Working papers
Home	Contact: vincent.linderhof@wur.nl or vincent@linderhof.org
Optimizing commercial wetlands Date of version: July 16, 2009 Paper presented at the International Conference on Landscape Economics, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna (Austria) and the 11th International BIOECON Conference on Economic Instruments to Enhance the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Venice (Italy). With Arianne de Blaeij, Nico Polman and Stijn Reinhard Abstract: Commercial wetlands combine different functions based on optimizing the revenues for the wetland entrepreneur. These wetlands produce various ecosystem services, that are currently not traded on a market, the entrepreneur is not compensated for his efforts. Wetlands can contribute to different policy objectives simultaneously. The aim of this study is to investigate the opinion of the Dutch population with respect to commercial wetlands (as a starting point in negotiations for revenue generation). A combination of CVM and AHP is used to measure their WTP for a commercial wetland, and for the distinguished commercial wetland functions separately. The average WTP is €23.33 per household. Water treatment and water storage are the highest valued commercial wetland functions by the Dutch population. Attitudes and beliefs variables appear to affect the amount of WTP for commercial wetlands more than the socio-demographic variables. Concluding, the Dutch population is willing to pay for commercial wetlands in rural landscapes; a social demand for multifunctional commercial wetlands exists.
Does improved water quality increase the value of houses? an Internet Discrete Choice Experiment Date of version: April 30, 2008 Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference of the International Water Association (IWA) on Water Economics, Statistics and Finance in Alexandroupolis, (Greece). With Roy Brouwer and Sebastiaan Hess Abstract: This paper explores the valuation of the benefits of living near surface water with good water quality. In particular, the economic value associated to improved water quality is derived from the additional house prices associated to improved water quality with an Internet survey amongst dwelling owners and house hunters in three case study areas, the Vecht river basin, Flevoland province and surrounding freshwater lakes, and the lakes near the river Meuse. Respondents are willing to pay 7.7% and 3.0% higher house prices for a good ecological status of the surface water and the presence of natural banks respectively. The WTP for house prices declines with the distance to surface water up and vanishes at approximately 1,000 meters.
Towards an economic assessment of the effects of the WFD on regional water quality: a regional model for the Beerze and Reusel river basin in the Netherlands Date of version: January 31, 2008 Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference of the International Water Association (IWA) on Water Economics, Statistics and Finance in Alexandroupolis, (Greece) and the at the 17^th Annual Conference of EAERE in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). With Stijn Reinhard, Rob Dellink, and Arnout van Soesbergen, Abstract: The Water Economic Modelling for Policy Analysis (WEMPA) project aims to develop and operationalize an integrated water and economy model framework to enable the analysis of the economic effects of measures to reach the Water Framework Directive (WFD) objectives. This paper presents the first results of the development of a regional economic optimization model, the WFD-RegiOptimizer, that is linked with the water quality model WFD Explorer. This model is an integrated regional water and economy model that links economic costs to water quality and that can serve as a decision support tool for the selection of a cost-effective package of measures. The model is applied to a case study region, the Beerze and Reusel river basin in the South of the Netherlands. The first results of short list of measures indicate that the water quality will improve locally although the WFD will not be reached yet. The list of measures has to be extended to explore a full cost-effectiveness analysis for this case study area. If the neighboring countries (Belgium) achieve the WFD objective, Beerze and Reusel river basin will benefit as well in terms of lower costs for implementing measures.
