Value of Watershed Conservation
Financing Watershed Conservation without Shrinking the Economy
In his recent State-of-the-State address, Governor Abercrombie urged lawmakers to consider either an increase in the conveyance tax on high-priced real estate transactions or a 10-cent fee for single-use plastic checkout bags to finance his watershed protection initiative, “The Rain Follows the Forest,” The proposed taxes, however, have a downside. While they are expected to […]
Read MoreFinancing Watershed Conservation
In November 2011, Governor Abercrombie and State officials launched a watershed protection plan entitled, “The Rain Follows the Forest”. The initiative’s goal is to double the current level of watershed protection – approximately 10% of priority watershed areas throughout Hawai‘i are currently protected – over the next ten years at an estimated cost of $11 million […]
Read MoreEconomic lessons from control efforts for an invasive species: Miconia calvescens in Hawaii
Once established, invasive species can rapidly and irreversibly alter ecosystems and degrade the value of ecosystem services. Optimal control of an unwanted species solves for a trajectory of removals that minimizes the present value of removal costs and residual damages from the remaining population. The shrubby tree, Miconia calvescens, is used to illustrate dynamic policy […]
Read MoreEfficient Water Allocation with Win-Win Conservation Surcharges: The Case of the Ko‘olau Watershed
The one-demand Hotelling model fails to explain the observed specialization of non-renewable resources. We develop a model with multiple demands and resources to show that specialization of resources according to demand is driven by Ricardian comparative advantage while the order of resource use over time is determined by Ricardian absolute advantage. An abundant resource with […]
Read MoreValuing Indirect Ecosystem Services: the Case of Tropical Watersheds
Mitigating the harmful effects of development projects and industries (negative environmentalism) is inadequate, especially in resource-dependent economies whose resources are at risk from other forces. While positive environmentalism includes conservation projects, the non-market benefits of such projects are difficult to evaluate. This paper provides and illustrates a method for evaluating the indirect, watershed benefits of […]
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