Influence of Conservation of Native Vegetation on Land Values in Moree Plains Shire, NSW

The Native Vegetation Conservation Act was introduced on January 1st 1998 to protect native grassland and woodland in New South Wales. The Act has limited clearing of native vegetation and development to crops and pasture, has protected biodiversity, and may have enhanced soil and water conservation. But an analysis of variations in the prices paid for farm land in Moree Plains Shire, with the complementary hedonic and bargaining methods, shows how buyers, sellers, and the market as a whole, value the characteristics of the land. It shows that the Act has led to substantial losses in land values for the farmers. The Act has imposed higher costs on those who had kept most vegetation, and on those who most need to retain their options to clear and develop. Stewardship payments will alleviate the financial situation for some and property plans will provide long-term security for both farmer and vegetation. But the magnitudes of the losses suggest that introduction of individual policies like these must be preceded by a review of the whole strategy of vegetation protection in New South Wales. We must first decide how much to protect and how to allocate the losses in an equitable manner.Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Who Pays to Protect Native Vegetation? Costs to Farmers in Moree Plains Shire, New South Wales

The Native Vegetation Conservation Act was introduced on January 1st 1998 to limit the clearing of native grassland and woodland in NSW. The Act has limited clearing and development to crops, has protected biodiversity, and may have enhanced soil and water conservation. But this analysis of the prices paid for land in Moree Plains Shire shows that the Act has reduced land values by some 21 per cent and has already reduced annual incomes by 10 per cent across the whole Shire. This reduction in annual incomes may well reach 18 per cent by 2005. This decrease in income means that farm households in the Shire currently must give up 15.6 per cent of their household income because they must protect native vegetation on their farms. In contrast, urban households in Australia must give up only 0.55 per cent of one per cent of their income through taxes for the same purpose. The Act has imposed these costs on farmers who are already struggling financially, has made the distribution of income in the community less equal, and has made farm families bear far higher costs than urban families. Do these outcomes enhance an objective of equity, or fairness within the community?native vegetation, opportunity costs, land values, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF NOXIOUS WEEDS, OTHER WEEDS, AND TREE GROWTH, ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN THE NEW ENGLAND TABLELANDS, NEW SOUTH WALES

The economic impact of weeds on farms in the New England Region of New South Wales is estimated from data from a cross -sectional survey. Weeds can be classed as noxious or declared plants, plants that the farmers perceived as weeds, and trees -- which many farmers also perceived as weeds. Variables were defined for several levels of intensity of infestation for each of these three classes of weeds. The impact of each these variables, on property income and stocking, was estimated through Cobb-Douglas production functions. The presence of very-heavy infestations of non-noxious weeds, and heavy infestations of non-noxious weeds, were found to be associated with reductions in income. In total, the income of the representative property would be increased by 15 per cent, ceteris paribus, if these infestations were removed.Weeds, trees, income, stocking, Farm Management,

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF REGULATIONS TO PRESERVE NATIVE WOODLAND ON PRIVATE PROPERTY: A CASE STUDY IN THE HUNTER VALLEY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Australian policies to preserve native vegetation on farms rest on mandatory regulations without compensation, whereas policies in most OECD countries rest on voluntary conservation with compensation. In New South Wales, the Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1998 restricts farmers from clearing native vegetation on their own freehold land, and offers no compensation. The Act may therefore impose opportunity costs, or losses in income, on landholders. These opportunity costs are estimated for a case study property in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, and these results are then generalised to assess the broad trade-offs between development and preservation. The losses in income appear to vary between 5 and 10 per cent of annual income, depending on livestock prices. The flow of these losses over time appears to total some $26m for all properties of this kind in the immediate region. In addition to imposition of these direct opportunity costs, the regulations hinder land sales and so hinder adjustment by landholders to changing conditions.Native vegetation, environmental preservation, opportunity cost., Land Economics/Use,

Valuing the benefits from preserving threatened native fauna and flora from invasive animal pests

