James Roumasset
Optimal Provision and Finance of Ecosystem Services: the Case of Watershed Conservation and Groundwater Management
Payments for ecosystem services should be informed by how both the providing-resource and the downstream resource are managed. We develop an integrated model that jointly optimizes conservation investment in a watershed that recharges a downstream aquifer and groundwater extraction from the aquifer. Volumetric user-fees to finance watershed investment induce inefficient water use, inasmuch as conservation […]
Read MoreOptimal and Sustainable Groundwater Extraction
With the specter of natural hazard resilience, groundwater scarcity looms as an increasingly critical issue worldwide. Minimizing the adverse effects of scarcity requires optimal as well as sustainable patterns of groundwater management. We review the many sustainable paths for groundwater extraction from a coastal aquifer and show how to find the particular sustainable path that […]
Read MoreOptimal Management of a Hawaiian Coastal Aquifer with Near-Shore Marine Ecological Interactions
We optimize groundwater management in the presence of marine consequences of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). Concern for marine biota increases the optimal steady-state head level of the aquifer. The model is discussed in general terms for any coastal groundwater resource where SGD has a positive impact on valuable near-shore resources. Our application focuses of the Kona Coast of Hawai’i, […]
Read MoreUHERO Researchers contribute to Sustainability Science
UHERO is proud to announce the forthcoming Sustainability Science for Watershed Landscapes edited by UHERO’s own Dr. Jim Roumasset, Dr. Kimberly Burnett, and Dr. Arsenio Balisacan of the University of the Philippines Diliman. Sustainability science integrates traditional interdisciplinary environmental studies with policy science. In this volume authors go beyond the application of scientific knowledge to specific problems and develop new methods for dealing with […]
Read MoreWither The Economics of Agricultural Development?
In spite of healthy demand for a renaissance in economic policy for agricultural development, the academic supply response is found wanting. The infusion of public economics into the economics of agricultural development, which thrived during the 1970s and 80s, has stagnated due to the lack of foundations in transaction costs, dynamics, and the co-evolution of […]
Read MoreRoundtable on Sustainability Science
A second Roundtable on Sustainability Science was held in Cebu, Philippines on March 28-29, 2009. This is a follow-up to the first roundtable on sustainability science held in November 2006 in Tagaytay, Philippines and the International Conference on Sustainability Science for Watershed Landscapes in Honolulu, Hawaii in November 2007. SEARCA organized the second roundtable to […]
Read MoreHawai’i Greenhouse Gas Emissions Profile 1990 and 2005
In an effort to effect national and global natural hazard resilience policy to address the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, the Hawai’i legislature passed the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2007, Act 234. Act 234 calls for Hawai’i to return its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Here we report an inventory […]
Read MoreInvasive Species Control over Space and Time: Miconia calvescens on Oahu, Hawaii
We use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to map the current and future populations of an invasive species, Miconia calvescens, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and the potential damages to water quantity, water quality, endangered bird habitat, and native habitat housing endangered plants, snails, and insects. We develop a control cost function that includes locating and […]
Read MoreRenewable resource management with stock externalities: Coastal aquifers and submarine groundwater discharge
This paper develops a hydrologic-ecologic-economic model of groundwater use. Particularly, we model coastal groundwater management and its effects on submarine groundwater discharge, nearshore marine water quality, and marine biota. We show that incorporating the external effects on nearshore resources increases the optimal sustainable steady-state head level. Numerical simulations are illustrated using data from the Kuki’o […]
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