A Dynamic Simulation Model of Tourism and Environment in the Yucatan Peninsula

Tourism in the Yucatan peninsula has been and is still growing, which may lead to conflicts between tourism and the environment, population and other economic sectors. A dynamic simulation model ahs been developed to understand the dynamic relationships between economy, environment, and population. In this model several scenarios are analyzed which incorporate various policies and development paths. The quality of the water, the beaches and the archeological sites are important factor for the tourism sector. Tourism in Yucatan is also dependent on other factors which are not directly related to tourism, such as safety or popularity of other areas or countries. The main goal of this study is to obtain an insight into the dynamic interactions between the main factors influencing tourism. The results indicate that tourism shows a cyclical path, that policies to clean up the water not only have a positive effect on tourism but also on the rest of the economy. Even if the tourist sector has to pay for the cleaning up it will benefit them. The model shows that the effects of stimulating investments in tourism are not profitable for tourism in the long run

Economische analyse van materiaal-produkt ketens met een toepassing voor dakgoten

Via een materiaal-produkt keten benadering worden interacties tussen materialen- en produktstromen voor een bepaalde dienst of service bekeken met als doel het verminderen van milieudruk door het inzetten van (economische) instrumenten. Deze benadering bekijkt de stromen economisch, fysiek en milieukundig waarbij rekening gehouden wordt met verschillende typen van substitutie en hergebruik. Er wordt een overzicht gegeven van verschillende manieren waarop materiaal- en produktstromen gemodelleerd kunnen worden, en twee toegepaste modellen worden besproken voor de materiaal-produkt keten van dakgoten

An Analysis of Variables Influencing the Material Composition of Automobiles

The use of materials is studied broadly, because of the environmental problems related to extraction, production, consumption and waste treatment. The use and substitution of materials in products is therefore a relevant issue for environmental policy making. Studies have been done to describe the material flow or to measure the impact of materials or products on the environment. However, these studies do not often consider economic, substitution and dynamic aspects of material flows. Other studies on material flows analyse the relationship between the use of materials and economic growth, but they do not consider substitution between materials. For environmental policy making economic, technological and environmental aspects of the use of materials need to be considered. Especially, substitution of materials is important. In various countries material and product policies are imposed on a variety of materials and products. For evaluation of these policies their environmental and economic effects need to be examined in detail. This study aims to analyse the economic and technological factors influencing the use of materials and the substitution between different materials dynamically. The goal is to obtain an insight in the effect that material levies may have on the use and substitution of materials. The statistical analysis is performed on a specific product-group because decisions on the use of materials are taken on a product-level. The case study is performed on automobiles. The results show that the material use is largely an autonomous development. The price of aluminium has a positive, significant effect on the use of that material. The price of plastics has a positive, but not significant effect on the use of plastics. Reasons may be that the costs of a raw material are small relative to the processing costs, and that the production process can only be changed slowly. Other factors, like competitiveness and consumers' tastes, may be more important for substitution. This implies that levies or subsidies on certain materials is not a promising policy to change the use of materials. Besides time, there are two other factors that have a positive and significant relationship with the use of aluminium and plastics: the fuel efficiency, which is the distance driven divided by the energy used; and, the road tax, which depends on the weight of a car. However, these effects are caused by their positive relationship with time. The main conclusion of the case study is that imposing a levy on materials may not have the desired or expected effect of reduction in material use. Copyright (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V

A Dynamic Simulation Model of Tourism and Environment in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Tourism in the Yucatan peninsula has been and is still growing, which may lead to conflicts between tourism and the environment, population and other economic sectors. A dynamic simulation model ahs been developed to understand the dynamic relationships between economy, environment, and population. In this model several scenarios are analyzed which incorporate various policies and development paths. The quality of the water, the beaches and the archeological sites are important factor for the tourism sector. Tourism in Yucatan is also dependent on other factors which are not directly related to tourism, such as safety or popularity of other areas or countries. The main goal of this study is to obtain an insight into the dynamic interactions between the main factors influencing tourism. The results indicate that tourism shows a cyclical path, that policies to clean up the water not only have a positive effect on tourism but also on the rest of the economy. Even if the tourist sector has to pay for the cleaning up it will benefit them. The model shows that the effects of stimulating investments in tourism are not profitable for tourism in the long run.