Specifications and sampling considerations in estimated demand for an area of outstanding natural beauty: The Illas Cíes in Galicia.

[EN] In this paper, we present estimates of several specifications of demand for a singular natural area using data from surveys on visitors and non-visitors. The estimates take into account the problems of functional form, measurement of the cost and of the demand, choosing sampling scheme, and handling the sample. Considering these alternatives allows us to select a specification of demand under improved conditions and frees us from initial restrictive hypothesis. The results in terms of prediction of demand and consumer surplus estimates are quite dissimilar, stressing the importance of comparing various specifications that encompass a range of possible options.[ES] En este trabajo se presentan estimaciones de diferentes especificaciones de demanda para un espacio recreativo singular a partir de la información de entrevistas a visitantes y no visitantes. Tenemos en cuenta los problemas de forma funcional, de medición del coste y demanda, de elección de una técnica de muestreo y de tratamiento de la muestra. La consideración de estas alternativas permite elegir una especificación en mejores condiciones y nos aleja de supuestos iniciales restrictivos. Los resultados en términos de predicción de la demanda y estimación del excedente son bastante divergentes, resaltando la importancia de comparar diferentes especificaciones que incluyan el espectro de opciones potenciales.González Gómez, M.; Polomé, P.; Prada Blanco, A. (2001). Especificaciones y consideraciones muestrales en la estimación de la demanda de un espacio natural singular: Las Illas Cíes en Galicia. Economía Agraria y Recursos Naturales - Agricultural and Resource Economics. 1(2):67-92. doi:10.7201/earn.2001.02.04SWORD67921

U.S. Natural Resources and Climate Change: Concepts and Approaches for Management Adaptation

Public lands and waters in the United States traditionally have been managed using frameworks and objectives that were established under an implicit assumption of stable climatic conditions. However, projected climatic changes render this assumption invalid. Here, we summarize general principles for management adaptations that have emerged from a major literature review. These general principles cover many topics including: (1) how to assess climate impacts to ecosystem processes that are key to management goals; (2) using management practices to support ecosystem resilience; (3) converting barriers that may inhibit management responses into opportunities for successful implementation; and (4) promoting flexible decision making that takes into account challenges of scale and thresholds. To date, the literature on management adaptations to climate change has mostly focused on strategies for bolstering the resilience of ecosystems to persist in their current states. Yet in the longer term, it is anticipated that climate change will push certain ecosystems and species beyond their capacity to recover. When managing to support resilience becomes infeasible, adaptation may require more than simply changing management practices—it may require changing management goals and managing transitions to new ecosystem states. After transitions have occurred, management will again support resilience—this time for a new ecosystem state. Thus, successful management of natural resources in the context of climate change will require recognition on the part of managers and decisions makers of the need to cycle between “managing for resilience” and “managing for change.

Status Of Coral Reefs In The U.S. Caribbean And Gulf Of Mexico: Florida, Flower Garden Banks, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Navassa.

Mapping, monitoring, and management of coral reefs of Florida, the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) northwestern Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Navassa have all improved with increased awareness and funding from the Government of the USA. Quantitative baseline surveys of coral reef communities have been completed in Puerto Rico at three current or proposed Natural Reserves. Monitoring is demonstrating trends in reef community health and structure in other sensitive coastal areas. The Tres Palmas Marine Reserve has been designated recently, and existing MPAs and revisions to fishing laws were evaluated based on these results. In the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), the Buck Island Reef National Monument has been expanded and a new park, the St. Croix East End Marine Park established in 2003. The monitoring programs in the USVI are now detecting changes in fish and coral community structure in and around the managed areas with a specific focus on elkhorn coral stands. Monitoring of water quality, reef diversity, growth, and populations of dominant fish and benthic organisms in Flower Garden Banks, Stetson Bank, and Navassa has assisted in evaluating impacts of climate change, tropical storms, fishing, and tourism pressures. An expanded Florida monitoring program is now completing the first integrated assessment of the reefs northwards from the Florida Keys. It is hoped that this increased attention to coral reef issues will continue, and that advances in the understanding of how coral reef ecosystems respond to anthropogenic stresses will result in better management plans that protect coastal resources by reducing those stresses. However, an improved understanding of the relative importance of how stresses contribute to or cause coral decline is needed. There is a need also to understand the linkages between water flows and the functioning of coral reef ecosystems. It is essential to strengthen cross-boundary and cross-jurisdictional agreements to facilitate ecosystem-based management and information and technology transfer