Document(s) 21 of 25

Sitanon Jesdapipat's recent EEPSEA Research Report dealt with pricing of water and electricity from small-scale dams in Thailand's forest areas - an option that could provide incentives for local communities to manage the forest sustainably.  The idea has attracted interest from the National Energy Promotion Office, which is now carrying out a feasibility study of it.  If the proposal proves workable, the Office would provide financing for upgrading a series of mini-hydro projects to make them  commercially viable.  Discussions are also underway with UNDP and the World Bank for use of the Global Environment Fund to support such an endeavor.

New Research Reports 

The Pollution Charge System in China: An Economic Incentive? - Yun Ping 

Tradable Discharge Permits System for Water Pollution of the Upper Nanpan River, China - Wendong Tao, Weimin Yang & Bo Zhou 

Environmental Valuation: An Entrance Fee System for National Parks in Thailand -  Adis Israngkura 

Damage Schedules for Thai Coastal Areas: An Alternative Approach to Assessing Environmental Values - Ratana Chuenpagdee 

Estimation of Environmental Damages from Mining Pollution: The Marinduque Island Mining Accident - Eugenia Bennagen 

Economic Valuation of Mangroves and the Roles of Local Communities in the Conservation of Natural Resources: Case Study of Surat Thani, Southern Thailand - Suthawan Sathirathai 

News about Members 

Shiqui (Susan) Zhang represented China at two meetings related to the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances recently.  In October she attended a meeting of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel in Washington DC and in November she attended the 10th Parties Meeting, where she co-chaired the Economic Options Committee.  (In between, she found  time to present her final report on pollution from coal-fired power plants at EEPSEA's biannual workshop in Singapore!)

In January 1998, Susan was awarded the First China Young Environmental Scientist Award by the Chinese Association of Environmental Sciences; in September she received the Sixth China Young Science and Technology  Award from the Chinese Science Association.  Congratulations! 

Agus Sari's work with EEPSEA assesses the distributional impact of policies that Indonesia might undertake to reduce carbon emissions.  This study informed his contributions to international climate change negotiations, as Technical Advisor to the Indonesian Negotiations Delegation at the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Buenos Aires in November 1998.

After completing EEPSEA's five-week course in Los Baños, Dang Kim Son has moved from the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute to become Deputy President of the Policy Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Vietnam.

An EEPSEA member since 1994, Nguyen Huu Dung has received an award to pursue a PhD program at the Institute for Social Studies in the Hague.

Several EEPSEA researchers presented papers at the IX Pacific Science Inter-Congress on The Economics on Sustainable Development, in Taipei, November 16-18, 1998. 

Five Year Report

A report on EEPSEA's achievements from 1993 to 1998 is now available. It is in "reader-friendly" format, with colour photos and graphics, and includes year-by-year highlights; summaries of high-impact projects; centres of excellence; EEPSEA alumni; complete project list; and much more.  Copies may be obtained from the Secretariat. 

Advisory Committee 

The Committee's newest member is Dr. Mingsarn Kaosa-Ard, of Chiang Mai University and Thailand Development Research Institute.  We are delighted to welcome her and sorry to lose Dr. Piyasena Abeygunawardena, who has moved to a new position at ADB.

New Special Papers 

*   The Political Economy of Increasing Block Tariffs for Water - Dale Whittington 
*   Rural Policies and the Sustainability of Agriculture in China - Justin Lin & Fan Zhang
*   Topical Issues in Environmental Finance - Eric Cowan 

New on the Website

Our Website has just gone through a facelift. We are considering a more extensive upgrade later this year.  If you have comments or suggestions, please let us know.

We've also added several new links (bringing the total to 20): IISD; World Bank (Environmental Economics & Indicators); ENVALUE and EVRI databases; Tom Teitenberg's Homepage; and US EPA (Economy & Environment).  Tom's page includes papers and  bibliographies; US-EPA has a comprehensive and well-organized set of links.

Scholarships

The University of Goteborg and the Beijer Institute offer scholarships for Goteborg's PhD program in environmental economics.  Apply by February 28 to G. Kohlin, EEU, Dept of Economics, Vasagatan 1, 41180 Goteborg, Sweden (Gunnar.Kohlin@economics.gu.se). 

The government of Ireland offer scholarships for a Masters degree in environmental economics at University College Dublin.  Apply by February 12 through your nearest Irish embassy or contact anne.johnson@ucd.ie. 

Benefit Transfer Databases

Two Web-based databases have been set up to facilitate benefit transfer (the use of environmental value estimates from previous studies in new sites). 

ENVALUE is a searchable Environmental Valuation Database provided by the Environmental Protection Agency of the government of New South Wales, Australia.  It is accessible to anyone (i.e. no subscription or password required) and is free of charge.  It may also be available in diskette form for a fee. URL is www.epa.nsw.gov.au/envalue.

