This book argues in favor of using cost-benefit analysis globally and examines the positive impact it can have in developing countries using relevant case studies. The book discusses the potential for cost-benefit analysis to provoke a global shift toward stronger and more effective economic policies.

An impressive piece of work that deserves to be on every European agricultural economist s bookshelf. Jean-Christophe Bureau, European Review of Agricultural Economics This is an excellent text that could be used in specialist academic courses in environmental and natural resource economics, ecological economics and cost benefit analysis, as well as in interdisciplinary courses in public policy, planning and environmental management. David James, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is one of the most useful tools of applied economics for the social appraisal of public projects and government policies. Nick Hanley and Edward Barbier show how CBA can be applied to environmental policy choice and environmental resource management. They cover the conceptual underpinnings of CBA, practical methods for applying CBA, and a wide range of case study applications from Europe, North America and developing countries. Issues such as the value of ecosystem services and the special problems posed for CBA by environmental management are brought into close focus. The textbook is aimed at students on inter-disciplinary courses as well as those studying environmental economics, welfare economics and public policy. It will also be of interest to people in the policy community, NGOs and consultancy sectors.

Cost-benefit analysis -- the formal estimating and weighing of the costs and benefits of policy alternatives -- is a standard tool for governments in advanced economies. Through decades of research and innovation, institutions have developed in the United States, European Union, and other developed countries that examine and weigh policy alternatives as an aid to governmental decisionmaking. Lawmakers in the advanced economies have used cost-benefit analysis to evaluate core environmental and public health questions, such as urban air pollution control, water quality, and occupational safety. Yet despite its broad adoption in the industrialized world, most developing and emerging countries have not yet incorporated cost-benefit analysis into their policymaking process. Because these countries face significant limitations on financial resources and have less ability to shoulder inefficient rules, it is extremely important for their officials to determine which policies maximize net benefits for their societies. The Globalization of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Environmental Policy examines how cost-benefit analysis can help developing and emerging countries confront the next generation of environmental and public-health challenges. Analysis in the book examines the growing reach of cost-benefit analysis; presents relevant case studies where cost-benefit analysis has been incorporated in the Americas, Africa, Middle East, and Asia; and includes a discussion on the conceptual and institutional issues that must be addressed when adopting cost-benefit analysis in developing and emerging countries. In part because governments in developing and emerging countries have not extensively used cost-benefit analysis, there has been only limited research and discussion of the practice and its potential. Most work that has been done is on the domestic or regional level, and has not been widely shared or distributed within the international academic or policy community. By providing both theoretical and practical discussion of this important new tool, this book makes a valuable contribution to the fields of environmental policy, development studies, and environmental law.

Politics and regulation -- A threatening synthesis -- Staying in bounds -- A retreat from reason -- The illusion of costs without benefits -- Erasing public health science -- Resurrecting discredited models -- Ignoring indirect benefits -- Trivializing climate change -- Manipulating transfers -- Future directions -- Improving the guardrails.

The substantial and growing interest in the monetary valuation of preferences for environmental improvement, and against environmental damage, has prompted a demand for case studies illustrating methodologies and applications of valuation techniques. In this book, the first of two volumes, the authors provide detailed case studies of valuation techniques that have been used in developing countries. They demonstrate that valuation works and that it can yield significant insights into policy-relevant issues regarding conservation and economic development. The authors address a whole range of environmental issues under the broad themes of water and air quality, biological diversity and forest functions. The economic approaches covered include contingent valuation, hedonic property prices, travel cost methodologies and benefits transfer. They also go on to look at the idea of extending national accounts to reflect changes in environmental assets. Examples of the varied and interesting case studies include valuing improvements to sanitation in Malaysia, the value of visits to game parks in South Africa and tropical forest values in Mexico. They highlight how valuation techniques can be applied, often with limited resources, to critical development issues. Academics and practitioners of environmental economics will draw great value from this unique and original work, as will the many multilateral and bilateral aid agencies. The book will also prove a valuable addition to graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental economics where there is a need for case material.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book presents methods to evaluate sustainable development using economic tools. The focus on sustainable development takes the reader beyond economic growth to encompass inclusion, environmental stewardship and good governance. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a framework for outcomes. In illustrating the SDGs, the book employs three evaluation approaches: impact evaluation, cost-benefit analysis and objectives-based evaluation. The innovation lies in connecting evaluation tools with economics. Inclusion, environmental care and good governance, thought of as “wicked problems”, are given centre stage. The book uses case studies to show the application of evaluation tools. It offers guidance to evaluation practitioners, students of development and policymakers. The basic message is that evaluation comes to life when its links with socio-economic, environmental, and governance policies are capitalized on.

