The Economics of Forest Management

Contact:  Prof. David Pearce

Researchers:  David Pearce, Brett Day, Charles Palmer

Programme:  The close links between forest conservation, forest management and biological diversity have served to focus international attention on the issues of deforestation and forest degradation. This programme of work has sought to establish what we know about forest values, about the comparative economics of sustainable and conventional forest management, and about the design of incentive systems for improved forest management regimes.

Publications:

Pearce, D.W., Putz, F and Vanclay, J. 2000. A sustainable forest future? (Under revision for inclusion in D.W. Pearce and C.G.Pearce, Case Studies in Environmental Valuation: Volume 1 - The Developing World, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2002)

Pearce, D.W and Pearce, C.G. 2001. The Value of Forest Ecosystems, Report to the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada.

Day, B.H. 1998. Who's Collecting the Rent? Taxation and the Superprofits in the Forest Sector, Draft Report to the Environment Department, World Bank, Washington DC.

Palmer, C. 2001. The Extent and causes of Illegal Logging: An Analysis of a Major Cause of Tropical Deforestation.

Sponsors:  Convention on Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Institute, World Bank and Centre for International Forestry Research.

Links:  All publications are available via this web site.

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Market Based Instruments: The UK Experience

Contact: Prof. David Pearce

Researchers: David Pearce, Dieter Helm (New College, Oxford University)

Programme: In the last decade, the United Kingdom has advanced the application of economic instruments to environmental policy. Most of the instruments have taken the form of environmental taxes, but there has also been substantial progress with voluntary/negotiated agreements, and there is an emerging focus on tradable permits. But there is a lack of perspective on the lessons learned so far from these measures. David Pearce and Dieter Helm are preparing a monograph which critically reviews the UK experience and derives lessons for the future.
 

Publications:  Book manuscript expected September 2001

Sponsors:  None

Links:  to contact Dieter Helm go to Dieter_Helm@oxera.co.uk

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Bio-economics

Contact:  Prof. David Pearce

Researchers:  David Pearce and Dominic Moran (Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh)

Programme:  Following on from OECD's earlier publications Saving Biological Diversity: Economic Incentives (1996) and the Handbook of Incentive Measures for Biodiversity: Design and Implementation (1999), OECD has commissioned a Handbook on the Applied Valuation of Biological Diversity, co-authored by David Pearce and Dominic Moran. The handbook looks at the different notions of 'value' that may be assigned to biological diversity and discusses their respective uses in practical decision-making frameworks.

Publications:

Moran, D and Pearce, D.W. 2001. Handbook on the Applied Valuation of Biological Diversity, OECD, Paris, forthcoming.

Sponsor:  OECD, Paris

Links:  to contact Dominic Moran e-mail d.moran@ed.sac.ac.uk

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European Mountain lake Ecosystems: Regionalisation, diagnostics & socio-economic Evaluation (EMERGE)

Contact:  Prof. Timothy Swanson

Researchers:  Timothy Swanson, Andreas Kontoleon, Ben Groome

Programme:  The aims of the project are to assess the benefits of the preservation of European remote lake ecosystems and to offer EU policy recommendations for remote mountain lake management. The research is part of a broader inter-disciplinary project that examines the effects of atmospheric pollution damage on mountain lake ecosystems. The socio-economic component of EMERGE is jointly undertaken with researchers from CSERGE-UEA. and concentrates on two key areas: (1) An investigation of social, economic, cultural and spatial effects on individual preferences and values for mountain lake ecosystems. (2) An analysis of the effectiveness of policies for managing water quality in the mountain lakes with special reference to the use of ecological standards as a basis for optimal regulation.

Sponsors: Europeans Commission (Framework Five Programme: Energy, Environment and Sustainable)

Publications: None to date

Links: http://www.mountain-lakes.org/

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