Nondiscretionary residential water use: the impact of habits and water‐efficient technologies

Several studies published in the last few decades have demonstrated a low price‐elasticity for residential water use. In particular, it has been shown that there is a quantity of water demanded that remains constant regardless of prices and other economic factors. In this research, we characterise residential water demand based on a Stone‐Geary utility function. This specification is not only theory‐compatible but can also explicitly model a minimum level of consumption not dependent on prices or income. This is described as minimum threshold or nondiscretionary water use. Additionally, the Stone‐Geary framework is used to model the subsistence level of water consumption that is dependent on the temporal evolution of consumer habits and stock of physical capital. The main aim of this study is to analyse the impact of water‐saving habits and water‐efficient technologies on residential water demand, while additionally focusing attention on nondiscretionary uses. This is informed by an empirical application using data from a survey conducted among residents of Brisbane City Council, Australia. The results will be especially useful in the design of water tariffs and other water‐saving policies.     

Is the rhino worth saving? A sustainable tourism perspective

Southern African countries are increasingly dependent on natural beauty and wildlife for tourism. Conservation is essential for sustainable tourism, and is expensive, especially for threatened and endangered species. The current price of a species only takes into account its current usefulness, often leading to an underestimation of the value of wildlife. This paper contributes to debates on the value of endangered species by estimating current use and non-use values for the rhino, a species under extreme threat. Internationally, literature that values scarce and endangered species uses willingness-to-pay (WTP) to derive a value of the species. This paper uses WTP to determine the non-consumptive use value of the rhino based on three surveys, n = 1291, conducted in South Africa's Kruger National Park (KNP) and compare it to consumptive use values. Non-use and inter-temporal values are also estimated to provide a comprehensive valuation of the rhino. Non-consumptive use values per rhino in KNP are shown to exceed consumptive use values by a minimum of 50%. The threat of extinction is shown to be linked to institutional, market and policy failures. Policy implications include raising poaching fines, raising wildlife value awareness and incentivising the community benefits of wildlife conservation.     

Community participation in World Heritage Site conservation and tourism development

This study investigates the factors contributing to community participation in a World Heritage Site (WHS) using Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability (MOA) model. We examined the effects of these factors on three levels of community participation. The findings showed that motivation had the greatest positive effect on the low level of community participation. Opportunity had the greatest effect on the high level of community participation. Among the dimensions of ability, namely awareness and knowledge, the findings showed that more aware residents were more interested in low level of community participation, whereas residents with more knowledge were more interested in high level of community participation. This study contributes to the tourism development and WHS conservation and management literature by examining the effects of MOA factors on three levels of community participation. Moreover, this study has a number of practical implications for local authorities in terms of community participation.     

Are impatient farmers more risk-averse? Evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment in rural Uganda

Based on data from a field-experiment in rural Uganda, we show that impatient farmers are more risk-averse than patient farmers. We relied on a simplified version of the Convex Time Budget (CTB) method to elicit farmers’ time preferences and on an independent method for eliciting their risk-preferences. We report two important findings. First, we show that our simplified CTB method applied to farmers from Uganda replicates the key findings of Andreoni and Sprenger’s lab experiments that involved student subjects. Second, we establish the existence of a negative correlation between risk tolerance and impatience, based on two independent measures.     

Tourism-based heritage conservation in Murshidabad: an appraisal

The article appraises the outcome of promoting tourism as a strategy for heritage conservation in the case of Murshidabad, an archetypal historic town in decline in India. A relational maturity-based framework has been used to examine the complementarities and conflicts between tourism and heritage conservation in the town. The prevailing nature of tourism conservation relationship in Murshidabad upholds the criticality characteristically observed in developing countries, where governments focus primarily on the revenue generating potential of built-heritage centric tourism ignoring the conservation attention necessary to retain authenticity and meaningful existence of historic structures. The overarching issues emerging from the current level of relational maturity in Murshidabad are identified with suggestions for possible policy implications of the study.     

