Using the natural capital framework to integrate biodiversity into sustainable, efficient and equitable environmental-economic decision-making.

One of Georgina Mace's many transformational research contributions was to provide a universally applicable framework for incorporating any or all elements and connections of the natural environment within conventional economic decision-making. We apply this natural capital framework to consider the overall effects of a suite of land-use policy options intended to promote the conservation and renewal of biodiversity. Options considered include sharing, sparing, three-compartment sparing, rewilding and organic farming regimes.

How to make land use policy decisions: Integrating science and economics to deliver connected climate, biodiversity, and food objectives.

Land use change is crucial to addressing the existential threats of climate change and biodiversity loss while enhancing food security [M. Zurek , , 1416-1421 (2022)]. The interconnected and spatially varying nature of the impacts of land use change means that these challenges must be addressed simultaneously [H.

Natural capital approaches for the optimal design of policies for nature recovery.

By embedding a spatially explicit ecosystem services modelling tool within a policy simulator we examine the insights that natural capital analysis can bring to the design of policies for nature recovery. Our study is illustrated through a case example of policies incentivising the establishment of new natural habitat in England. We find that a policy mirroring the current practice of offering payments per hectare of habitat creation fails to break even, delivering less value in improved flows of ecosystem services than public money spent and only 26% of that which is theoretically achievable.

Combined carbon and health taxes outperform single-purpose information or fiscal measures in designing sustainable food policies.

The food system is a major source of both environmental and health challenges. Yet, the extent to which policy-induced changes in the patterns of food demand address these challenges remains poorly understood. Using a survey-based, randomized controlled experiment with 5,912 respondents from the United Kingdom, we evaluate the potential effect of carbon and/or health taxes, information and combined tax and information strategies on food purchase patterns and the resulting impact on greenhouse gas emissions and dietary health.

Does local Natural Capital Accounting deliver useful policy and management information? A case study of Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks.

Natural capital accounting provides a systematic framework through which to quantify the benefits of natural assets. National-scale applications have demonstrated the feasibility of developing such accounts and their value as a tool to support environmental policy and management decisions. Building on that success, there have been increasing calls for sub-national organisations (for example, protected area authorities and water companies) to develop their own natural capital accounts.

The Value of Greenspace Under Pandemic Lockdown.

The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in unprecedented restrictions on citizen's freedom of movement as governments moved to institute lockdowns designed to reduce the spread of the virus. While most out-of-home leisure activities were prohibited, in England the lockdown rules allowed for restricted use of outdoor greenspace for the purposes of exercise and recreation. In this paper, we use data recorded by Google from location-enabled mobile devices coupled with a detailed recreation demand model to explore the welfare impacts of those constraints on leisure activities.

How Property Markets Determine Welfare Outcomes: An Equilibrium Sorting Model Analysis of Local Environmental Interventions.

This paper examines the pivotal role played by property markets in determining the magnitude and distribution of welfare changes resulting from localised environmental change. We address that issue using an equilibrium sorting model (ESM) calibrated, by way of example, to the circumstances of a road infrastructure project in the English town of Polegate. Previous ESM research has tended to assume that all households rent property from a fixed property stock.

Spatially explicit integrated modeling and economic valuation of climate driven land use change and its indirect effects.

We present an integrated model of the direct consequences of climate change on land use, and the indirect effects of induced land use change upon the natural environment. The model predicts climate-driven shifts in the profitability of alternative uses of agricultural land. Both the direct impact of climate change and the induced shift in land use patterns will cause secondary effects on the water environment, for which agriculture is the major source of diffuse pollution.

Bringing ecosystem services into economic decision-making: land use in the United Kingdom.

Landscapes generate a wide range of valuable ecosystem services, yet land-use decisions often ignore the value of these services. Using the example of the United Kingdom, we show the significance of land-use change not only for agricultural production but also for emissions and sequestration of greenhouse gases, open-access recreational visits, urban green space, and wild-species diversity. We use spatially explicit models in conjunction with valuation methods to estimate comparable economic values for these services, taking account of climate change impacts.

The market triumph of ecotourism: an economic investigation of the private and social benefits of competing land uses in the Peruvian Amazon.

Annual revenue flow to developing countries for ecotourism (or nature-based tourism) could be as large as US$ 210×10(12), providing an enormous financial incentive against habitat loss and exploitation. However, is ecotourism the most privately and/or socially valuable use of rainforest land? The question is rarely answered because the relevant data, estimates of profits and fixed costs, are rarely available. We present a social cost-benefit analysis of land use in an ecotourism cluster in the Tambopata region of Amazonian Peru.