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    Economic vulnerability and possible adaptation to coastal erosion in San Fernando City, Philippines
    (EEPSEA, Singapore, SG, 2009) Bayani, Jaimie Kim E.; Dorado, Moises A.; Dorado, Rowena A.
    Findings show a strategy of planned protection is the best option for preservation of coastal areas. This study assesses the coastline of San Fernando Bay in the La Union region of the Philippines and includes a cost benefit analysis. Sea-level rise due to climate change dynamics is a major concern across the archipelago. Contributors to coastal zone erosion are: natural factors such as wind and waves, long shore currents and tectonic activities, as well as anthropogenic factors such as dam construction, sand mining, coral reef destruction, groundwater extraction, wetlands conversion, dredging of inlets for navigation, and boat traffic.
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    Impacts of coal mining on the economy and environment of South Kalimantan Province, Indonesia
    (EEPSEA, Singapore, SG, 2008) Fatah, Luthfi
    This study investigates the impact of coal mining on the economy and environment of South Kalimantan Province, one of the most important coal producing regions in Indonesia. It uses a Social Accounting matrix to assess how the industry affects the province’s economy and the livelihoods of its people. It also investigates what policy options will best reduce its negative environmental impacts at least cost to the province’s economy. The study, by Luthfi Fatah of Lambung Mangkurat University, finds that mining is one of the most significant parts of the province’s economy and that it is steadily growing in importance. However, it also shows that the industry disproportionately benefits the better-off sectors of society and is having an unacceptable impact on the environment. Fatah recommends that policy makers slow the growth in coal mining through regulation of small-scale mining. This should help the environment. He also suggests that the government boost investment in agricultural –based activities to improve the employment prospects of the poorer sectors of society.
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    Implementation and financing of solid waste management in the Philippines
    (EEPSEA, Singapore, SG, 2005) Sumalde, Zenaida M.
    This report looks at the implementation and financing of solid waste management in the Philippines. It assesses how much it costs forty-one local government units (LGUs) around the country to provide solid waste management services. It also looks at how much revenue these LGUs, and other private waste contractors and operatives, get from supplying these services. The research was carried out in response to a growing solid waste management crisis in the Philippines and legislation that requires LGUs to change their practices. Its main aim was to get information to help LGUs properly finance and implement the government’s latest waste management policies and law. The report finds that there is generally a substantial “fiscal gap” between the amount of money needed for waste management and the amount of revenue obtained by LGUs from providing waste management services. However, when the total economic benefits of providing these services were considered (these included the revenues obtained by LGUs, earnings made by other parties and savings from avoided landfill costs), it was found that some LGUs enjoyed positive net benefits. If LGUs could exploit as many potential revenue streams as possible, they could narrow their SWM fiscal gap or even go ‘into the black’. The study highlights a number of possible strategies that could be used to improve the financing of solid waste management. These included finding alternatives to expensive private contractors and looking into recycling as a revenue-generating activity.
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    Distribution of benefits and costs among stakeholders of a protected area : an empirical study from China
    (EEPSEA, Singapore, SG, 2004) Yazhen Gong
    This report provides information on the impact of a new conservation regime in the Fanjingshan National Reserve (FNNR) in Guizhou Province, China. It calculates the economic and social effects that this regime will have on the livelihoods of people living inside the reserve. It shows that, if local people are not compensated for lost incomes, the new plans will increase conflict between locals and the reserve management. To find a way to pay compensation, the study investigated whether people living in the province around the reserve would be willing to pay for conservation in the FNNR through an eco-tax. These people benefit from conservation in the reserve, but at present pay nothing towards it. The report finds that they would be willing to pay and that the amount that could be collected would more than cover of compensating those affected inside the protected area.
