Investigating distance effects on environmental values: a choice modelling approach*

Analysis of the relationship between distance and willingness to pay (WTP) is important for estimation and transfer of environmental benefits. Several contingent valuation (CV) studies have investigated this topic, but results are mixed. This paper describes a choice modelling (CM) application that estimates distance effects on parameters of three environmental attributes. Combinations of these attributes create different management policies for native vegetation. The CM study is based on a sampling procedure that provides a geographically balanced sample and statistical tests to choose the best specification of the distance–WTP relationship. Welfare analysis shows that disregarding distance causes under‐estimation of individual and aggregated benefits and losses, seriously misdirecting resource allocation.     

Integrated assessment of public investment in land-use change to protect environmental assets in Australia

A framework for comprehensive integrated assessment of environmental projects is developed and applied in partnership with a regional environmental body. The framework combines theory with practice, bringing a pragmatic and efficient approach to the rigorous assessment of projects for a large number of environmental assets in the north central region of the state of Victoria, Australia. The approach is codified as the Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER). The analysis assisted the environmental body to make strong business cases for a number of environmental projects, resulting in funding for those projects. Key features of the study include extensive participation of decision makers and stakeholders, integration of a comprehensive set of information about projects, explicit assessment of uncertainties and information gaps, and analysis of the most appropriate policy mechanism for each project. The process of applying the framework involved four steps: identification of around 300 important environmental assets in the region, filtering the list of assets to remove those that are less likely to provide opportunities for cost-effective public investment, development and detailed assessment of projects for a subset of assets, and negotiation of funding for projects. Implications for land-use policy include that environmental projects vary widely in their cost-effectiveness, requiring careful targeting of funds if environmental benefits are to be maximised. Many existing environmental programs use simplistic analyses to support decision making, resulting in missed opportunities for substantially greater environmental benefits. Promoting adoption of improved analytical methods is very challenging, requiring changes in mind-set and culture in environmental organisations. Widespread adoption is unlikely unless funders create incentives by rewarding those project proponents who undertake rigorous and comprehensive project assessments that focus on achievement of environmental outcomes.     

The economic costs and benefits of a participatory project to conserve maize landraces on farms in Oaxaca,Mexico⋆

Conventional methods were used to assess the benefits and costs of an unconventional project whose purpose was to test whether participatory crop improvement can encourage Mexican farmers to continue growing maize landraces by enhancing their current use value. Findings suggest that farmers as a group earned a high benefit‐cost ratio from participating, though from the perspective of the private investor the returns were low. The project also generated social benefits, but these would be difficult (and costly) to measure. There was a gender bias in both participation and benefits distributions, though there is some evidence of a welfare transfer to maize deficit households. Application of other valuation approaches will be necessary in order to assess both the private and social benefits of similar projects.     

Estimating the benefits of farm animal welfare legislation using the contingent valuation method

This paper presents the method and findings of a contingent valuation (CV) study that aimed to elicit United Kingdom citizens' willingness to pay to support legislation to phase out the use of battery cages for egg production in the European Union (EU). The method takes account of various biases associated with the CV technique, including ‘warm glow’, ‘part‐whole’ and sample response biases. Estimated mean willingness to pay to support the legislation is used to estimate the annual benefit of the legislation to UK citizens. This is compared with the estimated annual costs of the legislation over a 12‐year period, which allows for readjustment by the UK egg industry. The analysis shows that the estimated benefits of the legislation outweigh the costs. The study demonstrates that CV is a potentially useful technique for assessing the likely benefits associated with proposed legislation. However, estimates of CV studies must be treated with caution. It is important that they are derived from carefully designed surveys and that the willingness to pay estimation method allows for various biases.     

森林绿色核算中环境服务估价方法综述和比较

综述和比较了国内外森林绿色核算中的环境服务估价方法。指出:森林环境服务实际上是指森林的间接效益,主要包括森林生态效益和社会效益。联合国等在综合环境经济核算体系中推荐的森林环境服务估价方法主要为基于成本的估价法和基于损害/受益的估价法。不同的方法估算相同的环境服务项目,结果相差几倍到几十倍不等。因此,对于森林环境服务估价来说,选择科学的估价方法非常重要,并建议我国应采用联合国等推荐的方法进行环境服务估价。     

A probabilistic approach for the socioeconomic assessment of urban river rehabilitation projects

Urban river rehabilitation aims to enhance the ecological status of urban watercourses and promote measures for the local population to increase their well-being by making a direct or indirect use of the services these ecosystems may provide. The social and economic feasibility is evaluated by contrasting the resources used in the rehabilitation process with the benefits derived from it through the Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA). By means of a case study, this work not only introduces the most innovative CBA approaches in environmental projects, but also implements probabilistic simulation methods in order to increase the robustness of the assessment indicators.The case study encompasses two projects, whose global costs total €46 M in 50 years, for the environmental rehabilitation of the stretch of the River Segura that flows through the city of Murcia. The benefits have been obtained by a contingent valuation exercise: €3.3 M/year (€0.6 M/year of use benefits, and €2.7 M/year of non-use benefits). Three different CBA approaches (economic, extended and dual) are applied to contrast these costs and benefits, conducting the analyses of uncertainty and sensitivity of the benefit items through a Monte Carlo simulation. The results highlight the importance of environmental benefits for this kind of projects to be socioeconomically feasible thanks to the profitability indicators they provide.     

