Policy choice and riverine water quality in developing countries: An integrated hydro-economic modelling approach.

Industrialization and urbanization, as a result of rapid economic development, have led to the deterioration of water quality in many rivers in developing countries. The Kelani River in Sri Lanka provides drinking water to Colombo and a range of market and non-market ecosystem services; but these services are threatened by deteriorating water quality. We apply a hydro-economic model that accounts for spatial patterns of water quality and abatement cost variability between firms in the catchment.

Site closure management strategies and the responsiveness of conservation outcomes in recreational fishing.

We develop and use an empirically based model, which integrates fishing behaviour and a coral reef system, to evaluate outcomes from site closure strategies to manage the effects of recreational fishing. The model is designed to estimate management effects in complex settings with two-way feedback effects (between fishing and ecosystem dynamics) as well as spillover effects where the closure of a site (or sites) leads to the redistribution of fishing effort. An iconic coral reef system is used as a case study.

Industrial pollution and the management of river water quality: a model of Kelani River, Sri Lanka.

Water quality of the Kelani River has become a critical issue in Sri Lanka due to the high cost of maintaining drinking water standards and the market and non-market costs of deteriorating river ecosystem services. By integrating a catchment model with a river model of water quality, we developed a method to estimate the effect of pollution sources on ambient water quality. Using integrated model simulations, we estimate (1) the relative contribution from point (industrial and domestic) and non-point sources (river catchment) to river water quality and (2) pollutant transfer coefficients for zones along the lower section of the river.

Carbon farming economics: What have we learned?

This study reviewed 62 economic analyses published between 1995 and 2014 on the economic impacts of policies that incentivise agricultural greenhouse (GHG) mitigation. Typically, biophysical models are used to evaluate the changes in GHG mitigation that result from landholders changing their farm and land management practices. The estimated results of biophysical models are then integrated with economic models to simulate the costs of different policy scenarios to production systems.