The Social Value of Biodiversity for R&D

The value of genetic resources for use in research and development (R&D)activities has been the subject of a literature modelling the activity as onewhere individual firms engage in optimal search. Here we develop a moregeneralised framework in which genetic resources are used in R&D at thebase of an industry that addresses recurring problems of resistance, as inthe pharmaceutical or plant breeding industries. The R&D process is onein which firms are engaging in a continuing contest of innovation againsta background of both creative destruction (Schumpeterian competition) andadaptive destruction (natural selection and adaptation). This frameworkdemonstrates that the search model is conceptually inadequate because itfails to incorporate the important dynamic characteristics of biologicalphenomena. We then demonstrate the important differences between firm-based valuation of genetic resources and the social value of geneticresources for use in this contest of innovation. There are six externalitiesin private patent-based genetic resource valuation, and five of theseindicate that private valuations will under-estimate social values.     

Valuing nature: From environmental impacts to natural capital

Economic valuation of natural and environmental assets is now a well established practice. Economic analysis provides several methods for discovering the impact on social welfare associated with changes in the ability of these assets to provide different goods and services. In general terms, these valuation exercises have been performed in the framework of Environmental Impact Assessment or, more generally, Cost Benefit Analysis. There is, however, an increasing demand nowadays to go beyond this framework and to value natural capital (natural resource stocks, land and ecosystems) as such. There are two main reasons for this new demand. On the one hand, sustainability requires that proper account should be taken of capital depreciation and, therefore, there is a need to value natural capital changes. This valuation process, nevertheless, only makes sense when some kind of substitution between natural and other forms of capital is allowed. On the other hand, there is also an increasing tendency to demand that the stock of natural capital present in a given territory be valued, either to discover one of the main components of social wealth or to help adequately plan changes in land use. Yet, whereas conventional valuation methods are probably adequate to fulfill the first task, this is less true in the case of the second, while even more difficulties arise in connection with the third one. Even if at first sight the process appears conceptually identical, these tasks are of a different order of magnitude, as the experience of both the World Bank and the Statistics Division of the United Nations in this respect clearly shows.     

Ecological pricing and economic efficiency

There is a need to accurately account for the contributions of environmental assets to the overall economy. Such accounting would permit policies that allow protection of important natural resources and aid the analytic process to determine an accurate basis for a sustainable economy. The aim is to develop an accounting framework for ecology that is sufficiently consistent with the economic framework that the two can be fruitfully combined. With appropriate definitions of the flows, the two systems can be connected into a common framework. No single measure of the system productivity and efficiency can be given for the combined system, however, until the ecosystem metabolism can be converted into economic terms. This could be done with a series of economic valuation techniques. Ecological prices could then be estimated and a single measure of ecological economic output could be given. With the net combined system input and output now in common terms, a technical system efficiency measure can logically be proposed. Because human activity inevitably involves dissipation, such emissions would now have a monetary price. Because such emissions are irrecoverable, the total output of the combined system is greater than it is under the current definition, giving rise to a technical system-wide efficiency measure.     

林地估价技术体系研究

林地估价是绿色国民经济核算体系框架背景下林地资产化管理的一项新工作。从林地的收益估算理论入手,结合现行林地和林木资产评估方法,在林地分等定级相关研究成果基础上,建立以评估林地基准地价为核心的一整套林地估价技术体系,以期为今后绿色国民经济框架下,森林资源的商品化推进工作奠定基础。     

SEEA-2003: Accounting for sustainable development?

The revised SEEA-2003 elaborates physical and hybrid environmental-economic accounts, details valuation techniques for natural resources, but rejects monetary valuation of environmental degradation as “modeling”. Preference for physical accounting and corresponding loss of systemic coherence (as compared to the SEEA-1993) prevents meeting the proclaimed objective of assessing sustainable development.     