Adaptation to climate variability: the role of past experience and institutions With Arjan Ruijs, Mark de Bel, Minna Kononen, and Nico Polman Abstract: Currently, climate change adaptation receives a lot of attention. It is, however, sometimes forgotten that people all over the world have been coping with the impact of climate variability on their ecosystems already for decades. Their experiences can be helpful in designing appropriate policies for climate change. This paper presents the results of a World Bank study on costing adaptation through local institutions in Ethiopia, Mali and Yemen. The study raises three questions. Firstly, which adaptation strategies were adopted in the past by rural households to deal with the impacts of climate variability? Secondly, to what extent do institutions provide assistance to adopt adaptation strategies? Thirdly, which are the reasons or constraints for households for not adopting suitable strategies? For this paper, institutions are defined as structured, formal or informal organizations. Based on field surveys, focus group discussions and institutional stakeholder interviews, first, the components of vulnerability of households - the stresses to which household are exposed, their sensitivity and their adaptive capacity - were analysed. Sensitivity refers to the extent to which people are affected by climate change. In general, high levels of exposure and sensitivity and low levels of adaptive capacity result in high levels of vulnerability. High exposure of a household, however, not necessarily results in high vulnerability e.g. if the adaptive capacity of the household is high. Based on these components of vulnerability, clusters of households were formulated. Secondly, reasons for differences in households’ choice of adaptation strategies were analysed. Thirdly, the role of institutional assistance, like public and private extension services, in adopting adaptation strategies was investigated. Almost all households in all three countries use adaptation strategies such as improved seeds and changed planting dates, to make yields less susceptible to climate variability. In all three countries, adaptation options chosen differ between types of households. The results also show remarkable differences in adaptation strategies used between the studied countries. In Yemen, less adaptation strategies were adopted than in Ethiopia and in Mali. In Yemen, especially the more wealthy households adopted capital intensive strategies like irrigation pumps. In Ethiopia, wealthier households participated more in communal strategies, like soil erosion, communal irrigation or reforestation, for which external help is necessary. Also pastoralists adopted communal water harvesting and rangeland management strategies to reduce exposure, which cannot be financed by the households individually. In Mali, the only communal strategy chosen is irrigation, which is adopted by only a few, wealthier households. Income diversification techniques outside of agriculture were chosen only by a few households. A problem here is that rural areas lack an enabling environment in which non-agricultural trade activities can sustain. Finally, migration as income diversification strategy was chosen more often in Mali than in Ethiopia. In Yemen only few households migrated. In all three countries, especially the wealthier households migrated to urban areas. With respect to the institutional assistance that is provided to households, especially in Ethiopia, the network of public extension agencies is well developed. Most Ethiopian households received assistance from these institutions/agencies, especially in terms of training. In Mali, extension agencies are almost absent and their assistance is focused on providing inputs for irrigation and home-garden agriculture. The role of NGO’s, cooperatives, micro-finance institutes and religious communities was small in all three countries. In Yemen, households hardly received any assistance from outside institutions, neither from formal governmental extension agencies, nor from NGOs. In all three countries, wealthier households had more access to outside assistance. In all three countries, people living in rural areas are exposed and sensitive to climate variability. Various strategies are adopted and wealth level is an important explanatory variable for applying adaptation strategies. Differences in coverage of institutional assistance and type of assistance provided, however, were substantial, in this way affecting prospects for future development. Keywords: climate change, local institutions, rain-fed agriculture, Ethiopia, Mali, Yemen
Effectiveness of deposit-refund systems household waste in the Netherlands: applying a partial general equilibrium model Date of version: March 2, 2011 With Heleen Bartelings, Frans Oosterhuis and Pieter van Beukering Abstract: Deposit-refund schemes (DRS) are basically a combination of two instruments: a tax on the purchase of a certain product, and a subsidy on the separate collection of the same product in its after-use stage. They can be efficient policy instruments to encourage reuse and recycling. In this paper, we applied the Fullerton-Wu model to simulate the impact of introducing mandatory DRS for small electric appliances and batteries in the Netherlands. For small electric appliances, a deposit-refund rate of €5 to €15 per appliance would lead to an increase in the recycling rate (recycled appliances as a percentage of total amount of appliances disposed of) from the current 60.7% to 64.7% and 76.4% respectively. For batteries, the current recycling rate is already 86.9% and DRS would increase the recycling rate in the range of 87.2 and 89.2% depending on the level of the charge and the price elasticities assumed. Obviously, the performance of DRS in terms of additional recycling is stronger in cases where current recycling rates are relatively low. Moreover, the pre-existence of an infrastructure for separate collection would make small white goods an interesting candidate for this instrument. Keywords: Deposit-refund schemes, effectiveness, partial general equilibrium model, batteries, small electric appliances
July 26, 2007	Does Land Tenure Security Matter for Investment in Soil and Water Conservation? Evidence From Kenya With Jane Kabubo-Mariara, Gideon Kruseman Abstract This paper investigates the impact of tenure security and other factors on investment in soil and water conservation (SWC) strategies using survey data from Kenya. A combination of factor analysis, step wise regression and reduced form model approaches are used to explain the willingness, likelihood and intensity of adoption of SWC investments. The results affirm the importance of tenure security, household assets, agro ecological diversity and other development domain dimensions in determining the likelihood and intensity of adoption of SWC investments. The results suggest that to ensure that land tenure policy is pro-SWC (environment), it is important to consider whether household plots are owned, rented out, or rented in. The impact of household assets implies a poverty environment link. We also find that the factors affecting the level of investment are the same as the factors determining the decision whether or not to invest in SWC. The results suggest the need for region specific soil and water conservation practices and for broad policies that provide incentives for environmental conservation and poverty reduction.
