Effects of Great Barrier Reef Degradation on Recreational Demand: A Contingent Behaviour Approach

Degradation of coral reefs may affect the number of tourists visiting the reef and, consequently, the economic sectors that rely on healthy reefs for their income generation. A Contingent Behaviour approach is used to estimate the effect of reef degradation on demand for recreational dive and snorkel trips, for a case study of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia. We assessed how reef degradation affects GBR tourism and to what extent reef-trip demand depends on the visitors’ socio-economic characteristics. A count data model is developed, and results indicate that an average visitor would undertake about 60% less reef trips per year given a combined 80%, 30% and 70% decrease in coral cover, coral diversity and fish diversity, respectively. This corresponds to a decrease in tourism expenditure for reef trips to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park of about A$ 136 million per year.Coral Reef, Recreation, Contingent Behaviour Model, Count Data Models

Effects of Great Barrier Reef Degradation on Recreational Demand: A Contingent Behaviour Approach

Agricultural run-off from the Great Barrier Reef catchment area may cause degradation of coral reefs, affecting the tourism sector that relies on healthy reefs for its income generation. A Contingent Behaviour approach is used to determine the effect of reef degradation on demand for recreational dive and snorkel trips, for a case study of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia. We assessed how reef degradation affects GBR tourism and to what extent reef-trip demand depends on the visitors' socio-economic characteristics. A count data model is developed, and results indicate that an average visitor would undertake about 60% less trips to the GBR per year, given a combined 80%, 30% and 70% decrease in coral cover, coral diversity and fish diversity, respectively. This corresponds to a decrease in tourism expenditure for reef trips in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area of about A$ 136 million per year.Coral reef, Recreation, Contingent Behaviour model, Count data models, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q26, Q51, Q57,

Exploring Environmental-Economic Benefits from Agri-Industrial Diversification in the Sugar Industry: An Integrated Land Use and Value Chain Approach

The sugar industry in Queensland (Australia) is confronted with increasing economic pressure and environmental constraints. To explore whether agri-industrial diversification of the sugar industry provides a sustainable development pathway for the region, we develop a spatial environmental-economic approach that integrates a land use and value chain model with a hydrological model. Results indicate that agri-industrial diversification can lead to substantial increases in regional income, while at the same time increasing the resilience of a sugar industry facing decreasing sugar prices. Agri-industrial diversification drives land use diversification, which under current sugar prices does not lead to a reduction in sugarcane production. Water quality benefits from this land use diversification are mixed, and depend on the economic viability and erosion characteristics of the concerned production systems.spatial economics, environmental economics, value chains, agri-industries, water quality, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, C6, O18, Q13, Q53,

Explorando el costo-efectividad de instrumentos basados en el mercado para la mejora de la calidad del agua: una modelación espacial económico-ambiental

El uso agrícola de la tierra en cuencas costeras conduce a la contaminación del agua y degradación subsecuente de recursos costeros y marinos. Para asegurar el desarrollo económico sostenible de las regiones costeras, es necesario balancear los beneficios marginales de la contaminación (agrícola) del agua con los costos marginales asociados a la degradación de los recursos costeros y marinos. La contaminación del agua en cuencas costeras es usualmente considerada una externalidad, por lo que se podrían utilizar Instrumentos Basados en el Mercado (IBMs) para internalizar esta externalidad, de tal forma que el comportamiento del mercado pueda conducir a un máximo bienestar social. Se emplea un acercamiento espacial económico-ambiental que integra un modelo de uso de la tierra con un modelo hidrológico, para explorar el costo-efectividad de varios IBMs en promover la adopción de tecnologías de producción agrícolas para mejorar la calidad del agua. Con base en los costos de disminución, los resultados del estudio de caso demuestran que impuestos y subsidios sobre la emisión de contaminantes son costo-eficientes y, además, más costoefectivos que los impuestos sobre un proxy de emisión y que los impuestos sobre insumos contaminantes. Finalmente, los impuestos sobre insumos contaminantes son dos veces más costo-efectivos que los impuestos sobre un proxy de emisión.Agricultural land use in coastal catchments is shown to lead to (diffuse source) water pollution and subsequent resource degradation in the downstream coastal and marine environment. To ensure sustainable economic development of coastal regions, we need to balance marginal benefits from terrestrial (agricultural) water pollution and associated marginal costs from coastal and marine resource degradation. Water pollution from coastal catchments is, however, considered an externality and, consequently, market-based instruments can be used to internalize this externality such that market behavior could lead to social welfare maximizing outcomes. We employ a spatial environmental-economic modeling approach that integrates a land use model with a hydrological model, to assess the cost-effectiveness of various marketbased instruments in promoting industry adoption of management practices for water quality improvement. Based on abatement costs alone, results from our case-study catchment show that emission based taxes and subsidies are costefficient and more cost-effective than emission proxy taxes and input taxes, while input taxes are more than twice as costeffective as emission proxy taxes

