The Impact of River Flow Restrictions on Instruments to Control noPoint Nitrate Pollution

An economic analysis of policies to control nonpoint source nitrate pollution in the presence of minimum river flow restrictions was undertaken. A non-linear bio-physical economic optimisation model of an intensively cultivated Scottish agricultural catchment was constructed. The presence of minimum river flow controls in the catchment was found to reduce nitrogen pollution. However, by themselves, river flow controls were found not to be a cost effective means to reduce diffuse pollution. River flow controls did not, for the most part, alter relative instrument ranking.

Integrated regulation of nonpoint pollution : combining managerial controls and economic instruments under multiple environmental targets

Regulators are often reluctant to rely solely on economic incentives to achieveenvironmental standards. We evaluate a "mixed approach" of economic instruments andmanagement standards when two environmental objectives need to be met simultaneously:minimum river flow rates and reductions in nitrate pollution. We show how the relativeefficiency of such mixed approaches can depend on exogenous factors, in this case weatherconditions. Results indicate that mixed instruments outperform stand-alone economicincentives or managerial controls under wet weather conditions, but not in 'average' years.However, the relative cost-effectiveness of mixed approaches increases considerably at higher levels of environmental standard compliance

Farm Households’ Perception of Weather Change and Flood Adaptations in Northern Pakistan

This research investigates farm households' adaptations to climate change-driven monsoon floods in the rural district of Nowshera, Pakistan. Some households in these flood-affected communities have undertaken autonomous adaptations to flooding. We surveyed five hundred farm households from both flood-affected and unaffected villages to investigate the factors driving the uptake of the following autonomous flood adaptations: plinth elevation, grain storage, participation in communal flood preparations and the creation of edge-of-field tree lined shelterbelts. We used both binary and multivariate probit regressions to investigate the correlation across adaptation options. Empirical results suggest that access to agricultural extension services, off-farm work opportunities, past duration of standing floodwaters, farm to river distance, receiving post-flooding support and tribal diversity are the main drivers of flood adaptations. Moreover, we report the complementary uptake of adaptations in pairs. Given the prediction of climate change-driven flooding in the Hindu Kush, we recommend cost-effective policies that increase the resilience of vulnerable agricultural-dependent rural communities. In addition, we report that respondents perceived a change in weather towards hotter and dryer weather over the last ten years

Transferring the Benefits of Water Quality Enhancements in Small Catchments

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) sets targets of "Good Ecological Status" for water bodies across the EU. Environmental regulatory authorities must undertake economic analysis of all water bodies as part of the process of drawing up catchment management plans. In this paper, we test the transferability of benefit estimates across the kinds of smaller catchments where original benefits estimation is unlikely to be undertaken on grounds of costs. This is done in a context where agricultural-source nonpoint pollution and irrigation water abstraction are the main threats to ecological status.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Designing Regulatory Policies for Complex Externalities: The Case of Agricultural Pollution

The paper examines the issue of designing and implementing policy measures to control complex agricultural externalities. Complex externalities refer to the situation where a production (firm on firm) externality coexists with a detrimental (firm on society) externality. The paper identifies the optimal solution for complex externalities, which is a combination of spatially differentiated taxes. However, severe information requirements render the first-best policy infeasible. Finally, a likely voluntary scheme based on firm self-report is examined which may enforce firm compliance with the optimal policy

Integrated regulation of nonpoint pollution: Combining managerial controls and economic instruments under multiple environmental targets

Regulators are often reluctant to rely solely on economic incentives to achieve environmental standards. We evaluate a "mixed approach" of economic instruments and management standards when two environmental objectives need to be met simultaneously: minimum river flow rates and reductions in nitrate pollution. We show how the relative efficiency of such mixed approaches can depend on exogenous factors, in this case weather conditions. Results indicate that mixed instruments outperform stand alone economic incentives or managerial controls under wet weather conditions, but not in 'average' years. However, the relative cost-effectiveness of mixed approaches increases considerably at higher levels of environmental standard compliance.Diffuse water pollution Environmental regulation Minimum river flow Mixed instruments Nonpoint pollution

An empirical analysis of participation in international environmental agreements

This study investigates the determinants of participation in environmental agreements, with a special focus on lobbying and regional agreements. To this end, we collated the largest ratification dataset in the literature and identified all countries eligible for membership in each agreement. This feature allows us to correct the identification bias associated with the misidentification of the risk set when regional agreements are included in the regression sample. We also improve the treatment of unobserved heterogeneity by using a multilevel survival approach and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimator. Overall, we find that countries’ participation choices are interrelated and primarily driven by the agreements’ characteristics. Our findings indicate that regional agreements are two and half times more likely to be ratified than global agreements and that environmental lobbying positively affects participation in environmental agreements, while the effect of industrial lobbying is statistically insignificant. This result is robust to changes in specification and proxies used. Our results motivate several policy suggestions. We emphasise regional agreements’ capacity to deliver higher participation than global agreements and the importance of securing the early ratification of key players

Integrated Regulation of Nonpoint Pollution: Combining Managerial Controls and Economic Instruments under Multiple Environmental Targets

Regulators are often reluctant to rely solely on economic incentives to achieve environmental standards. We evaluate a "mixed approach" of economic instruments and management standards when two environmental objectives need to be met simultaneously: minimum river flow rates and reductions in nitrate pollution. We show how the relative efficiency of such mixed approaches can depend on exogenous factors, in this case weather conditions. Results indicate that mixed instruments outperform stand-alone economic incentives or managerial controls under wet weather conditions, but not in 'average' years. However, the relative cost-effectiveness of mixed approaches increases considerably at higher levels of environmental standard compliance.diffuse water pollution, environmental regulation, minimum river flow, mixed instruments, nonpoint pollution