Invasive Species and Endogenous Risk

Invasive species policy is an economic issue. People affect the spread of invasive species, and these invaders affect people. This review discusses bioeconomic modeling using endogenous risk theory to capture the idea of jointly determined ecological and economic systems. This perspective adds precision to risk assessment and cost-benefit estimation. Bioeconomic modeling can help increase the chance of developing policies that promote better invasive species protection at lower cost. Several key points emerge. Differentiating between import- and export-related externalities determines the ability of agents to manage risk. A manager has four general economic strategies to mitigate invasive species risk and associated damages: prevention, eradication, control, and adaptation. When flexibility and timing play a critical role, a real options framework becomes the more appropriate analytical framework relative to traditional cost-benefit analysis. For many invasive species, valuation exercises will involve eliciting preferences to delay in the inevitable invasion and spread

Impacts of climate change on multiple use management of Bureau of Land Management land in the Intermountain West, USA

Although natural resource managers are concerned about climate change, many are unable to adequately incorporate climate change science into their adaptation strategies or management plans, and are not always aware of or do not employ the most current scientific knowledge. One of the most prominent natural resource management agencies in the United States is the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is tasked with managing over 248 million acres (\u3e1 million km2) of public lands for multiple, often conflicting, uses. Climate change will affect the sustainability of many of these land uses and could further increase conflicts between them. As such, the purpose of our study was to determine the extent to which climate change will affect public land uses, and whether the BLM is managing for such predicted effects. To do so, we first conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature that discussed potential impacts of climate change on the multiple land uses the BLM manages in the Intermountain West, USA, and then expanded these results with a synthesis of projected vegetation changes. Finally, we conducted a content analysis of BLM Resource Management Plans in order to determine how climate change is explicitly addressed by BLM managers, and whether such plans reflect changes predicted by the scientific literature. We found that active resource use generally threatens intrinsic values such as conservation and ecosystem services on BLM land, and climate change is expected to exacerbate these threats in numerous ways. Additionally, our synthesis of vegetation modeling suggests substantial changes in vegetation due to climate change. However, BLM plans rarely referred to climate change explicitly and did not reflect the results of the literature review or vegetation model synthesis. Our results suggest there is a disconnect between management of BLM lands and the best available science on climate change. We recommend that the BLM actively integrates such research into on-the-ground management plans and activities, and that researchers studying the effects of climate change make a more robust effort to understand the practices and policies of public land management in order to effectively communicate the management significance of their findings