Bioma cerrado: um estudo de valoração e conservação da biodiversidade e dos recursos naturais

The region of the biome Cerrado is under threat due to the replacement of their native areas for expansion of agriculture and livestock. This occupation is responsible for the loss of about 50% of two million square kilometers of original native savannah. The land use, without control or zoning, has caused serious damage to natural resources of this biome, considered as an international hotspot area. As a result, some problems caused by ecological imbalances already topping the urban and rural environments, such as species extinction, water scarcity and desertification. Any occupation in this biome should be evaluated with caution, because this region, besides being considered one of the most productive of Brazil, is also rich in biodiversity and water resources. The understanding of the importance of the Cerrado biome and its remaining areas, allows the preparation of detailed studies of environmental valuation, which is essential for the development of conservation policies, avoiding even greater environmental impacts. To meet the growing demand for food, you can increase productivity through agroforestry, for example, and to preserve the remaining areas, you can create new protected areas and tailor existing units

Valoração ambiental: síntese dos principais métodos

This study aims to show some methods of environmental assets valuation. These methods are intended to assist in the economic value estimation to environmental resources by the simulation of a hypothetical market, even if there are no market prices related to them. It is about an individual preference measure against the environmental changes. Thus, the environmental valuation methods do not convert a natural resource into a market product. The present report evaluates the applicability of the valuation methods to determine the economic value for assets or resources. The challenge for all is to understand the current economic and ecologic thinking and their limitations, so as to seek improvements in the perception of natural phenomena and in the economic-oriented goal, which is the sustainable development.

Valoração do tratamento de efluentes de um curtume

During the production process of leather a lot of water is used. In addition, companies such as tanneries have high pollution potential. The effluent that is not properly treated , and it is irregularly released in water bodies can cause negative impacts to the environment and generate fines. The aim of this paper is to present the importance of environmental valuation in the effluent treatment system of a tannery, in order to add social and economic development with preservation of environmental quality. A valuation of inputs and outputs of the effluent treatment process from Tannery Bull in Presidente Prudente was made, as well as a proposal to improve the treatment and its valuation. Many of these industries do not account the costs from the effluent treatment and end up spending what could have been avoided. The management of environmental costs promotes sustainable development. Thus, we can conclude that, if there were better control and also an improved management of the tannery, the proposed treatment would bring economic improvement to the company and specially it would not cause much impact on the environment, including improving the quality of life in the region

Financial and economic performance of long-rotation hardwood plantation investments in Queensland, Australia

In Queensland, Australia, there is presently a high level of interest in long-rotation hardwood plantation investments for sawlog production, despite the consensus in Australian literature that such investments are not financially viable. Continuing genetics, silviculture and processing research, and increasing awareness about the ecosystem services generated by plantations, are anticipated to make future plantings profitable and socio-economically desirable in many parts of Queensland. Financial and economic models of hardwood plantations in Queensland are developed to test this hypothesis. The economic model accounts for carbon sequestration, salinity amelioration and other ecosystem service values of hardwood plantations. A carbon model estimates the value of carbon sequestered, while salinity and other ecosystem service values are estimated by the benefit transfer method. Where high growth rates (20-25 m(3) ha(-1) year(-1)) are achievable, long-rotation hardwood plantations are profitable in Queensland Hardwood Regions 1, 3 and 7 when rural land values are less than $2300/ha. Under optimistic assumptions, hardwood plantations growing at a rate of 15 in 3 ha-1 year 1 are financially viable in Hardwood Regions 2, 4 and 8, provided land values are less than $1600/ha. The major implication of the economic analysis is that long-rotation hardwood plantation forestry is socio-economically justified in most Hardwood Regions, even though financial returns from timber production may be negative. (c) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental information provision, market valuation, and firm incentives: An empirical study of the Japanese PRTR system

The environmental performance of a listed firm could affect its level of investment in pollution prevention and its access to financial markets. Previous studies using Tobin's q that explore market response to environmental performance do not distinguish between the impact of performance on investment and market response, which may mislead conclusions. To overcome this problem, we simultaneously estimate the functions of the intangible asset, the replacement cost, and the toxic chemical risk. We find that the Japanese financial market does not value risk associated with toxic chemical releases. Nevertheless, even without market valuation, firms increase investment to reduce pollution. © 2010 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.

A Holistic vs. an Attribute-based Approach to Agri-Environmental Policy Valuation: Do Welfare Estimates Differ?

Different economic valuation methodologies can be used to value the non-market benefits of an agri-environmental scheme. In particular, the non-market value can be examined by assessing the public's willingness to pay for the policy outputs as a whole or by modelling the preferences of society for the component attributes of the rural landscape that result from the implementation of the policy. In this article we examine whether the welfare values estimated for an agri-environmental policy are significantly different between an holistic valuation methodology (using contingent valuation) and an attribute-based valuation methodology (choice experiment). It is argued that the valuation methodology chosen should be based on whether or not the overall objective is the valuation of the agri-environment policy package in its entirety or the valuation of each of the policy's distinct environmental outputs.