Explorando el costo-efectividad de instrumentos basados en el mercado para la mejora de la calidad del agua: una modelación espacial económico-ambiental

El uso agrícola de la tierra en cuencas costeras conduce a la contaminación del agua y degradación subsecuente de recursos costeros y marinos. Para asegurar el desarrollo económico sostenible de las regiones costeras, es necesario balancear los beneficios marginales de la contaminación (agrícola) del agua con los costos marginales asociados a la degradación de los recursos costeros y marinos. La contaminación del agua en cuencas costeras es usualmente considerada una externalidad, por lo que se podrían utilizar Instrumentos Basados en el Mercado (IBMs) para internalizar esta externalidad, de tal forma que el comportamiento del mercado pueda conducir a un máximo bienestar social. Se emplea un acercamiento espacial económico-ambiental que integra un modelo de uso de la tierra con un modelo hidrológico, para explorar el costo-efectividad de varios IBMs en promover la adopción de tecnologías de producción agrícolas para mejorar la calidad del agua. Con base en los costos de disminución, los resultados del estudio de caso demuestran que impuestos y subsidios sobre la emisión de contaminantes son costo-eficientes y, además, más costoefectivos que los impuestos sobre un proxy de emisión y que los impuestos sobre insumos contaminantes. Finalmente, los impuestos sobre insumos contaminantes son dos veces más costo-efectivos que los impuestos sobre un proxy de emisión.Análisis espacial económico-ambiental, eficiencia, costo-efectividad, instrumentos basados en el mercado, calidad del agua

Policy narratives of circular economy in the EU: assessing the embeddedness of water and land in national action plans

Following the challenges of the European Union (EU), member states have adopted circular economy (CE) plans and strategies, with objectives and measures to foster circularity. Although the concept of CE refers to various natural resources such as water and land, little is known on how current CE policies are integrating these environmental resources. This article assesses how water and land concerns are embedded in the EU CE action plans issued in 2015 and 2020 and a set of nine member states’ subse- quent national plans. The assessment used a content analysis based on two variables, the frequency of water and land’ related terms and the consistency of their inclusion within the plans. The findings reveal that neither water nor land emerge as major concerns in the CE plans, in comparison to materials or waste. Also, they are not consistently associated with the typical components of the plans namely problem-showcase, objectives, strategies and measures, stakeholders, and CE performance indicators. Nevertheless, the embeddedness of water is more evident in the plans of southern countries, whereas land concerns are much more erratic. If water and land concerns, are to be at the forefront of the transition to circularity, as the literature recommends, and if these plans are expected to offer an inte-grated approach of the CE concept, further efforts should be made to ensure their embeddednes.publishe

Evaluating hydrological and socio-economic impacts of green/blue space projects for storm water management = Evaluation des effets hydrologiques et socioéconomiques des espaces verts/bleus pour la gestion des eaux de pluie

FR: Les régions et villes européennes doivent faire face à des nombreuses questions liées à l'eau :gestion des eaux pluviales, qualité de l'eau, impact des sécheresses sur les milieux aquatiques. Pourrépondre durablement à ces questions, il est évident que l'eau doit être intégrée dans ledéveloppement urbain et dans les politiques d'aménagement du territoire. L'objectif général du projetpour la coopération interrégionale Aqua-Add (Mieux intégrer l'eau dans les projets urbains) est dedéployer le potentiel de l'eau dans les paysages urbains (potentiel économique, social etenvironnemental). Dans ce contexte, l'approche hydrologique et un modèle hédonique des prix sontintégrés et appliqués afin de vérifier les effets hydrologiques et socio-économiques des différentessolutions pour la gestion des eaux de pluie, et de faciliter le débat avec les acteurs de l'aménagement.L'objectif de cette étude est d'évaluer les effets hydrologiques et socio-économiques des espacesverts/bleus pour la gestion des eaux de pluie dans les villes moyennes. Nous présentons et étudionsici plus particulièrement l'étude de cas de Imperia (Italie)European regions and cities face important challenges related to water management, includingstorage, discharge, quality and periodic stress. To address these challenges, it is evident that watermust become an integral part of urban planning policies and their implementation. The internationalco-operation project Aqua-Add (Deploying the added value of water in local and regionaldevelopment) aims to deploy the potential of 'water' (economically, socially and environmentally) inurbanized landscapes and to improve the implementation of water measures in local and regionalurban planning. In this framework, hydrologic and hedonic-pricing simulation modelling approachesare integrated and applied in order to demonstrate the potential environmental, social and economicimpacts of different water management scenarios as well as to facilitate more informed decisionmaking across stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to assess the hydrological as well as socioeconomic implications of green/blue space projects for storm water management in medium-sizedcities. In particular, the case study of Imperia (Italy) is here presented and discussed