基于RUSLE模型的中国生产建设工程扰动区潜在侵蚀时空分异规律研究

研究目的：揭示全国不同地区受到生产建设工程扰动后表土水蚀强度的相对大小及其时空分异规律,为中国表土扰动区侵蚀防治提供科学依据。研究方法：利用修正通用土壤流失方程（RUSLE）,基于土壤数据和近30年（1988—2017年）的气象数据,分析全国不同区域生产建设工程扰动区表土水蚀强度及时空分异规律。研究结果：（1）扰动区侵蚀强度的空间分异性表现为从东南向西北递减的趋势。其中西北地区潜在侵蚀强度最低,大部分区域年均侵蚀强度低于1 000 t/km2;华南地区是全国潜在侵蚀强度最大的地区,年均潜在侵蚀强度可达15 000 t/km2以上。（2）扰动区潜在侵蚀的时间分异表现为夏季远大于冬季,其中潜在侵蚀在6—8月最大,全国约有20%~30%的区域大于2 000 t/km2;11月至次年3月的潜在侵蚀最低,全国有90%以上的区域在500 t/km2以下,其他区域在500 ~ 2 000 t/km2。研究结论：全国尺度下的生产建设工程扰动区水蚀强度在大部分地区远大于自然侵蚀强度,在工程扰动后的侵蚀防治研究与管理中应重点关注中国表土扰动后水蚀强度远大于自然侵蚀的区域（如东南各省）,以及表土扰动后水蚀严重但自然情况下为非水蚀区的区域（如东北地区黑龙江、吉林、内蒙古交界处）。     

尾水导流工程对南水北调东线社会影响的损益

为了准确衡量尾水导流工程建设对南水北调东线工程沿线地区的社会影响,从沿线居民生活质量、身体健康、心理认可度、居民环境意识4个方面对尾水导流工程社会影响损益进行研究。通过采用意愿调查法、疾病成本法、市场价值法、成本费用法等环境影响损益计量方法及问卷调查等社会学方法,建立尾水导流工程社会影响损益货币化计量模型,并以对生活质量的影响核算为例,实现尾水导流工程社会影响的货币化计量。实证结果显示:尾水导流工程对南水北调东线工程居民生活质量影响效益合计为850 560.16万元,社会效益显著。该模型可为水利工程建设社会影响评价提供借鉴和参考。     

Testing the Consistency Between Standard Contingent Valuation,Repeated Contingent Valuation and Choice Experiments

Choice experiments (CEs) are a relatively new approach to valuing environmental resources. Initial tests of the validity of the approach have either compared benefit estimates generated using CEs with those estimated using contingent valuation (CV) or used more sophisticated hypothesis tests of parameter equality. Although useful, existing tests have been restricted to testing consistency based on a single policy scenario (standard CV). We argue that, although these tests are informative, they fail to take full advantage of the richness of CE data. In particular, CE data allow for the calculation of benefit estimates over a range of policy scenarios (i.e. attribute combinations). A similar range of benefit estimates may be generated by pooling scenarios in a repeated CV study. In this paper, we explore this relationship between CV and CEs by conducting validity tests between a CE model and a repeated CV model over a range of three levels of improved water quality at Clear Lake, IA, USA. Evidence from this test suggests that the CE and CV data are consistent.     

Optimisation and the selection of conservation contracts*

This paper explores alternative techniques for the selection of conservation contracts under competitive tendering programs. Under these programs, purchasing decisions are often based on the benefits score and cost for proposed projects. The optimisation problem is to maximise the aggregate benefits without exceeding the budget. Because the budget rarely permits all projects to be funded, there is a binary choice problem, known in the operations research published work as a knapsack problem. The decision‐maker must choose which projects are funded and which are not. Under some circumstances, the knapsack problem can be unsolvable because computational complexity increases exponentially with the number of projects. This paper explores the use of several decision rules for solving the optimisation problem including the use of advanced meta‐heuristics. It is shown that commonly applied techniques for project selection may not be providing the optimal solution. Improved algorithms can increase the environmental programs benefits and staying within budget. The comparison of algorithms is based on real data from the Western Australian Conservation Auction.     