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    Forest dependence and household welfare : empirical evidence from Kenya
    (Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, ZA, 2008) Kabubo-Mariara, Jane; Gachoki, Charles
    This paper explores the role of forest in household welfare in Kenya. The paper uses primary household level data collected from Nakuru district in November and December 2006. The household level data is supplemented by a community survey to gather community level information on market access among other factors. Both descriptive and econometric methods are used to explore the correlates of participation in forest activities and also in forest collective action. The paper also analyses the contribution of forests to income distribution in the study sample using the Lorenz curve approach. The paper further explores resource extraction and the economic reliance of households on forests. The results suggest that forests play an important role as safety nets that cushion households during periods of hardship. The results also suggest that forests play an important role as a gap-filler and as a source of regular subsistence use and also an important role in poverty reduction. The econometric results point at the role of household heterogeneity in terms of willingness to participate in forest collective action and private resource endowments in influencing economic reliance on forests. The results further suggest that both the poor and the less poor derive a substantive share of incomes from forest activities and that forests are not necessarily poverty traps for rural households. Forest policies need to take into account tradeoffs between forest extraction and forest degradation and also consider targeting of households in forest use and management depending on household heterogeneities in both current and permanent incomes.
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    Caracterización de la pesca recreativa en la Patagonia Chilena : una encuesta a turistas de larga distancia en la región de Aysén
    (Latin American and Caribbean Environmental Economics Program (LACEEP), Turrialba, CR, 2009) Núñez Parrado, Daisy; Niklitschek Huaquín, Mario
    La pesca recreativa es una de las actividades de turismo de intereses especiales más relevantes en la región de Aysén. Para la toma de decisiones vinculadas al uso, manejo y conservación de los ambientes naturales donde se pueden desarrollar actividades de turismo, es importante disponer de información que permita entender cuáles son los factores que determinan la elección de los visitantes por un cierto destino y tiempo que deciden permanecer en él. La escasa información que hay sobre la pesca recreativa en Chile y en la región de Aysén, no da cuenta de su importancia económica. Por ello el objetivo general de este estudio fue caracterizar el comportamiento de los pescadores de larga distancia durante su estadía en la región de Aysén, además de describir los atributos que éstos percibieron en los sitios de pesca, estimar la cantidad total de pescadores de larga distancia que practicaron pesca recreativa y determinar el gasto total que realizaron. El levantamiento de datos se efectuó en la temporada 2006-2007, mediante entrevistas en el aeropuerto de Balmaceda a turistas de larga distancia que practicaron pesca en dicha región, estrategia que presenta varias ventajas al compararla con la opción de tomar encuestas en los sitios de pesca. Los resultados muestran que la región fue visitada mayoritariamente por turistas extranjeros, que dedicaron un promedio de 7,3 días a practicar pesca, durante los cuales visitaron principalmente ríos. Para menos de un 10% de los días de pesca los encuestados indicaron haber tenido algún tipo de problema en los sitios visitados. Prácticamente no tuvieron problemas de congestión con otros pescadores y lograron un promedio diario de 12,9 capturas y 0,8 capturas de más de 30 centímetros por pescador. Finalmente, Aysén fue visitada por un rango de entre 979 y 1.441 pescadores, generando un gasto total de entre USD 3,9 y USD 5,8 millones. Mayor precisión en la estimación de gasto requiere extender el período de encuesta para cubrir un mayor número de días del inicio y término de la temporada de pesca.
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    Productivity of pesticides in vegetable farming in Nepal
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2009) Kumar Jha, Ratna; Prasad Regmi, Adhrit; Nepal, Mani
    Over 70% of the farmer households in the study sample (Bhaktapur district of Nepal) use pesticides above the optimal level despite very small increases in yields attributable to pesticide applications. Findings suggest that the current strategy of the National Integrated Pest Management programme and the curriculum of the Farmers’ Field School needs to be updated to ensure more efficient use of pesticides in vegetable farming.
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    Should shrimp farmers pay paddy farmers? : the challenges of examining salinisation externalities in South India
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2009) Umamaheswari, L.; Hattab, K. Omar; Nasurudeen, P.; Selvaraj, P.