Valuation and management of wetland ecosystems

We recently completed a study of wetland values in coastal Louisiana that employed both willingness-to-pay and energy analysis-based methodologies and were able to bracket a range of values within which we feel fairly confident the true value lies. However, a large amount of uncertainty remains. Our current estimates of the total prsent value of an average acre of natural wetlands in Louisiana are US$2429–6400 per acre (assuming an 8% discount rate) to $8977–17000 per acre (assuming a 3% discount rate). At the lowest value, the current annual rate of loss of Louisiana wetlands (50 sq miles per year) is worth about $77 million. At the largest value it is worth about $544 million.In this paper we (a) discuss the fundamental theoretical and practical problems underlying natural resources valuation; (b) summarize our methods and findings for Louisiana wetlands; and (c) elaborate on some of the more recalcitrant problems attending applied natural resource valuation, including discounting and dealing with uncertainty and imprecision.The discount rate makes more difference in the final result than any other one factor, and yet there is much disagreement about the appropriate approach to discounting natural resources. We discuss the discounting problem as applied to natural resources and argue for lower discount rates for valuing renewable natural resources than apply for other aspects of the economy.It now seems clear that no reasonable amount of effort will produce very precise estimates of wetland values, and we suspect this is also the case for several other classes of natural resources. We elaborate a Wetlands Asurance Bonding System to address these problems.     

分权理论及其在自然资源产权制度改革中的应用

明确划分中央和地方政府的资源产权利益分配关系既是我国自然资源产权制度改革的重要约束条件,更是研究的基本视角之一。分权型政府主导下的、有限制的自然资源产权制度在实践上表现为中央与地方政府的权利分配以及地方政府之间的区域竞争,这必然会对自然资源产权制度的变革方向产生重要影响。建立一个从分权到合作的M型分权模型,可以解释我国自然资源产权制度改革进程中政府间分权关系的演进趋势。     

More than total economic value: How to combine economic valuation of biodiversity with ecological resilience

The assessment of total economic value has become a pragmatic and popular approach in nature valuation, yet criticisms have been raised. One major point of critique is that total economic value bases the monetary value of ecosystems purely on the flow of human benefits of services of ecosystems and consequently ignores questions of sustainable use of natural capital per se. This paper explains why total economic value by itself is in principle an inadequate concept to guide sustainable use of ecosystems and gives an overview of essential ecological theory that needs to be taken into account in addition to total economic value to fully include ecosystem sustainability. The paper concludes with a framework for combining ecological theory with economic valuation. The key elements here are theoretical ecological insights about ecosystem resilience and portfolio theory which offers an economic perspective on investment in biodiversity. Portfolio theory puts total economic value in a framework where investment in biodiversity is expanded to cover functional diversity and mobile link species in order to maintain ecosystem resilience and so fosters sustainable use of ecosystems.     

NONMARKET VALUATION AND THE COURTS: THE CASE OF THE EXXON VALDEZ

This paper examines a natural resource damages case, the Exxon Valdez, and contrasts the use and acceptance of market and nonmarket valuation methods in two related sectors: commercial fishing and Alaska native subsistence use of fish and wildlife. Much economic literature focuses on how, in principle, one should value environmental injury. These principles and methods have been codified in the Department of Interior and National Oceanic and Atmospheric and Administration natural resource damage regulations that implement the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. However, these liability rules are fairly new, and thus little evidence exists on the acceptance of valuation methods by the courts and juries. In this regard, the Exxon Valdez case is of particular interest because substantial resources were at stake and much of the case went all the way through to a jury verdict. The two major plaintiff classes—commercial fishermen and Alaska natives—are market and nonmarket versions, respectively, of otherwise fairly similar economic sectors. However, the court's acceptance of the "correct in principle" valuation methods appropriate to each sector was asymmetric. The court accepted as admissible the market valuation procedures (primarily "diminution in market price") used by the commercial fish experts but rejected the nonmarket valuation procedure applied to subsistence uses (a hedonic price model).     