Sequence Effects in the Valuation of Multiple Environmental Programs Using the Contingent Valuation Method

In contingent valuation, the willingness to pay for hypothetical programs may be affected by the order in which programs are presented to respondents. With inclusive lists, economic theory suggests that sequence effects should be expected. However, when policy makers allocate public budgets to several environmental programs, they may be interested in assessing the value of the programs without the valuations being affected by the order in which the programs are presented. Using single-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation questions, we show that if respondents have the possibility to revise their willingness-to-pay answers, sequence effects are mitigated. (JEL Q51, Q54)

Measuring non-use value of environmental goods using the contingent valuation method:problems of information and cognition and the application of cognitive questionnaire design methods

Much interest now focuses on the use of the contingent valuation method (CVM) to assess non-use value of environmental goods. The paper reviews recent literature and highlights particular problems of information provision and respondent knowledge, comprehension and cognition. These must be dealt with by economists in designing CVM surveys for eliciting non-use values. Cognitive questionnaire design methods are presented which invoke concepts from psychology and tools from cognitive survey design (focus groups and verbal reports) to reduce a complex environmnetal good into a meaningful commodity that can be valued by respondents in a contingent market. This process is illustrated with examples from the authors' own research valuing alternative afforestation programmes. -Authors

Environmental value, valuation methods, and natural disaster damage assessment

Includes bibliography

Non-market valuation of natural and environmental resources in Central America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

The market valuation of environmental capital expenditures by pulp and paper companies

The objective of this study is to examine the market valuation of environmental capital expenditure investment related to pollution abatement in the pulp and paper industry. The total environmental capital expenditure of $8.7 billion by our sample firms during 1989-2000 supports the focus on this industry. In order to be capitalized, an asset should be associated with future economic benefits. The existing environmental literature suggests that investors condition their evaluation of the future economic benefits arising from environmental capital expenditure on an assessment of the firms' environmental performance. This literature predicts the emergence of two environmental stereotypes: low-polluting firms that overcomply with existing environmental regulations, and high-polluting firms that just meet minimal environmental requirements. Our valuation evidence indicates that there are incremental economic benefits associated with environmental capital expenditure investment by low-polluting firms but not high-polluting firms. We also find that investors use environmental performance information to assess unbooked environmental liabilities, which we interpret to represent the future abatement spending obligations of high-polluting firms in the pulp and paper industry. We estimate average unbooked liabilities of $560 million for high-polluting firms, or 16.6 percent of market capitalization.

Essays in environmental economic valuation and decision making in the presence of an environmental disaster

The first essay developed a respondent model of Bayesian updating for a double-bound dichotomous choice (DB-DC) contingent valuation methodology. I demonstrated by way of data simulations that current DB-DC identifications of true willingness-to-pay (WTP) may often fail given this respondent Bayesian updating context. Further simulations demonstrated that a simple extension of current DB-DC identifications derived explicitly from the Bayesian updating behavioral model can correct for much of the WTP bias. Additional results provided caution to viewing respondents as acting strategically toward the second bid. Finally, an empirical application confirmed the simulation outcomes. The second essay applied a hedonic property value model to a unique water quality (WQ) dataset for a year-round, urban, and coastal housing market in South Florida, and found evidence that various WQ measures affect waterfront housing prices in this setting. However, the results indicated that this relationship is not consistent across any of the six particular WQ variables used, and is furthermore dependent upon the specific descriptive statistic employed to represent the WQ measure in the empirical analysis. These results continue to underscore the need to better understand both the WQ measure and its statistical form homebuyers use in making their purchase decision. The third essay addressed a limitation to existing hurricane evacuation modeling aspects by developing a dynamic model of hurricane evacuation behavior. A household's evacuation decision was framed as an optimal stopping problem where every potential evacuation time period prior to the actual hurricane landfall, the household's optimal choice is to either evacuate, or to wait one more time period for a revised hurricane forecast. A hypothetical two-period model of evacuation and a realistic multi-period model of evacuation that incorporates actual forecast and evacuation cost data for my designated Gulf of Mexico region were developed for the dynamic analysis. Results from the multi-period model were calibrated with existing evacuation timing data from a number of hurricanes. Given the calibrated dynamic framework, a number of policy questions that plausibly affect the timing of household evacuations were analyzed, and a deeper understanding of existing empirical outcomes in regard to the timing of the evacuation decision was achieved.

Market valuation of environmental performance

This research investigated the general association between corporate environmental performance and the firms’ annual returns independent of any particular environmental event. The association analysis was based on the most recent environmental data for the years 2006, 2007, and 2008. The results indicated that while some environmental variables were significantly associated with firms’ returns, the majority were not. The results also indicated that environmental concerns were more likely to be associated with increase in the firm value than were environmental strengths; however, there were no mean differences between firms whose environmental performance increased as compared with those whose performance deteriorated. Overall, the results provided support for the perspective that environmental strengths require firm expenditures that place additional financial burdens on firms, resulting in lower stock returns.^

Putting the Green in Bureaucracy: Practices of Quantification and Valuation in Environmental Regulation

While researchers have devoted considerable attention to exploring the ways that intentional environmental reregulation creates new avenues for capital accumulation (e.g. Smith, 2007; Castree, 2008), it remains somewhat unclear how the less grandiose day-to-day work of environmental regulators may also help create new sources of ecological value. Through an ethnographic study of environmental regulators tasked with enforcing key environmental laws, I shed light on the subtle ways that rule interpretation and scientific practice structure the frames, models, and methodologies regulators use to enact “best professional judgments” about ecological systems, and ultimately to assign particular values to nature. I also show the ways that non-human nature pushes back against such assessments, which in combination with the interpretive work of environmental regulation, opens spaces of conflict in at least two arenas: one focused on modes of quantification, where actors contend between economistic, ecological, statutory, and moral frames for making value assessments; and one focused on presentations of value, where actors contend between value assessments that best represent their self-defined interests. The ‘value settlements’ environmental regulators reach in these contested spaces allow processes of commensuration to proceed, and ultimately make nature legible for capitalization and exchange. Accounting for the ways that these basic regulatory practice help create ecological value is essential for creating a fuller picture of the ways capital and natural capital relate.