    This study calculates the externality costs of salinization of land by comparing rice paddy yields in two similar villages in southern India. Shrimp farming causes two kinds of externality costs due to salinization: (i) An externality borne by the current generation due to decline in crop yields; (ii) An inter-generational externality borne by future generations because of environmental damage to land and groundwater resources. Findings show that if soil salinity is reduced to safe levels crop gains are estimated in the range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per hectare. A regulatory framework for taxing externalities is recommended.
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    Glimpse of the tiger : how much are Indians willing to pay for it?
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2009) Guha, Indrila; Ghosh, Santadas; Shyamsundar, Priya
    The study estimates the annual recreational value of the Indian Sundarban to be approximately INR 15 million (US$ 377,000). Current tourist entry fees are low and could be raised much higher. The Indian Sundarban is a World Heritage site, tiger habitat, and complex mangrove ecosystem. Conservation efforts have imposed a cost on local people which the poor can not afford, limiting access to the forest. Apart from valuing the recreational services, the Travel Cost Method (TCM) of evaluation helps policy authorities to fix an entry fee that can maximise revenue and/or control the number of visitors.
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    Determinants of fuelwood use in rural Orissa : implications for energy transition
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2008) Mishra, Arabinda; Mukhopadhyay, Pranab
    This study examines household behaviour related to fuelwood collection and use. The focus is on identifying the behavioral transition of fuelwood-using households from collection to purchase. The study examines the theory linking households’ labour allocation decisions to choice of fuel and models household decision using a three-stage least squares probit specification. Household fuelwood choice (purchase/collection) is predicted based on an endogenously determined wage income that depends on the opportunity cost of fuelwood collection. Expectedly, economic ability and availability of fuel alternatives are found to have significant positive marginal effects on household choice for fuelwood purchases. There is also the possibility that at very high levels of income, and in the absence of alternatives to choose from, households may revert back to collecting fuelwood using either their own labour or hired workers. The policy implication of a possible reverse switch is that improvements in economic ability alone may not be sufficient to bring about the energy transition in rural areas; there may be a need to continue with price subsidies on kerosene and LPG and at the same time create effective institutions for conserving forest commons.
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    Economic impact of forest hydrological services on local communities : a case study from the Western Ghats of India
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2008) Lele, Sharachchandra; Patil, Iswar; Badiger, Shrinivas; Menon, Ajit; Kumar, Rajeev; Nepal, Mani
    The conventional wisdom that ‘more forest is always better’ has dominated policy making in the management of forested watersheds. In the context of the supposed hydrological regulation service provided by forest ecosystems, however, hydrologists have debated this assumption for more than two decades. Unfortunately, detailed studies of the relationship between forest cover, hydrology and the economic use of water have been relatively scarce, especially in the tropical forests of South Asia. Building upon a larger research project at four sites in the Western Ghats of peninsular India, this study examines the link between stream flow, agricultural water use and economic returns to agriculture. The study attempts to simulate the likely impacts of regeneration of a degraded forest catchment on stream flow and the consequent impact on irrigation tankbased agriculture in a downstream village. The authors find that regeneration of forests would reduce the ratio of runoff to rainfall in the forested catchment thereby significantly reducing the probability of filling the well-used irrigation tank. This in turn reduces the probability of the command area farmers being able to cultivate an irrigated paddy crop, particularly in the summer season, thereby reducing expected farm income as well as wage income for landless and marginal landowning households. The study results seem counter intuitive to conventional wisdom. This result is, however, not because the hydrological relationships in this region are peculiar, but because the community immediately downstream of the forest is using water in a particular manner, viz., through irrigation tanks for growing water-intensive crops. The main implication is that policymakers must move away from simplistic notions of forests being good for everything and everybody under all circumstances, and facilitate context-specific, ecologically and economically informed forest governance.
