Protecting Watershed Ecosystems through Targeted Local Land Use Policies |
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| Authors: | Christian Langpap Ivan Hascic JunJie Wu |
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| Institution: | Christian Langpap is assistant professor and JunJie Wu is Emery N. Castle Professor of Resource and Rural Economics, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University. Ivan Hascic is an economist at the OECD Environment Directorate in Paris, France. When part of this research was conducted, Hascic was a doctoral candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Oregon State University. |
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| Abstract: | Land use change is the most pervasive force driving the degradation of watershed ecosystems. This article combines an econometric model of land use choice with models of watershed health indicators to examine the effects of land use policies on watershed ecosystems through their effect on land use. Our results suggest that incentive-based land use policies and property acquisition programs can have relatively large positive impacts on watershed health, while policies that change the returns to land use are less effective. The results suggest that there is potential for targeting these policies because their impacts vary across watersheds with different land use mixes. |
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| Keywords: | land use targeted policy water pollution water quality watershed ecosystems |
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