A BIO-ECONOMIC MODEL OF WETLAND PROTECTION ON PRIVATE LANDS

Wetland ecosystems on privately owned farms such as those on the Murrumbidgee River Floodplain in the state of New South Wales, Australia provide a mix of potentially valuable outputs to their owners and the wider community. The mix of values generated is dependent on the biophysical status of the wetlands, which in-turn, is dependent on the land management in and around these multiple-output ecosystems. Despite the range of private and public values generated, management decisions are based primarily on the private values that landowners receive. These private land management decisions also affect social values. Hence, there is potentially a demand for public policy to influence decisions based on the social values wetlands generate. This paper is predicated on the principle that good policy is reliant on information about wetland values. We present an integrated bio-economic model of wetland management that incorporates the biological and economic impacts at a landscape scale. The model reflects the multiple private and social values generated by wetlands and the dynamic nature of the trade-offs between these values. A number of broad policy conclusions for wetland management in Australia are generated from the outputs of the bio-economic model.Land Economics/Use,

Development offsets for ecosystem services in a rural residential development context: issues for the Murrindindi Shire application

Rural residential development could have a positive or negative effect on the supply of ecosystem services. In most cases, the effect tends to be negative. One way of managing the impact is through a market based instrument. In this paper we present a development offset MBI as a way of cost effectively managing the ecosystem service impact of development in the Murrindindi Shire, Victoria. In this paper we note that design of the instrument is critical to the success of any MBI, including development offsets. Key development offset design issues discussed in this paper include defining what is traded (the metric), facilitating trades in a thin marketplace with high transaction costs, and ensuring the offset is commensurate with the impact.Rural residential development, development offset,, market based instrument, design, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Markets for ecosystem services: Applying the concepts

In recent times, use of market-based instruments to facilitate enhanced protection or production of ecosystem services has achieved a high public profile. However, much work remains to apply these tools in practice. Particular issues include definition and measurement of ecosystem services, development of institutions and mechanisms to facilitate trade and integration of these instruments into the broader natural resource management agenda and toolbox. In this paper these issues are explored with respect to pilot markets for ecosystem services in three case study catchments. Emphasis is placed on pilot selection rationale and identification of key facilitative mechanisms and institutions.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Improving NRM Investment through a policy performance lens

Choosing a mechanism to encourage landholders to change their land management in order to deliver environmental outcomes is a complicated process. Careful instrument selection may count for little if uptake and adoption are insufficient to meet performance targets. Similarly, investors may require assurance that the proposed investment will deliver the stated goals. In order to reduce the uptake uncertainty facing policy makers we evaluate and describe several possible methods to guide and frame adoption targets. We conclude that referring to past adoption experience of a wide range of mechanisms offers the best approach to setting feasible adoption targets for future mechanisms. We call this adoption points of reference. This approach is tested by application to mechanisms focusing on delivering water quality improvements in GBR catchments. We conclude that the points of reference approach is appropriate and useful but should be supported by processes designed to incorporate the impact of heterogeneity and local knowledge and an emphasis on improving the accuracy of future data.adoption targets, NRM investment, reasonable assurance, water quality,

Putting Theory into Practice: Market Failure and Market Based Instruments (MBIs)

The use of market-based instruments (MBIs) to provide and protect ecosystem services has gained significant attention in Australia. Despite their popularity, MBIs are not appropriate for the provision of all ecosystem services. Rather, MBIs must be carefully designed given the ecosystem service outcomes desired, while meeting the needs of participants. In this paper we detail the importance of a robust theoretical structure to underpin the selection and design of an MBI. In particular, we demonstrate the role of identifying and analysing the nature of the market failures present, and their implications for instrument design. Our conclusions are illustrated using several regional MBI case studies.Market Based Instruments (MBIs), ecosystem services, conservation