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    Demand for eco-tourism : estimating recreational benefits from the Margalla Hills National Park in Northern Pakistan
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2004) Khan, Himayatullah; Gunatilake, Herath; Shyamsundar, Priya
    This study, which is among the first in Pakistan to value recreational benefits, estimates the benefits of establishing and managing the Margalla Hills National Park near Islamabad. The study examines how much park visitors are willing to pay to visit and enjoy the park. Annual benefits from the Park are considerable-the total annual consumer surplus or economic benefit obtained from recreation in the Park is approximately Rs. 23 million (US$ 0.4 million). Various factors influence the value visitors obtain from the park - these include travel cost, household income, and the quality of the park. Improvements in the quality of the park are likely to increase recreational benefits by a significant 39%. The study recommends that a Park entrance fee of Rs. 20 per person be introduced, which could be utilized for park management. This would generate nearly Rs. 11 million in revenues annually, a sizable amount of money that represents about 4% of the annual budget allocated to the Environment Sector in Pakistan.
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    Ensuring "collective action" in "participatory" forest management
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2003) Ghate, Rucha; Gunatilake, Herath; Shyamsundar, Priya
    The Government of India appealed a new forest policy in 1988 which resulted in Joint Forest Management. This new policy allowed community groups to share part of the responsibility of forest management with the State. However, even before this, community-initiated and NGO-promoted “Collective Action– based” resource management had emerged sporadically throughout the country. This paper is based on a qualitative analysis of three case studies, each belonging to one of three types of institutional structures: Self-initiated, NGO-promoted, and Government-sponsored JFM. The basic objectives of all three institutional structures is strengthening ecological security and meeting the subsistence biomass needs of the local people. Yet, they are different, each with its strength and weaknesses. Thus, this paper suggests several important points. First, lack of well-defined property rights over communally managed forests may adversely affect the long term sustainability of local institutions. Second, given the caste hierarchy in Indian villages, the State or another external agency may have to intervene to ensure fair distribution of community forestry benefits. Third, inter-community cooperation, in addition institutions within the village, is necessary in order to ensure sustainable utilization of forest resources. Finally, the paper argues that rather than oscillating between a simplistic either/or model of ‘state’ or ‘village community’, there is a need to conceive of more complex arrangements in which forest areas are protected for multiple objectives, under the joint management of multiple institutions.
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    Nepal's community forestry funds : do they benefit the poor?
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2008) Pokharel, Ridish K.
    Funds generated through community forestry offer crucial and significant resources for rural development in Nepal. This study examines forestry funds in 100 communities in three districts to assess how large they are and how they are utilized. The study finds that the income from community funds increases local development resources by about 25%. This income is invested in schools, temples, roads, and water reservoirs, which bodes well for rural development. However, there are some critical problems with the 'pro-poor programme’, an effort to reduce poverty through the resources generated from community forestry. The study finds that timber is heavily subsidised and the subsidies accrue mainly to the non-poor. Furthermore, income spent on loans tends to favour the non-poor. Overall some 74% of the benefits of community forestry funds accrue to the non-poor while 26% accrue to the poor in rural communities in Nepal. The study concludes that two actions may increase the benefits accruing to the poor: a) allowing all households to have an equal share in timber that is harvested; and b) increasing the participation of poor and less advantaged members in the executive committees that manage forestry funds.
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    Does tourism contribute to local livelihoods? : a case study of tourism, poverty and conservation in the Indian Sundarbans
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2007) Guha, Indrila; Ghosh, Santadas
    This study examines the contribution of tourism towards improving the livelihoods of local people in a remote island village of the Indian Sundarbans. The Sundarban Tiger Reserve is a major tourism destination and a small number of local people participate in the tourism sector as vendors, boatmen and guides. No village household subsists entirely on tourism-based income since such jobs are seasonal. A majority of the local service providers operate with very little or no capital investment. Yet households participating in tourism-related activity are better off than those who do not. Tourism participants spend 19% more on food and 38% more on non-food items relative to other villagers. Earnings from tourism appear to at least partially finance year-long consumption. Tourism may also have a conservation effect in that the proportion of forestdependent households is significantly lower among tourism dependent households. There is, however, little evidence of any percolation of tourism-related income to non-participating households through intra-village transactions. The study proposes a carefully crafted policy for promoting nature-based tourism with more room for local participation.
