Public preferences for marine plastic litter management across Europe.

Plastic pollution is one of the most challenging problems affecting the marine environment of our time. Based on a unique dataset covering four European seas and eight European countries, this paper adds to the limited empirical evidence base related to the societal welfare effects of marine litter management. We use a discrete choice experiment to elicit public willingness-to-pay (WTP) for macro and micro plastic removal to achieve Good Environmental Status across European seas as required by the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

The economic value of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest ecosystem services: A meta-analysis of the Brazilian literature.

The main objective of this study is to assess the economic value of the Brazilian Amazon's ecosystem services accruing to Brazilians based on a meta-analysis of the Brazilian valuation literature. Insight in these local values provides an important benchmark to demonstrate the importance of preserving the Brazilian Amazon forest. The review covers almost 30 years of Brazilian valuation research on the Amazon, published predominantly in Portuguese, highlighting a high degree of study and data heterogeneity.

Integrated modelling to assess the impacts of water stress in a transboundary river basin: Bridging local-scale water resource operations to a river basin economy.

In this study, we develop a hydro-economic modelling framework for river-basin scales by integrating a water resources system model and an economic model. This framework allows for the representation of both local-scale features, such as reservoirs, diversions, and water licenses and priorities, and regional- and provincial-scale features, such as cross-sectoral and inter-regional connectedness and trade flows. This framework is able to: (a) represent nonlinearities and interactions that cannot be represented by either of typical water resources or economic models; (b) analyze the sensitivity of macro-scale economy to different local water management decisions (called 'decision levers' herein); and (c) identify water allocation strategies that are economically sound across sectors and regions.

Adoption and diffusion of marine litter clean-up technologies across European seas: Legal, institutional and financial drivers and barriers.

This study reviews existing legal, institutional and policy tools and frameworks, relevant to the introduction and adoption of new marine litter clean-up technologies in two regional European seas, the Mediterranean and the Baltic. A combination of desk studies in six countries bordering the Baltic (Estonia, Germany, Sweden) and the Mediterranean (Greece, Italy, Tunisia), and interviews with experts and stakeholders, is used to identify key drivers and barriers to the adoption and diffusion of marine litter technologies. The main conclusion of the study is that the most influential pieces of legislation relevant to marine litter management are top-down EU policies, often forming the basis of regional and national plans.

One size does not fit all: Toward regional conservation practice guidance to reduce phosphorus loss risk in the Lake Erie watershed.

Agricultural phosphorus (P) losses to surface water bodies remain a global eutrophication concern, despite the application of conservation practices on farm fields. Although it is generally agreed upon that the use of multiple conservation practices ("stacking") will lead to greater improvements to water quality, this may not be cost effective to farmers, reducing the likelihood of adoption. At present, wholesale recommendations of conservation practices are given; however, the application of specific conservation practices in certain environments (e.

In the business of dirty oceans: Overview of startups and entrepreneurs managing marine plastic.

Plastic pollution, especially in marine environments, is a global problem that is currently inadequately managed. Solutions for marine plastic can occur through policy, behavior change and infrastructure improvements, but also through entrepreneurial ventures and technological innovations. Currently, information about these ventures and innovations is scattered and lacks coherence.

Do the societal benefits of river restoration outweigh their costs? A cost-benefit analysis.

Switzerland plans to restore 4000 km of rivers by 2090. Despite the immense investment costs, river restoration benefits have not been valued in monetary terms, and a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) does not exist for any river restoration project in Switzerland. We apply stated preference methods to elicit public preferences and willingness to pay for restoring two specific but representative river sites.

Do payments for forest ecosystem services generate double dividends? An integrated impact assessment of Vietnam's PES program.

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) often serve multiple objectives, such as carbon emission reduction and poverty alleviation. However, the effectiveness of PES as an instrument to achieve these multiple objectives, in particular in a conservation-development context, is often questioned. This study adds to the very limited empirical evidence base and investigates to what extent Vietnam's move to PES has helped protect forest ecosystems and improve local livelihoods and income inequality.

Towards a proportionality assessment of risk reduction measures aimed at restricting the use of persistent and bioaccumulative substances.

International chemicals legislation aims at adequately controlling persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and substances of very high concern (SVHCs), such as persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) and very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB) substances, with a view to progressively substitute these substances with suitable less-hazardous alternatives. Using cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) to assess the (dis)proportionality of measures to control such substances (collectively called "PBT" in the present paper) requires benchmarks. The present paper provides building blocks for possible benchmarks by looking at the cost-effectiveness estimates for regulatory measures that have been applied or considered for various PBT substances.