Estimating society's willingness to pay to maintain viable rural communities

Declining populations in rural and regional areas have become a high political priority in Australia. Calls for measures to support rural communities have been prompted by substantial population declines in some country areas. In Europe and the USA, similar political pressures to halt population losses in rural and regional areas are also apparent; often as a component of the multifunctionality of agriculture. The question addressed in the present paper is whether or not the Australian tax‐paying public would be willing to pay to avoid losses of people from rural and regional areas that may result from environmental protection measures. As an integral component of two recent non‐market, environmental valuation exercises using Choice Modelling, the value of the benefits associated with the maintenance of rural populations has been estimated. The results demonstrate that a positive existence value is held primarily by urban dwellers for rural population levels.Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Managing Saline Groundwater Impacts from Irrigation - Designing and Testing Emissions Trading in Coleambally Irrigation Area

Irrigated agriculture often leads to recharge to local and regional groundwater systems greater than what the systems can absorb, resulting in the development of shallow watertables causing salinity and waterlogging. Policy based on emissions trading offers one option for effective management of existing recharge externalities if effective property rights to diffuse emissions can be defined. In this paper we combine the conclusions drawn from biophysical research with economic principles underpinning emissions trading to present such a system. Allocation of net recharge contracts to irrigation farms will internalize the costs associated with saline aquifer impacts. Irrigators may reduce their compliance costs by creating or purchasing credits that reduce recharge through perennial vegetation, engineering solutions or crop rotation options. We discuss the economic impacts of adopting such a policy in the Coleambally Irrigation Area in southwestern New South Wales, Australia. We also demonstrate some of the conclusions drawn from our research using experimental economics.salinity, irrigation, recharge, tradeable emissions, cap and trade, hydrologic-economic modelling, experimental economics

Experiments with regulations & markets linking upstream tree plantations with downstream water users

Land-use change in upper catchments impact downstream water flows. As trees use large amounts of water the expansion of upstream plantations can substantially reduce water availability to downstream users. There can also be impacts on downstream salinity due to reduced dilution flows. In some jurisdictions afforestation requires the purchase of water rights from downstream holders, while in others it does not, effectively handing the water rights to the upstream landholders. We consider the economic efficiency and equity (profitability and distributional) consequences of upstream land use change in the presence of a water market under alternate property rights regimes and different salinity scenarios.experimental-economics, tree-plantations, environmental-services, urban, irrigation, stock & domestic, water use, land use,

Low pH immobilizes and kills human leukocytes and prevents transmission of cell-associated HIV in a mouse model

BACKGROUND: Both cell-associated and cell-free HIV virions are present in semen and cervical secretions of HIV-infected individuals. Thus, topical microbicides may need to inactivate both cell-associated and cell-free HIV to prevent sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS. To determine if the mild acidity of the healthy vagina and acid buffering microbicides would prevent transmission by HIV-infected leukocytes, we measured the effect of pH on leukocyte motility, viability and intracellular pH and tested the ability of an acidic buffering microbicide (BufferGel(®)) to prevent the transmission of cell-associated HIV in a HuPBL-SCID mouse model. METHODS: Human lymphocyte, monocyte, and macrophage motilities were measured as a function of time and pH using various acidifying agents. Lymphocyte and macrophage motilities were measured using video microscopy. Monocyte motility was measured using video microscopy and chemotactic chambers. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) viability and intracellular pH were determined as a function of time and pH using fluorescent dyes. HuPBL-SCID mice were pretreated with BufferGel, saline, or a control gel and challenged with HIV-1-infected human PBMCs. RESULTS: Progressive motility was completely abolished in all cell types between pH 5.5 and 6.0. Concomitantly, at and below pH 5.5, the intracellular pH of PBMCs dropped precipitously to match the extracellular medium and did not recover. After acidification with hydrochloric acid to pH 4.5 for 60 min, although completely immotile, 58% of PBMCs excluded ethidium homodimer-1 (dead-cell dye). In contrast, when acidified to this pH with BufferGel, a microbicide designed to maintain vaginal acidity in the presence of semen, only 4% excluded dye at 10 min and none excluded dye after 30 min. BufferGel significantly reduced transmission of HIV-1 in HuPBL-SCID mice (1 of 12 infected) compared to saline (12 of 12 infected) and a control gel (5 of 7 infected). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that physiologic or microbicide-induced acid immobilization and killing of infected white blood cells may be effective in preventing sexual transmission of cell-associated HIV