June 25, 2007	Micro water harvesting for climate variability mitigation: Trade-offs between health and poverty reduction in Northern Ethiopia With Fitsum Hagos, Mekonen Yohannes, Gideon Kruseman, Afeworki Mulugeta, Girmay G/Samuel, Zenebe Abreha Abstract Water harvesting is an important tool for mitigating the adverse effects of climate variability. This study investigates the trade-offs between health and poverty reduction impacts of water harvesting interventions in Ethiopia. With econometric analysis, this study explores the contribution of water harvesting to poverty reduction and prevalence of malaria such as the determinants of people’s willingness to pay (WTP) for improved malaria control. Water harvesting is not contributing significantly to poverty alleviation, while malaria prevalence rates are up to 30 percent in intervention sites. The presence of wells is an important factor in the prevalence of malaria. Better housing and sanitation conditions, and the availability of bed nets reduce malaria incidence. WTP decreases with altitude and increases with the experience of illness within the household. The results suggest that as ponds and wells are not fully exploited, the presence of ponds and wells poses high external cost to the economy.
December 24, 2006	Factors Contributing to Child Malnutrition in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia With Afework Mulugeta, Fitsum Hagos, Gideon Kruseman, Barbara Stoecker, Zenebe Abraha, Mekonen Yohannes and Girmay G. Samuel Abstract Three hundred and twenty one under five children were recruited from 587 randomly selected households. Household information and anthropometric measurements were collected. Multiple regression analysis and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis. The levels of stunting, under weight and wasting were 42.7%, 38.3% and 13.4% respectively. A very high proportion of the mothers (80%) initiated feeding of newborns with pre-lacteal feeds primarily butter or water. Family foods and cereal-based porridge were the main complementary foods after six months. Older children were more likely to be malnourished. Child age, maternal anthropometric characteristics, inadequate complementary foods, and area of residence were the main contributing factors to child malnutrition. Malnutrition gets worse as the children grow older. The energy and nutrient density of the complementary foods are low as the foods were prepared from a limited number of local staple cereals without the addition of sugar, fat/oil or animal products. More importantly, these foods are diluted with water to reduce their viscosity. This makes the quality and quantity of the foods insufficient to prevent stunting. Sustained nutrition education programs focusing on appropriate complementary feeding practices are recommended.
March 30, 2006	Effective landfill taxation: A case study for the Netherlands With Heleen Bartelings Abstract The landfilling tax is a well-accepted instrument to reduce landfilling of waste. However, there is hardly any research on evaluating the effectiveness of landfilling taxation. This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of a landfill tax in terms of market impacts and comparing the effectiveness with other waste policy instruments. Therefore, we performed two complementary analyses for the Netherlands. First, with econometric panel data estimation, we analysed ex-post the price effect of two typical combustible waste streams, namely household waste and waste from the service sector, over the period 1995–2003. The results show for the service sector that higher levels of landfill costs due to the increase in the landfill tax result in lower levels waste supply, less waste landfilled and more waste incinerated. For household waste, no significant effect is found due to the flat-fee pricing system most municipalities employ for waste collection. Secondly, we developed a general equilibrium model for the Dutch economy to assess ex-ante the landfill tax under different circumstances, such as market conditions and alternative waste policy instruments. The results show that a higher landfill tax results in lower amount of waste to be landfilled at the costs of a small loss of welfare. Municipalities will incinerate more waste, the service sectors recycles more waste. If export of combustible waste is allowed, then the service sector will also increase the amount of waste incinerated and consequently will slightly decrease their recycling efforts. Both analyses suggest that the present landfill tax rate of almost € 85 per tonne in the Netherlands is an effective measure to turn waste suppliers to alternatives. As long as the Dutch government prefers to base their waste policy on the waste hierarchy (i.e. waste incineration is preferred over landfilling), maintaining a high landfill tax on combustible waste is an effective option.
Last update: December 17, 2009