundaries between what is and what is not appropriate in the nursing role. There was a tension between their role to respect patients’ beliefs and wishes and to minimise stress and suffering. The nurses were thrown into conflict when patients refused optimal symptom relief or when those who were not terminally ill refused life saving treatment. In this study, providing comfort, relieving suffering and saving lives that could be saved, took priority over patients’ religious and spiritual beliefs or wishes. The Macmillan nurses felt less responsible for providing answers or resolutions, and were more likely to use a pathway of listening, discussing, exploring and clarifying. The medical nurses worked in an environment that often was not conducive to provide spiritual care, with less access to support than the other nurses. Conclusion Medical ward nurses need appropriate support and preparation, as well as the time and space to provide holistic care. Some of the Macmillan nurses’ skills would be transferable to nurses working in any area of nursing. A greater understanding of the reasons for various religious beliefs and wishes may help nurses to accept them more fully, which may reduce stress both in nurses and patients

Climate change and the value of fishing in the Arctic

Several studies indicate impacts on fish from climate change in the Arctic, but there is no study calculating the effect on the value of fishing. The value of fishing is determined not only by climate change, but also by other variables including prosperity and population density. The present study estimates the impact of these factors on the recreational value of fishing by using meta-regression analysis of studies estimating willingness-to-pay for fishing in the Arctic. The study includes 22 studies with a total of 107 observations, and the results indicate robust results with a positive relation between estimated value and temperature and prosperity, but a negative with precipitation. Using the results from the regression, simulations showed that increases by the same percent in temperature and precipitation give a minor net decrease in the fishing value, but an increase in the temperature with 1 ̊C can raise the average fishing value by approximately 15 percent

Costs and Distributional Effects of Climate Transformation of the Vehicle Fleet in the EU

This study estimates the minimum total cost and distributional effects among countries transforming the car fleet in the EU to reduce emissions of carbon dioxides by 2050 by switching from fossil fuel-driven passenger cars to hybrid and electric-driven cars. Minimum cost is estimated using a dynamic optimization model in which costs are calculated as decreases in consumer surplus in the demand for vehicles under given annual increases in travel demand, carbon efficiency and technological improvement of electric cars. Distributional effects are calculated for the cost-effective allocation of costs among the EU member states and UK. Calculations are made for different emission reductions, and the cost for achieving a 60% reduction from the 1990 emission level ranges between 0.13% and 0.61% of the EU's GDP depending on assumptions about development of travel demand and carbon efficiency. The results indicate a slightly regressive allocation in most scenarios, where the cost share is relatively high for low income countries

Evaluation of cost efficiency in hydropower-related biodiversity restoration projects in Sweden - a stochastic frontier approach

Various restoration projects intended to mitigate the adverse ecological effects of hydropower plants, e.g. by restoration of fish habitats and spawning grounds, have been implemented in different parts of the world. However, it is unclear whether these projects are in line with least-cost principles. In this study, we estimated the cost efficiency level for different biodiversity mitigation measures in Sweden by using stochastic frontier analysis with data from 245 projects in Sweden that were carried out between 1987 and 2013. The results indicated evidence of cost inefficiency in the projects, which had an average efficiency score of 53%, suggesting a potential to reduce costs by 47%. Project ownership by private entities compared with municipalities showed a statistically significant reduction of the cost inefficiency score. This points out a possibility of reducing the total cost of restoration by targeting relatively efficient project owners