Invasive animal pests inflict many kinds of damage on the environment, and threaten native fauna and flora. We attempt to value the benefits from the extra biodiversity that is protected if these threats were removed. The NSW Rural Lands Protection Board is a major agency that undertakes pest control, and is organised into 48 districts across the state. A cross-sectional set of data on Board expenditures, pest abundance, and environmental and climatic characteristics, was compiled by district and analysed. The number of threatened native plant and animal species increases with pest abundance and with the total number of native species present in the district. But the number of threatened species decreases as Board expenditures on pest control increase. The value of preserving an extra species is derived from these changes in expenditure, following conventional economic principles. Then the potential gain in economic surplus is estimated if the threats to biodiversity were removed. The results so far suggest that the value of the total benefit of protecting an extra species is at least $44,250 per year, and the potential gain in surplus for New South Wales if the threats were removed is at least$132m per year. This change in surplus is also the total economic loss because invasive pests threaten native flora and fauna. If only half the native species could be protected, the avoidable economic loss is at least $95.7m per year. The assumptions and limitations of these estimates are discussed.Invasive animal pests, unpriced values, biodiversity gains, native flora and fauna, Environmental Economics and Policy, Political Economy,

Modelling the Dynamics of Weed Management Technologies

An appropriate economic framework for valuing the benefits of weed management technologies is to treat weeds as a renewable resource stock problem. Consequently, the weed seed bank is defined as a renewable resource that changes through time due to management and seasonal conditions. The goal of decision-makers is to manage this (negative) resource so as to maximise returns over some pre-specified period of time. A modelling framework is presented for evaluating the biological and economic effects of weed management. The framework includes population dynamics, water balance, crop growth, pasture growth and crop/pasture rotation models for measuring the physical interactions between weeds and the environment. These models link in with numerical optimal control, dynamic programming and stochastic dynamic programming models for determination of optimal decision rules and measuring economic impact over time of policy scenarios.weeds, modelling, dynamic analysis., Land Economics/Use,

Economic Issues in the Management of Plants Invading Natural Environments: Scotch Broom in Barrington Tops National Park

Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius, L.), is an exotic leguminous shrub, native to Europe, which invades pastoral and woodland ecosystems and adjoining river systems in cool, high rainfall regions of southeastern Australia. Broom has invaded 10,000 hectares of eucalypt woodland at Barrington Tops National Park in New South Wales, and is having a major impact on the natural ecology of the sub-alpine environment. It is extremely competitive with the native flora, retarding their growth and in many areas blanketing the ground and preventing growth of many understorey species in open forest areas. An active program to manage this invasion is being implemented by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The management issues include whether eradication or containment is economically desirable, and when biological control is economically desirable. Management choices depend on the marginal costs of increments of government intervention, effects of uncertain budgets on the control of broom, choice of control measures and effects of uncertain values of biodiversity. These issues are addressed through the application of a detailed bioeconomic model of broom management.Scotch broom, economic issues, management issues, natural environments, bioeconomic model, Environmental Economics and Policy,

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Valuing the biodiversity gains from protecting native plant communities from bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera subsp rotundata (DC.) T.Norl.) in New South Wales: application of the defensive expenditure method

Valuation of the gains from protection of biodiversity is difficult because the services that provide the benefits do not normally pass through markets where prices can form. But the services sometimes pass through markets where consumers or producers behave in a market-oriented manner, and so the values implicit in this behaviour can be identified and derived. Estimates of the benefits of biodiversity protection are derived from the costs of protecting native plant communities from a major weed in Australia, by following this approach. In 1999, invasion of coastal areas of New South Wales by bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera subsp. rotundata (DC.) T. Norl.) was listed as a key process threatening native plants under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. In accordance with the Act, the Department of Environment and Climate Change prepared a Threat Abatement Plan (TAP) to reduce the impacts of bitou bush on biodiversity at each threatened site. The costs of protecting sites vary closely with the number of priority native species and communities at each site. Following standard economic assumptions about market transactions, these costs are interpreted to provide values the benefits of protecting extra species, communities, and sites. Key words: Bitou bush, Chrysanthemoides monilifera, threat abatement plan, valuation of biodiversity, benefit-cost analysis, weed control, defensive-expenditure method.Bitou bush, Chrysanthemoides monilifera, threat abatement plan, valuation of biodiversity, benefit-cost analysis, weed control, defensive-expenditure method, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Eradication of Exotic Weeds in Australia: Comparing Effort and Expenditure

Weeds have many adverse impacts on agriculture and the environment and therefore are often targets of eradication attempts. Eradication attempts involve large commitments of labour and financial resources over significant periods of time. Using data from 12 Australian weed eradication attempts the authors compare work hours and expenditure on each attempt for various initial-infestation sizes. Analysis of a limited data set shows: (1) that while the eradication effort increases with the initial area of infestation, the effort applied per hectare actually decreases; (2) that application of a greater work effort was not the reason why completed eradications were successful; and (3) that the larger the initial infestation size, the smaller the amount of resources applied per hectare for eradication.weeds, eradication, work effort, expenditure, infestation size, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,