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    Shifting cultivation and its alternatives in Bangladesh : productivity, risk and discount rates
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2007) Monayem Miah, M.A.; Fakhrul Islam, S.M.
    This study evaluates the economic feasibility of replacing shifting cultivation (Jhum) with settled agriculture and new soil conservation technology based on an assessment of the farmers’ risk and corresponding discount rates in the Khagrachari hill district of Bangladesh. Shifting cultivation can cause top soil loss, degradation of soil quality, and decrease in crop yield but significant improvements in yields could also be achieved with increased fallowing. On the other hand, the use of soil conservation technology is found to be highly profitable. The study finds that the social discount rate is a crucial factor determining the switch from shifting cultivation to new soil conservation methods. Jhum farmers are likely to switch to the new technology in a 3-year rotation scheme only if their rate of discount is below 58%. On the other hand, farmers with a 6- year rotation would switch as long as their discount rate is less 33%. Because they discount the future rather heavily, poor farmers with short fallows would require very high returns to tempt them to adopt a new type of farming. High initial cost of establishment, long gestation period, and unclear customary rights are additional deterrents to the adoption of soil conservation technology. The study concludes that these problems can be overcome if financial support and technical assistance are made available.
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    Pesticide use in the rice bowl of Kerala : health costs and policy options
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2007) Indira Devi, P.
    This study examines pesticide use in Kuttanad, India, an economically sensitive area often referred to as the rice bowl of Kerala. Using primary data collected from pesticide applicators and farm labor, the study assesses short-term health costs associated with pesticide exposure. The study finds that the toxicity level and dose of pesticides can exert a significant effect on the health of pesticide applicators. The average expected health costs from pesticide exposure are Rs. 38 (US $ 0.86) per day or 24% approximately a quarter of the average daily earnings of the applicator. // The study finds that health costs can be mitigated considerably by reducing the dose of pesticides used. For examples, a 25% reduction in either the does of the most toxic chemical used, or in all pesticide doses, results in a 16% and 24% reduction in health costs respectively. A 24% reduction in costs can be realized if all pesticide doses are reduced by 25%. Dose reduction is a desirable and feasible strategy that can be achieved either by restricting the quantity of pesticide used or by diluting the amount sprayed with the recommended levels of water. Less than 2% of the applicators understood the toxicity levels of the pesticides they used. Thus, there is ample scope for reducing pesticide exposure through training and agricultural extension services.
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    Valuing the economic benefits of preserving cultural heritage : the My Son sanctuary, world heritage site in Vietnam
    (EEPSEA (IDRC, Regional Office for Southeast and East Asia), Singapore, SG, 2006) Tuan, Tran Huu
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    Groundwater irrigation in North India : institutions and markets
    (SANDEE, Kathmandu, NP, 2006) Banerji, A.; Meenakshi, J.V.; Khanna, Gauri
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    Payments for environmental services in Vietnam : assessing an economic approach to sustainable forest management
    (Department of Agricultural and Environmental Economics, Hue University, Hue City, VN, 2006) Ngoc, Hong Bich; The, Bui Dung
    This study assessed the potential for the PES conservation approach in Vietnam. This was done through a review of the country’s legal framework and by conducting an experimental PES scheme involving sustainable forest management. The work was constrained by the fact that all land in Vietnam is state-owned and that there has been limited ES market development in the country. However, the results of the PES experiment (in forest areas where the fundamental conditions for PES were met) were quite promising. Participation in the trial scheme was good, despite the fact that it was an experiment of limited duration. Moreover, institutional support for this kind of PES initiative was found to be already available and effective. Expected environmental impacts were also observed: The sustainable forest management regime that was tied to the PES scheme resulted in a reduction in both soil erosion and in destructive natural forest extraction activities. In light of these findings, it is suggested that more practical policy/program trials should be implemented. These will allow Vietnamese policy makers to gain more experience and knowledge before the large-scale implementation of PES is tried in the country.