耕地资源非市场价值及其评估方法分析

非市场价值是耕地资源无法忽略的重要组成部分,耕地资源过多向非农用途转变的根本原因在于人们对耕地资源的价值认识不足.文章在评析耕地资源价值理论的基础上,系统地分析了耕地资源的非市场价值及其构成,并讨论了耕地资源非市场价值的各种评估方法及其局限性,以促进我国耕地资源非市场价值评估理论和方法的进一步完善.     

Review of tourism resources valuation

Tourism resources valuation is now a hot issue of the science of tourism resources, resources economics and environmental economics. This paper reviews research progresss on tourism resources valuation, introduces its theoretic basis, and elaborates two classical valuation methods： TCM and CVM. And two existing problems are discussed Firstly, tourism resources value constitution system is still under dispute. This paper puts forward the Value constitution system based on present value categories. Secondly, tourism resources valuation methods need further studies because both TCM and CVM have deficiencies. Finally, the paper points out the development direction of tourism resources valuation.     

中部地区自然资源有序开发的环境约束及化解

中部地区具有明显的区位优势和综合资源优势，是我国重要的农产品基地、能源基地和重要的原材料基地。中部地区崛起战略的顺利实施须有赖于作为以人为本的社会经济可持续发展的两大基本要素之一——自然资源的有序开发。基于中部地区自然资源现状及其有序开发的环境约束，针对各类自然资源提出相应的化解策略。     

“比较优势陷阱”与中部地区经济增长

就地区经济增长而言,丰裕的自然资源既存在比较优势的促进作用,又存在比较优势弱势化的约束作用。因而自然资源对中部地区经济增长的影响,不仅要看到其促进作用,更要关注其约束作用。中部地区既要充分发挥自然资源的比较优势,更要消除其约束作用,促使经济健康快速发展。     

ACCOUNTING FOR EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES IN THE CANADIAN SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS: FLOWS, STOCKS AND PRODUCTIVITY MEASURES

The paper shows that the Canadian System of National Accounts includes exhaustible resources but treats them as if they were produced goods. Thus, the claim that conventional accounts ignore the contribution of exhaustible natural resources is partly true. To fully account for exhaustible resources, we present an alternative national accounting framework that incorporates natural resource flows and stocks. The framework modifies the measure of the net domestic product by a factor that differs from the Hartwick-Solow-Weitzman rule and leads to different estimates of GDP, national wealth, and productivity growth. An application to the Canadian oil and gas industry shows order-of-magnitude effects.     

The value of conserving genetic resources for R&D: A survey

The value of genetic resources for R&D is placed within the framework of discussions concerning sustainability. We assess the extent to which society is able to invest now in order to prepare for future risks and uncertainties in the arrival of biological problems. Each of the approaches to valuation is discussed within this setting. Weitzman's approach to measurement is seen to be one that considers society's current objectives and information to be little relevant to future risks and uncertainties. Sedjo, Simpson and Reids' search-theoretic perspective is seen to reduce future uncertainties to highly tractable and known problems. Goeschl and Swanson's bio-technological approach also constrains the problem to be one without any real uncertainty, and focuses on the need to maintain genetic resources in order to maintain control over the problem. Kassar and Lasserre place uncertainty at the core of the problem, and assess the extent to which additional value is added by this feature. In sum all of the approaches to the problem evince a pessimism regarding the capacity of future technological change automatically to resolve these problems. Given this, the value of genetic resources depends on beliefs concerning the ability of current objectives to anticipate future risks and uncertainties.     

Constrained sales maximization under a linear technology

This paper employs the activity analysis framework of linear programming to solve the decision problem of maximizing sales revenue in the presence of a minimum acceptable profit constraint. One of the advantages of using this model relative to the standard neoclassical approach is that, in addition to determining the firm's optimal product mix, we can also explore the ramifications of constrained revenue maximization on the imputed valuation of the firm's resources. The primal and dual solution values for the constrained revenue maximization problems are then compared with those derived from a linear profit maximization model. A computational technique is offered which demonstrates how constrained revenue maximization is carried out in actual practice.     