The specific focus of this seminal work is on the economic impact of climate change on agriculture world wide, and how faced with the resultant environmental alterations, agriculture might adapt under varied and varying conditions. Enhanced with a detailed and comprehensive index, Climate Change and Agriculture is highly recommended for academic library environmental studies and economic studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists. The Midwest Book Review Despite its great importance, there are surprisingly few economic studies of the impact of climate on agriculture and how agriculture can adapt under a variety of conditions. This book examines 22 countries across four continents, including both developed and developing economies. It provides both a good analytical basis for additional work and solid results for policy debate concerning income distributional effects such as abatement, adaptation, and equity. Agriculture and grazing are a central sector in the livelihood of many people, particularly in developing countries. This book uses the Ricardian method to examine the impact of climate change on agriculture. It also quantifies how farmers adapt to climate. The findings suggest that agriculture in developing countries is more sensitive to climate than agriculture in developed countries. Rain-fed cropland is generally more sensitive to warming than irrigated cropland and cropland is more sensitive than livestock. The adaptation to climate change results reveal that farmers make many adjustments including switching crops and livestock species, adopting irrigation, and moving between livestock and crops. The results also reveal that impacts and adaptations vary a great deal across landscapes, suggesting that adaptation policies must be location specific. Finally, the book suggests a research agenda for the future. Economists in academia and the public sector, policy analysts and development agencies will find this broad study illuminating.

The primary aim of this reference volume is to provide an accessible and comprehensive review of current methods used to address resource evaluation and environmental as well as climate issues, and in a manner easily understood by decision-makers and the non-economists interested in environmental policy matters. Theoretical insight and empirical observations from various countries will be presented and recommendations on sustainable environmental decision-making will be given. Natural resource managers, environmental and climate decision-makers, government policy makers, and economics scholars will all find this volume to be an essential reference.

The first edition of this pragmatic course text emphasized the policy value of a "big picture" approach to the ethical, political, technological, scientific, economic, and management aspects of environmental issues. The text then applied this approach to real-world case examples involving leaks in underground storage tanks, toxic waste cleanup, and the effects of global climate change. This second edition demonstrates the ongoing effectiveness of the book's framework in generating meaningful action and policy solutions to current environmental issues. The text adds case examples concerning congestion taxes, e-waste, hydrofracking, and recent developments in global climate change, updating references and other materials throughout and incorporating the political and policy changes of the Obama administration's first term and developments in national and global environmental issues.

Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline, developed from practitioners’ efforts to restore degraded land, with interest also coming from applied ecologists attracted by the potential for restoration projects to apply and/or test developing theories on ecosystem development. Since then, forest landscape restoration (FLR) has emerged as a practical approach to forest restoration particularly in developing countries, where an approach which is both large-scale and focuses on meeting human needs is required. Yet despite increased investigation into both the biological and social aspects of FLR, there has so far been little success in systematically integrating these two complementary strands. Bringing experts in landscape studies, natural resource management and forest restoration, together with those experienced in conflict management, environmental economics and urban studies, this book bridges that gap to define the nature and potential of FLR as a truly multidisciplinary approach to a global environmental problem. The book will provide a valuable reference to graduate students and researchers interested in ecological restoration, forest ecology and management, as well as to professionals in environmental restoration, natural resource management, conservation, and environmental policy.