Role of economic instruments for environmental management : water charges in the Paraia do Sul River Basin, Brazil

Knowledge about water demand patterns is fundamental for evaluation of the impact of water charges as well as for the assessment of any demand-side management policy instrument. This two-page policy brief draws from a study project aimed at investigating water use patterns in the industrial and agricultural sectors, so as to inform water policy implementation in Brazil. Knowledge about the determinants of water reuse is required to assess the potential of water charges in inducing water saving investments

Inovação no setor de biodiesel dos principais países produtores: o papel da demanda induzida entre 2000 e 2011

The objective of this article is to investigate whether market factors, especially the upward trend in oil price, and whether regulatory and fiscal public policies positively affect innovation in the biodiesel sector. Also, we intend to investigate whether the proportion of government spending on Research and Development (R&D) has a positive influence on biodiesel innovation. The relation between the relative oil price and innovation in biodiesel is based on the induced innovation theory proposed by Hicks (1932) and formalized by Ahmad (1966). Deposited patents by the resident were used to measure innovation in Brazil, United States, Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, and the Czech Republic between 2000 and 2011. They are the main producer countries. The Generalized Moments Method (GMM) estimator is applied to the Poisson model in a Fixed Effect panel. It is proper for count data and for taking into account the endogeneity. The results indicate that the oil price and public policies are demand-pull factors that stimulate innovation in biodiesel by increasing its demand and expected return. On the supply side, government investment in R&D is a technology-push factor because it increases the technological capacity that benefits the biodiesel sector

Protected areas, local governments, and strategic interactions: The case of the ICMS-Ecológico in the Brazilian state of Paraná

Various conservation initiatives have been implemented in developing countries with increasing involvement on the part of local governments. A concern in entrusting decisions to local governments is that the effectiveness of the conservation instrument can be threatened by interactions among these local governments. We examine this concern with respect to an ecological fiscal transfer mechanism, the ICMS-Ecológico, implemented in Brazil in the early 1990's in order to reduce biodiversity loss. The mechanism enables states to reward municipalities for the creation and management of protected areas. We describe this mechanism, present a conceptual framework aimed at understanding the potential sources and consequences of interactions among local governments on the effectiveness of a decentralized mechanism aimed at promoting the creation of protected areas, and propose an empirical application using a Bayesian spatial Tobit model. Our empirical investigation on the creation of protected areas in the state of Paraná between 2000 and 2010 reveals strategic substitutability in municipalities' conservation decisions. This finding also leads us to discuss the issue of identification of a negative spatial lag coefficient when there is a positive spatial error correlation

Inovação no setor de biodiesel dos principais países produtores: o papel da demanda induzida entre 2000 e 2011

The objective of this article is to investigate whether market factors, especially the upward trend in oil price, and whether regulatory and fiscal public policies positively affect innovation in the biodiesel sector. Also, we intend to investigate whether the proportion of government spending on Research and Development (R&D) has a positive influence on biodiesel innovation. The relation between the relative oil price and innovation in biodiesel is based on the induced innovation theory proposed by Hicks (1932) and formalized by Ahmad (1966). Deposited patents by the resident were used to measure innovation in Brazil, United States, Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, and the Czech Republic between 2000 and 2011. They are the main producer countries. The Generalized Moments Method (GMM) estimator is applied to the Poisson model in a Fixed Effect panel. It is proper for count data and for taking into account the endogeneity. The results indicate that the oil price and public policies are demand-pull factors that stimulate innovation in biodiesel by increasing its demand and expected return. On the supply side, government investment in R&D is a technology-push factor because it increases the technological capacity that benefits the biodiesel sector

The relationships between CDM project characteristics and CER market prices

This study explores the relationship between key characteristics of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and Certified Emission Reduction (CER) prices. Using Multiple Correspondence Analysis, we show that the CER credit prices are likely to have had a greater influence than regional levels of economic development on the sectors, regions and sizes of CDM projects. There are comparatively few CDM projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (less South Africa) and the small-scale forestation projects that are characteristic for the region mainly entered the CDM pipeline when CER credit price levels were high. Latin America hosts a larger number of projects, and the small-scale methane, biofuel and hydro projects that are typical for this region generally also applied for validation under high CER price levels. The large industrial gas and energy efficiency projects typical for the Middle East/Northern Africa region appear to have been largely insensitive to CER price levels. The large number and variety of projects in Asia have applied for registration under a broad range of CER price levels

Effects of climate change on irrigation adoption in Brazil

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of climate change on irrigation adoption in Brazil. Temperature and precipitation projections for the 2010-2099 periods were employed under a number of different climate scenarios according the 4th Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results show that irrigation adoption will be affected by climate change. Given current conditions, irrigation has generally been adopted in Brazil to cope with reduced precipitation and temperature variations. The estimated irrigation probabilities in the future scenarios were quite different across Brazilian regions. The main explanation for this pattern is the distinct climatic conditions and production structures. Considering future climate change, over the next 30 years (2010 to 2039), the irrigation probability is expected to increase in all Brazilian regions. However, this trend is reversed in the long run.O principal objetivo deste estudo foi analisar os efeitos das mudanças climáticas sobre a utilização de irrigação no Brasil. Foram utilizadas projeções de temperatura e precipitação para o período de 2010 a 2099, sob diferentes cenários climáticos, conforme o 4o relatório do Painel Intergovernamental de Mudanças Climáticas. Os resultados confirmaram que a decisão de irrigar será afetada pelas mudanças climáticas. Dadas as condições atuais, a irrigação tem sido adotada no Brasil mais como resposta à redução da precipitação do que às variações de temperatura. As probabilidades de irrigação estimadas para os cenários futuros foram bastante diferentes entre as regiões brasileiras. A principal explicação para esse padrão são as distintas condições climáticas e estruturas de produção. Considerando as mudanças climáticas, há expectativa de aumento na probabilidade de irrigação para os próximos 30 anos (2010 a 2039) em todas as regiões brasileiras. No entanto, esta tendência é invertida no longo prazo