Contingent Valuation Versus Choice Experiments: Estimating the Benefits of Environmentally Sensitive Areas in Scotland

This paper reports results from a study of the economic value of the conservation benefits of Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) in Scotland. The main novelty of the approach taken is in comparing two direct valuation methods, namely contingent valuation and choice experiments, to value these benefits. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is well-established as a technique for valuing the sorts of landscape and wildlife enhancements associated with ESAs. The CVM experiment reported here uses a dichotomous choice format, and includes a new correction for part-whole bias. Choice experiments are much less used as an environmental valuation technique. We note several advantages of such experiments over CVM, and then report characteristic values and ‘programme values’ estimated using the method. This application brings to light some problems in applying the choice experiment method. Finally, we discuss the issue of benefits transfer in the context of these two approaches to valuation.     

Costs and benefits of forest conservation: regional and local comparisons in Eastern Finland

In addition to environmental interests vs. timber production, debates on forest conservation have typically dealt with nationwide vs. local and regional interests. While most previous studies have focused on the nationwide perspective, this paper considers the benefits and costs of existing conservation areas from the regional and local point of view. The non-market benefits of conservation are measured by means of contingent valuation. Unlike most discrete-choice CV studies, we allow for zero willingness to pay. The results of our cost-benefit analysis suggest that the aggregate benefits of conservation clearly exceed the total opportunity costs when viewed from a regional (or nationwide) perspective, but at the local level costs exceed the benefits of conservation. Differences were also found in locally vs. regionally relevant benefits and costs.     

Reducing or creating poverty? Analyzing livelihood impacts of forest carbon projects with evidence from India

Forest carbon projects, in addition to climate mitigation and conservation benefits, are expected to improve local livelihoods and contribute to poverty alleviation across developing countries. Despite substantial investments over last decade, there is limited empirical evidence on the livelihood impacts of these projects especially across different socioeconomic categories.This paper aims to contribute to this knowledge gap through an analysis of the livelihood impacts across small, medium and large categories of participating farmers in a forest carbon project from the state of Haryana in India. Data from 107 households have been analysed to study the impacts in terms of foregone crop, fodder and fuel wood benefits. The analysis suggests that the project has adversely affected the livelihoods of all three categories of farmers. However, small and marginal farmers are the most distressed due to their low incomes, asset base and risk-bearing capacities.It raises critical project design issues such as binding land use, delayed accrual of benefits, static opportunity costs and displacement of existing economic activities, which have serious livelihood and equity implications. Unless these issues are addressed and strong safety nets are provided, forest carbon projects might create more poverty than wellbeing for marginal communities.     

Revisiting the Impact of Order Effects on Sensitivity to Scope: A Contingent Valuation of a Common‐Pool Resource

While many studies have employed stated preferences methods to estimate the value of non‐market ecosystem goods and services, contingent valuation (CV) still generates a significant amount of criticism. Besides ethical concerns, two of the key criticisms relate to insensitivity to scope and order effects. We examine the expectation that the presence of order effects in stepwise disclosure procedures affects the degree of scope sensitivity. We use data from a CV exercise asking farmers in Southern Spain to value two different levels of guarantee of water supply for irrigation in a context of water scarcity. We find that despite order effects being present, they do not affect the existence or the degree of sensitivity to scope. We conclude that, in the light of the mixed evidence found in the literature and the results of our study, it does not seem justified to ascribe order effects and their connection with sensitivity to scope to study design alone (e.g. step‐wise versus advanced disclosure, top‐down versus bottom‐up). The nature of the environmental good under valuation also matters. Our study of irrigation water as a common‐pool resource suggests that, when clear private benefits also exist, these appear to override any ‘good cause dumping effect’ that might arise from the public good component.     

环境水利工程项目经济效益调查分析与计算

以蔷薇河送清水工程为例，从工程实施前后的水质和水量两方面分析该工程的经济效益，以历史统计数据为基础结合工程实际，采用污染损失法计算工程效益。     

Technology change as a policy response to promote changes in land management for environmental benefits

A previous study developed a framework for choosing among groups of policy mechanisms for encouraging environmentally beneficial land-use change. The framework highlights that these choices should depend on the relative levels of private (or internal) net benefits, and public (or external) net benefits. Incentive-based mechanisms (polluter-pays and/or beneficiary-pays) and extension need to be targeted carefully to appropriate projects—where private net benefits are close to zero, and/or public net benefits are more extremely positive or negative. This article focuses on policy mechanisms that alter the net benefits of changing land management, including R&D to develop new technologies, and training to improve the skill of landholders at using existing technologies. These policy options are now treated more comprehensively within the public benefits: private benefits framework. Benefits of technology-change projects can include reductions in the opportunity cost of compliance with environmental programs, increases in the public benefits of a particular type of land-use change, or improvements in private net benefits, resulting in public benefits through greater or more rapid adoption by private landholders. From an environmental management perspective, technology development is most relevant where public net benefits of land use change are positive and private net benefits are negative, but not highly negative. There is a set of projects for which technology change is the only viable alternative to no action, highlighting the importance of technology change in these cases.     

