Christopher Wada
The economic value of groundwater in Obama
Obama City has a population of 33,000 and is located in the central Wakasa district, in southwest Fukui Prefecture, Japan. Groundwater is used aboveground year round for commercial and domestic purposes and during winter months to melt snow. Submarine groundwater discharge along the coast supports a nearshore fishery in the region. Results from a choice-based […]
Read MoreBenefit-cost analysis of watershed conservation on Hawai‘i Island
In landscapes around the world, growing attention is being paid to the link between forest structure and water resources. More clarity is vital for informed decision making, especially as water scarcity continues to increase in many regions across the globe. The objective of this study is to estimate the volume of freshwater yield saved per […]
Read MoreAssessing the Costs of Priority HISC Species in Hawaii
Over the past decade, funding for the Hawaii Invasive Species Council (HISC) has ranged from less than $2 million per year in the three years following the recent economic downturn, up to almost $6 million in FY2015. The HISC website provides total award amounts for past projects, but it is difficult to attribute exact dollar […]
Read MoreInforming Water Policy in Hawaii with Transformative Interdisciplinary Research: UHERO’s Role in ʻIke Wai
By Kimberly Burnett and Christopher Wada UHERO’s Project Environment will be leading the economic analysis for a new National Science Foundation project addressing critical gaps in the understanding of Hawaii’s fresh water supply that limit decision making, planning and crisis responses. ‘Ike Wai (from the Hawaiian ‘ike, (knowledge), and wai, (water) spans geophysics, microbiology, cyberinfrastructure, […]
Read MoreCost-Effectiveness of Controlling Invasive Miconia via Herbicide Ballistic Technology
By Kimberly Burnett and Christopher Wada Miconia calvescens is an invasive tree native to South and Central America that grows up to 50 feet with shallow root systems that promote erosion. The trees form thick monotypic stands, shading out native plants and threatening the watershed function of Hawaii’s forests. The quick growing miconia can mature […]
Read MoreCost-Benefit Analysis of Disaster Mitigation Infrastructure: The Case of Seawalls in Otsuchi, Japan
Disaster management problems often pose the same types of challenges that environmental governance problems do; they involve decision-makers at various levels and can transcend legislative boundaries. We conduct a benefit-cost analysis of a disaster adaptation strategy in Otsuchi, which was undertaken shortly after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami devastated the region. Results indicate that […]
Read MoreSustainable Agriculture Irrigation Management: The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Pajaro Valley, California
The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is quickly becoming one of the most critical global environmental challenges of the twenty first century. However, WEF systems are inherently complex; they typically are dynamic and span multiple land or agro-ecosystems at a regional or global scale. Addressing this challenge requires a systems approach to optimal and sustainable resource management […]
Read MoreRecent Trends in Hawaii’s Green Economy: Agriculture, Energy and Natural Resource Management
This report provides an update to the 2012 “Foundations for Hawai‘i’s Green Economy: Economic Trends in Hawai‘i Agriculture, Energy, and Natural Resource Management.” Although economic information has long been collected for many sectors in Hawai‘i, including agriculture and energy, the 2012 project was the first to collect indicators specifically for the natural resource management (NRM) […]
Read MoreMethods of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus
This paper focuses on a collection of methods that can be used to analyze the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus. We classify these methods as qualitative or quantitative for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research approaches. The methods for interdisciplinary research approaches can be used to unify a collection of related variables, visualize the research problem, evaluate the issue, […]
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