Archaeological heritage tourism in China: the case of the Daming Palace from the tourists' perspective

Archaeological heritage tourism has been critical in historic cultural revival, archaeological knowledge dissemination, environment upgrading, and local community improvement. Little has been undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness and consequences of archaeological heritage projects in China from the tourist perspective. This study of the Daming Palace Heritage Site in Xi’an illustrates how archaeological and cultural resources have contributed to tourists' experiences. Through investigating an array of approaches that have been applied to advance tourists' understanding of archaeological and cultural resources, the paper proposes that more versatile methods and creative works are to be integrated to develop effective interpretative methods for both education and entertainment purposes. Local government needs to change its top-down approach to a more inclusive one, to establish strong networks among state and non-state stakeholders, and to promote their collective involvement in archaeological heritage tourism. Heritage site packaging strategies and partnerships among heritage resources citywide are advocated. More attention should be given to how to integrate various resources of local communities into heritage tourism. The current organization of government-run archaeological heritage in China calls for more opportunities for archaeologists to contribute actively with their expertise to enhance interpretive programmes and general tourist experience.     

西部大开发对西部地区碳排放演变的影响

西部大开发后西部地区经济增长加快、人民生活水平提高，但产业结构、技术水平以及生态环境质量却并未表现出同等程度的改善或提升。采用30个样本省份1995—2011年的面板数据，运用双重差分法进行分析，结果发现：西部大开发在促进西部地区经济增长以及地区经济趋同的同时，也使得西部地区的碳排放（尤其是人均碳排放）与其他地区相比增长更快，与此同时，西部地区与碳排放相关的因素和条件（如产业结构、技术水平、市场化程度等）未得到显著改善。在既有的资源禀赋、发展阶段、产业结构以及经济发展方式下，西部大开发初期着力于固定资产投资和资源、能源开发，忽视教育事业、市场化改革、技术创新等软环境建设，导致西部地区在经济增长的同时碳排放相对增加。因此，在今后的西部大开发规划中，应当着力于转变经济发展方式，加强软环境建设，重视人力资本积累和技术创新，提升市场化水平，才能在发展地区经济的同时实现节能减排。     

节能生态农业技术扩散机制研究

如何处理好经济发展与节约资源、保护环境的关系成为我国未来发展迫待解决的问题之一,党的十八大更是对建设资源节约型、环境友好型社会提出了更新更高要求,农业与农村节能减排是我国《节能减排"十二五"规划》中的主要工作任务之一,其工作重点是大力推广科学高效的节肥、节药、节水、节能及农村废弃物资源化利用技术,以实现农业与农村经济快速可持续发展。当前我国各地区、各部门在国务院统一决策部署下,加大工作力度,采取积极有效的措施,推动了农业技术进步,更多的先进技术成果得到推广,节能减排工作初见成效。然而节能生态农业技术在应用范围上仍然有限,推进相关技术的扩散仍是节能减排工作中的重中之重。文章对农业技术扩散理论加以阐述,通过分析当前我国节能生态农业技术扩散现状,研究并探讨适合我国节能生态农业技术扩散的有效机制与具体举措,以期为提升我国资源节约型农业发展水平提供参考。     

我国农业野生植物资源原生境保护区建设现状、问题及未来的思考

我国农业野生植物原生境面临着环境污染、人类农业生产、经济社会发展以及各类违法活动的侵蚀和破坏,建立原生境保护区是保护农业野生植物资源的重要途径之一。基于对当前威胁我国农业野生植物原生境面临的四大因素(自然灾害、农业活动、经济发展、违法活动)的系统梳理的基础上,探讨了现有农业野生植物原生境保护区建设的法规政策体系以及保护区建设现状和存在的主要问题,在此基础上提出了加强保护区建设的几点建议。分析结果表明,当前我国农业野生植物保护区建设存在的主要问题包括:保护区土地权属界定、保护区建设内容限定过窄、忽视保护区管理机构能力建设、对保护区周边农民权益保护不够。为了提高保护区建设工作,文章建议相关部门应该重视以下几个问题:统筹协调行业部门之间的权属差异,重视农业野生植物异位保存工作,修订完善保护区建设技术规范,兼顾保护区民众利益。