EVRI (the Environmental Valuation Reference Inventory) is a similar database, provided by Environment Canada.  It is not widely accessible at present, though we are discussing ways to provide access for EEPSEA members.  For now, you can tour EVRI at www.evri.ec.gc. 

An EEPSEA Special Paper on this subject is also available:  The Benefits Transfer Approach to Environmental Valuation - Stale Navrud. 

Resource Economics List Server

RESECON (Land & Resource Economics Network) list server is an electronic means by which environmental & resource economists can post and receive information relevant to their work.  Typically members post information or questions, often to solicit responses from other members (e.g. references on particular topics, questions about methodology, notices about conferences, jobs and scholarships).  Subscribers usually receive 2-3 postings a day  At last count, there were about 600 subscribers.  The service is free of charge.  To subscribe, send a message to LISTSERV@LSV.UKY.EDU.

Forthcoming Conferences

Methodology Workshop on Environmental Services & Land Use Change: Bridging the Gap between Policy & Research in SE Asia.  Chiang Mai, Thailand, May 31 - June 2, 1999.  Contact Dr. Thomas P. Tomich, ICRAF, E-mail: T.Tomich@cgiar.org. 

The Vietnamese Economics Network (VECON) 1999 International Conference.  University of Waterloo, Canada, July 15-16, 1999.  Deadline for abstracts: January 31.  Prof. Trien Nguyen, Dept. of Economics, Email: Nguyen2(a)watserv1.uwaterloo.ca.

VECON's website includes English-Vietnamese glossaries, members' directory and news about conferences & scholarships: www. arts.uwaterloo.ca/~vecon/index.html. 

May 1999 Biannual Workshop 

EEPSEA's twelfth biannual workshop will take place in Singapore May 10-14, 1999.  It will include a special session with the Environment and Natural Resource Accounting Project of the Philippines (ENRAP).  The deadline for new proposals is March 1; for interim or final reports, April 1.  All participants requiring visas to visit Singapore are advised to keep their passports up to date, and the Secretariat informed of any changes.

Regional Short Course: Last Chance!

EEPSEA's next five-week course in environmental & resource economics will take place in Los Baños, Philippines, May 19 - June 23.  Instructors include Myrick Freeman III, Nancy Olewiler, Benoit Laplante and John Whalley.  Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae;  a transcript showing marks from the most recent degree (photocopy acceptable); and a 1-2 page outline of a research proposal. The course is free of charge to participants, including airfare and living expenses.  Deadline for applications is February 1.

November ‘98 Biannual Workshop 

EEPSEA's 11th biannual workshop took place November 10-13, 1998.  In addition to presentations by EEPSEA researchers, plenary sessions covered a variety of topics. 

Benoit Laplante re-examined the efficiency advantages of market-based instruments for pollution control over command & control approaches and found that in practice, these are less than theory leads us to expect.  Because regulators often implicitly take damage functions into account when inspecting plants and enforcing regulations, the assumption that C&C ignores the marginal costs and marginal benefits of pollution control does not hold.  The outcome may not be perfectly efficient, but is closer than commonly presumed. 

Dale Whittington questioned the "increasing block tariff" system widely used for municipal water supply in developing countries.  Providing households with an initial quota of water at a low rate is supposed to meet the basic water needs of the poor. But Prof.  Whittington argued that it is ineffective in promoting either water conservation or income distribution and proposed an alternative pricing system involving a "life line credit". 

Justin Lin assessed the effects of China's rural policies on the sustainability of agriculture, concluding that significant remnants of central planning - such as a food self- sufficiency policy - are promoting agriculture in inappropriate areas and leading to soil degradation and other problems. 

Du Yaping's paper responded to the growing interest in benefit transfer, whereby environmental values are taken from existing studies and transferred to new study sites in order to reduce the need for costly and time-consuming original studies.  The approach is often recommended for quick cost-benefit analyses and data bases have been established by the governments of Canada and Australia to facilitate it (see Newsletter item below).  But can these values be transferred so easily? Du Yaping compared the willingness to pay for water quality improvements in China from her original EEPSEA study with results obtained in studies in the US and Philippines.  While Philippines values were in the same "ballpark", those in the US were quite different. 

Finally, Eric Cowan reviewed experience with environmental funds and other forms of environmental finance, including some very new ones like the Clean Development Mechanism arising out the Kyoto climate change negotiations. His paper includes an extensive bibliography and suggests topics for research. 

The papers by Whittington, Lin and Cowan are posted on our Website.  Du Yaping's will be published shortly as an EEPSEA Research Report.  The program and participant list for the November workshop can also be found on the Website. 

Document(s) 21 of 25