The conditions for functional mechanisms of compensation and reward for environmental services

Mechanisms of compensation and reward for environmental services (CRES) are becoming increasingly contemplated as means for managing human–environment interactions. Most of the functional mechanisms in the tropics have been developed within the last 15 years; many developing countries still have had little experience with functional mechanisms. We consider the conditions that foster the origin and implementation of functional mechanisms. Deductive and inductive approaches are combined. Eight hypotheses are derived from theories of institution and policy change. Five case studies, from Latin America, Africa, and Asia, are then reviewed according to a common framework. The results suggest the following to be important conditions for functional CRES mechanisms: (1) localized scarcity for particular environmental services, (2) influence from international environmental agreements and international organizations, (3) government policies and public attitudes favoring a mixture of regulatory and marketbased instruments, and (4) security of individual and group property rights

Projecting Supply and Demand for Land in the Long Run

The goal of this work is to investigate land-use change at the global scale over the long run particularly in the context of analyzing the fundamental drivers behind land-use related GHG emissions. For this purpose, we identify the most important drivers of supply and demand for land. On the demand side, we begin with a dynamic general equilibrium (GE) model that predicts economic growth in each region of the world, based on exogenous projections of population, skilled and unskilled labor and technical change. Economy-wide growth is, in turn, translated into consumer demand for specific products using an econometrically estimated, international cross-section, demand system that permits us to predict the pattern of future consumer demands across the development spectrum. This is particularly important in the fast-growing, developing countries, where the composition of consumer demand is changing rapidly. These countries also account for an increasing share of global economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions. Consumer demand is translated into derived demands for land through a set of sectoral production functions that differentiate the demand for land by Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ). The paper devotes considerable attention to modeling the supply of land to different land-using activities in the economy. In order to represent the competition for land among different sectors in the model, we disaggregated the land endowment in each region into Agro-Ecological Zones, drawing on the data base of Lee et al. (2005), to reflect the fact that land is heterogeneous endowment. To further restrict land mobility across uses, land supply within an AEZ is constrained via a nested Constant Elasticity of Transformation (CET) frontier. In the nested structure, land owner of particular type of land (AEZ) first decides on the allocation of land between agriculture and forestry to maximize the total returns from land. Then, based on the relative returns to land in crop and livestock production, the land owner decides on the allocation of land between these two broad types of agricultural activities. A soft link between our GE model and an intertemporal forestry model is included for better representation of forestry sector in GE model. To reflect the real world fact that deforestation represents an important source of land supply in the face of high demand, we also introduce the possibility of conversion of unmanaged forest land to land used in production. This is treated as an investment decision whereby new land is accessed only when present value of returns on land in a given region is high enough to cover the costs of accessing the new land. In equilibrium, the supply of land to each land-using activity adjusts to meet the derived demand for land. A set of projections for the long run supply and demand for land obtained with this model is a useful input to improving our understanding of land-related GHG emissions in the future.land use, climate change policy, baseline, general equilibrium, agro-ecological zones, C68, R14, Q24, Land Economics/Use,

Biofuel Growth: Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impacts from Changes in Forest Carbon Stocks

There is significant policy interest in liquid biofuels with appealing prospects for energy security, farm security, poverty alleviation, and climate change. Large-scale commercial biofuel production could have far reaching implications for regional and global markets – particularly those related to energy and land use. As such, large-scale biofuels growth is likely to have significant impacts on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper utilizes a CGE model with explicit biofuel, land, and energy markets. The model is able to estimate the effects on the broad range of input and output markets potentially affected globally by biofuels policies. One of the most controversial issues within the biofuels debate is potential indirect changes in land use and, in particular, the resulting changes in forest carbon stocks. To uncover consequences of biofuel policies for forest carbon, we link our CGE model with a dynamic forward looking model of the forest sector. Within this framework, we evaluate the potential effects of US and multinational biofuels growth on changes in land use and emissions from changes in forest carbon stocks.land use change, biofuels, CGE model, forest carbon stocks, GHG emissions, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The Effect of Carbon Payments on Deforestation Rates and Carbon Sequestration: Estimates from a Global Forestry and Agricultural Model.

Environmental Economics and Policy,