Estimating the costs and benefits of soil conservation in Europe

Economics is about problems of choice. In erosion control, both public authorities and private land users are faced with such problems. What is the impact of erosion, both on-site and off-site, and to what extent can this impact be quantified? If we conceptualize this impact in terms of sustainability, how can we compare one type of effect against another? The former question can be answered only by natural scientists, the latter by economists and other social scientists. Weighing different aspects of sustainability requires value judgments, and economists are sometimes accused of having a jaundiced view of reality, wrongly supposing that decisions are based on rationality and denying the importance of emotion.However, let us assume that there is some mileage to be gained out of attempting to estimate the cost of erosion in an economic sense—which consists of converting the various effects into a common denominator: euros. If we can predict the impact of erosion control measures on erosion rates, we can know the benefit of these measures. The cost also needs to be calculated, not in terms of money but in terms of resources expended (which could have been used for other purposes) and in terms of possible negative impacts of erosion control (for instance, increased use of herbicides in reduced-tillage systems).There are important other considerations which economists may study. Firstly, there is the comparison of present versus future costs and benefits: how much can we sacrifice today for higher sustainability tomorrow?Secondly, there is the issue of private versus public costs and benefits: how do the goals of private land users differ from (those of?) the public good, how can this help us to predict land users’ behaviour, and what incentives would be appropriate to make them behave in such a way as to maximize the public good? Thirdly, how do we deal with uncertainty and risk?These problems loomed large in a study to support an extended impact assessment for the EU Soil Thematic Strategy, in 2005. Whereas much research has been done on erosion and its impact, much of this is on a small scale. The extent of the problem on a national, let alone a continental or a global scale, is still poorly known. The paper discusses how these problems were faced, which is not the same as saying they were resolved.     

3 Dimensional data research for property valuation in the context of the LADM Valuation Information Model

Property valuation is a process that promotes sustainable development as it supports and forms several land management activities. Access to information on the legal, geometric, physical, locational and environmental characteristics of property units together with the economic indicators are required for an effective property valuation system. Traditional cadastral systems generally provide only two-dimensional (2D) legal and geometric information about property units, however, today’s valuation practices would benefit significantly from three-dimensional (3D) information in order better to estimate and explain values of property units. The purpose of this paper is to examine how 3D spatial datasets and spatial analyses have been used in property valuation, and to develop 3D valuation unit profile(s) in line with the examination results for the recently proposed Valuation Information Model that extends the ISO 19152:2012 Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) from the valuation point of view. The study focuses more on 3D locational and environmental characteristics of property units; particularly visibility and especially viewshed analysis in terms of property valuation. By using open topography, building and height datasets of the Netherlands, a number of viewshed analyses are conducted to show how it can be utilized using different 3D data sources. The main contribution of the article is to present how 3D datasets and spatial analyses could be used to support property valuation activities and to investigate to what extent it is possible and meaningful to include derived 3D characteristics of property units in valuation registries.     

Assessing cost‐effectiveness when environmental benefits are bundled: agricultural water management in Great Barrier Reef catchments

Using economic analysis to prioritise improvements in environmental conditions is particularly difficult when multiple benefits are involved. This includes ‘bundling’ issues in agricultural pollution management, where a change in management action or farming systems generates multiple improvements, such as reductions in more than one pollutant. In this study, we conceptualise and compare two different approaches to analysing cost‐effectiveness when varying bundles of benefits are generated for a single project investment. Each approach requires data to be transformed in some way to allow the analysis to proceed. The index approach requires the transformation on the benefits side so that the effects of multiple pollutant changes can be combined into a measure for each project which can then be compared to costs. By comparison, the disaggregation approach requires the transformation on the costs side where costs for each project have to be apportioned across the different pollutants involved. The paper provides novel insights with an application to agricultural water quality improvements into the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, demonstrating that while both approaches are effective in prioritising projects by cost‐effectiveness, the disaggregation approach provides more insightful results and values that may be relevant for use as upper value guidelines in future project selection.     

对《水利工程工程量清单计价规范》的认识及建议

《水利工程工程量清单计价规范》的发布,标志着我国水利工程工程量清单计价工作走上了法规化的轨道,它对规范水利工程工程量清单计价行为,维护发、承包双方合法权益,促进水利工程建设健康发展无疑会起到重要作用.该规范在计价格式、项目编码、项目特征、工程单价等方面,还存在不够合理和难以操作的问题,有些规定不够恰当,有些条文不够严谨,这些问题影响了规范的应用,有必要加以改进.