Theory and practice of value management and its innovation natural resources from the perspective of sustainable development

The supreme obstacle for sustainable development of natural re,sources is the scarcity bottleneck.So how to promote the sustainable utili-ing and increase the using efficiency of natural resoures is worth studying.this paper suggests that we should improve the model and means of evaluating method and value management based on the theory of natural resource compensation.This paper discusses the User Cost Method based on the microeconomic aspect which can change the evaluating method for natural resources.From the perspective of value management model,we should use the User Cost Method to realize the linkage and integration (ifmicro and macro compensation for natural resources.Based on the evaluating and accounting idea of User Cost Method,this paper presents a theo retical framework to harmonize and link micro and macro compensation for natural resources.At present,we should seek the new approach and method to manage natural resources,so can we realize the capitalization management focusing on the vahte management for natural resources.     

Theory and practice of value management and its innovation for natural resources from the perspective of sustainable development

The supreme obstacle for sustainable development of natural resources is the scarecity, bottleneck. So how to promote the sustainable utilizing and increase the using efficiency of natural resources is worth studying. This paper suggests that we should improve the model and means of evaluating method and value management based on th~ theory of natural resource compensation. This paper discusses the User Cost Method based on the microeeonomicaspect which can change the evaluating method for natural resources. From the perspective of value managemen model, we should use the User Cost Method to realize the linkage and integration of micro and macro eompensation for natural resources. Based on the evaluating and aecounting idea User Cost Method, this paper presents a theo. retical framework to harmonize and link micro and macro compensation for natural resources. At present, we should seek the new approach and method to manage natural resources, so can we realize the capitalization managemen focusing on the vahte management for natural resources.     

PROJECT EVALUATION AND RESOURCE SUSTAINABILITY

This paper outlines a procedure for embodying the principle of resource sustainability in evaluating projects that use significant amounts of natural resources. In this analysis, sustainability requires maintaining the productivity of the resource used over time, either by renewing the resource or by investing its depletion in other capital assets. The basis of a project's evaluation is its net present social value (NPSV), including resource depletion as a social cost. The social cost of depletion is the amount that must be saved and reinvested annually to accumulate a fund that will yield a perpetual annual income equal to the net output lost by resource depletion. By treating resource depletion as a social cost in calculating NPSV, projects causing a high rate of resource depletion receive a relatively low valuation compared with projects causing less resource depletion. Resource depletion includes environmental damage caused by constructing and operating a project, as well as the direct consumption of natural resources.
Several problems arise in reinvesting depletion to preserve the value of a resource base. One major problem relates to the substitutability of man-made capital for natural resources. The conclusion of the analysis here is that society must invest a substantial amount of resource depletion in: (i) replenishing renewable resources, (ii) increasing product output per unit of resource used, or (Hi) increasing the end-use efficiency of resource-intensive products.     

A GIS-based approach for mapping direct use value of ecosystem services at a county scale: Management implications

A GIS-based approach was designed to spatially estimate direct use value of ecosystem services and to map results for a case study at county scale. The approach highlights the use of GIS to collect data, perform spatial analysis, and map economic values of ecosystem services. Three key steps of spatial valuation for agricultural products, forest products, and tourism services were illustrated in the GIS-based technical framework. We applied this approach to the Tiantai County (1423.8 km²) in Zhejiang province of southeast China. Selected components of natural products and tourism services in the case area were mapped as data layers in GIS, with each layer containing monetary values for every 25 m cell. The total direct use value of ecosystem services was estimated in RMB to be approximately 538 million Yuan in 2005 (Chinese currency, 8.2 Yuan = US$1), of which agricultural products, forest products and tourism services accounted for 65%, 30% and 5%, respectively. The critical areas for management purpose were identified depending on the heterogeneity of direct use services learned from the case study. The spatially explicit measures provide a mechanism for incorporating spatial context into ecosystem services evaluation. Based on the present GIS-based approach and case study, the suggestions and implications for local resources protection and eco-environmental management were extensively discussed. The work was expected to highlight research avenues to advance the ecosystem services framework as an operational basis for regional ecosystem-based management.