The potential of water markets to allocate water between industry, agriculture, and public water utilities as an adaptation mechanism to climate change.

One of the climate change scenarios that have been developed for the Netherlands predicts hotter and drier summers and a substantial drop in river discharge. This might lead to water scarcity with detrimental economic and environmental effects. Among the possible adaptation responses to climate change-induced water scarcity, the re-allocation of water resources among competing uses should also be considered.

Comparing willingness to pay for improved drinking-water quality using stated preference methods in rural and urban Kenya.

Background: Access to safe drinking water has been on the global agenda for decades. The key to safe drinking water is found in household water treatment and safe storage systems.

Objective: In this study, we assessed rural and urban household demand for a new gravity-driven membrane (GDM) drinking-water filter.

Cost-benefit analysis of the Swiss national policy on reducing micropollutants in treated wastewater.

Contamination of freshwater with micropollutants (MPs) is a growing concern worldwide. Even at very low concentrations, MPs can have adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems and possibly also on human health. Switzerland is one of the first countries to start implementing a national policy to reduce MPs in the effluents of municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs).

Household's willingness to pay for arsenic safe drinking water in Bangladesh.

This study examines willingness to pay (WTP) in Bangladesh for arsenic (As) safe drinking water across different As-risk zones, applying a double bound discrete choice value elicitation approach. The study aims to provide a robust estimate of the benefits of As safe drinking water supply, which is compared to the results from a similar study published almost 10 years ago using a single bound estimation procedure. Tests show that the double bound valuation design does not suffer from anchoring or incentive incompatibility effects.

Regulatory decision-making under uncertainty: are costs proportionate to benefits when restricting dangerous chemicals on European markets?

Since 2007 regulation 1907/2006/EC concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is in force in Europe to reduce the adverse effects of hazardous chemical substances on human health and the environment. Implementation of the regulation by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is supported by a Socio-Economic Analysis (SEA) Committee, consisting of European experts who help prepare ECHA's opinion on proposals for either restricting or authorizing dangerous substances. This paper presents the outcomes of the SEA underlying the first restriction proposals.

Striking a balance: socioeconomic development and conservation in grassland through community-based zoning.

The goal of preserving nature is often in conflict with economic development and the aspirations of the rural poor. Nowhere is this more striking than in native grasslands, which have been extensively converted until a mere fraction of their original extent remains. This is not surprising; grasslands flourish in places coveted by humans, primed for agriculture, plantations, and settlements that nearly always trump conservation efforts.

Application of a value-based equivalency method to assess environmental damage compensation under the European Environmental Liability Directive.

The Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) establishes a framework of liability based on the 'polluter-pays' principle to prevent and remedy environmental damage. The ELD requires the testing of appropriate equivalency methods to assess the scale of compensatory measures needed to offset damage. The aim of this paper is to contribute to fill the existing knowledge gap on the application of the value equivalency approach for damage compensation in this context.

Exploring the feasibility of private micro flood insurance provision in Bangladesh.

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the feasibility of the provision of micro flood insurance as an effective tool for spreading disaster risks in developing countries and examines the role of the institutional-organisational framework in assisting the design and implementation of such a micro flood insurance market. In Bangladesh, a private insurance market for property damage and livelihood risk due to natural disasters does not exist. Private insurance companies are reluctant to embark on an evidently unprofitable venture.

Ecosystem services and economic theory: integration for policy-relevant research.

It has become essential in policy and decision-making circles to think about the economic benefits (in addition to moral and scientific motivations) humans derive from well-functioning ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has been developed to address this link between ecosystems and human welfare. Since policy decisions are often evaluated through cost-benefit assessments, an economic analysis can help make ecosystem service research operational.

Socioeconomic vulnerability and adaptation to environmental risk: a case study of climate change and flooding in Bangladesh.

In this article we investigate the complex relationship between environmental risk, poverty, and vulnerability in a case study carried out in one of the poorest and most flood-prone countries in the world, focusing on household and community vulnerability and adaptive coping mechanisms. Based upon the steadily growing amount of literature in this field we develop and test our own analytical model. In a large-scale household survey carried out in southeast Bangladesh, we ask almost 700 floodplain residents living without any flood protection along the River Meghna about their flood risk exposure, flood problems, flood damage, and coping mechanisms.

Benefits transfer of willingness to pay estimates and functions for health-risk reductions: a cross-country study.

This paper provides a first application of the techniques of benefits transfer to the health economics literature. These techniques seek to transfer the value of some good from one 'survey' context to a new 'policy' context so avoiding the need for new valuation surveys each time a new policy question arises. Two approaches to benefits transfer are assessed: the simple transfer of mean values and the transferral of value functions.