E.C. van Ierland

Protein Chains and Environmental Pressures: A Comparison of Pork and Novel Protein Foods

The production and consumption chains of pork and Novel Protein Foods (NPFs) and their environmental pressures have been compared using life-cycle assessment (LCA) in terms of environmental pressure indicators. We define two types of environmental pressure indicators: emission indicators and resource use indicators. We focus on five emission indicators: CO2 equivalents for global warming, NH3 equivalents for acidification, N equivalents for eutrophication, pesticide use and fertilizer use for toxicity, and two resource use indicators: water use and land use. The results of LCA show that the pork chain contributes to acidification 61 times more than, to global warming 6.4 times more than, and to eutrophication six times more than the NPFs chain. It also needs 3.3 times more fertilizers, 1.6 times more pesticides, 3.3 times more water and 2.8 times more land than the NPFs chain. According to these environmental indicators, the NPFs chain is more environmentally friendly than the pork chain. Replacing animal protein by plant protein shows promise for reducing environmental pressures, in particular acidification.

Climate Change Impacts on Water Management and Adaptation Strategies in The Netherlands: Stakeholder and Scientific Expert Judgements

This paper presents the results of a survey of stakeholder and scientific expert judgments regarding the impacts of climate change on water management in The Netherlands in 2001. The main methodological findings were put into broader perspective by discussing the role of stakeholder and scientific expert judgment in the context of the Dutch national research programme ‘Climate changes Spatial Planning’ (CcSP) in the period 2001–2007. We focus on flood risks, and impacts on freshwater resources because they were mentioned most in the 2001 survey. For the flood risks, a high degree of consensus amongst stakeholders and scientific experts was discovered about knowledge, values and aims involved. This was not the case for the impacts of climate change on freshwater resources. The approach, chosen in 2001, enabled the researchers to explore the different opinions regarding the impacts of climate change. It appeared, however, very difficult to prioritize available adaptation options and to formulate cross-sectoral adaptation strategies. Within the CcSP programme, initiated after the 2001 survey, it can be observed that stakeholders become more involved in expert judgements about climate change impacts and adaptation strategies. The interaction between scientists and stakeholders is gradually shifting from a collaborative/consultative approach towards a real participatory approach in the research and design process of combined regional and sectoral adaptation strategies.

A model-based assessment of adaptation options for Chianti wine production in Tuscany (Italy) under climate change

Abstract This paper covers a comprehensive economic analysis of climate change adaptation options for a specific wine producing region, namely Tuscany. As temperature increases under climate change, rainfall patterns will be different, and Chianti wine production in Tuscany therefore needs to adapt in the near future. We address the adaptation challenges and identify grape yield and quality loss as the main impact of climate change on wine production. Relocation of vineyards uphill and introducing drought-resistant varieties are considered as adaptation measures. We appraise these adaptation measures using an optimization framework, where regional wine producers maximize income subject to economic constraints including the climate change impacts on wine productivity and quality. Our simulation shows quantitatively to what extent a higher degree of climate change impact demands a higher degree of adaptation. We find that a combination of the two measures provides a better strategy because it leads to higher economic efficiency. However, uncertainty regarding the efficiency of the new variety discourages the use of this new drought-resistant variety, whereas a higher efficiency would make this choice more favourable. Sensitivity analysis for time horizon and discount rate confirms the theory of investment under uncertainty, showing a shorter time horizon (or more frequent investment) provides the possibility to postpone the decision to implement adaptation measures due to the value of flexibility, while a higher discount rate leads to a later adaptation decision, because uncertainty creates a value of waiting for new information.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Chemical Testing for Decision-Support: How to Include Animal Welfare?

ABSTRACT Toxicity testing for regulatory purposes raises the question of test selection for a particular endpoint. Given the publics concern for animal welfare, test selection is a multi-objective decision problem that requires balancing information outcome, animal welfare loss, and monetary testing costs. This paper demonstrates the applicability of cost-effectiveness analysis as a decision-support tool for test selection in a regulatory context such as, for example, the new European chemicals legislation (REACH). We distinguish different decision-making perspectives, in particular the regulators and chemical industrys perspectives, and we discuss how cost-effectiveness analysis can be applied to test selection from both perspectives. Furthermore, we show how animal welfare goals can be included in cost-effectiveness analyses, and we provide a three-dimensional extension to the standard cost-effectiveness analysis if animal welfare loss cannot be valued in monetary terms. To illustrate how cost-effectiveness analysis works in different settings, we apply our model to a simple case of selecting short-term tests for mutagenicity. We demonstrate that including sufficiently high values for animal welfare induces cost-effective replacements of animal testing. Furthermore, we show that the regulator and chemical companies face different tradeoffs when selecting tests. This may lead to different choices of tests or testing systems.

Impacts of HIV/AIDS on labour allocation and agrobiodiversity depend on the stage of the epidemic: case studies in Ethiopia

This paper examines the impact of HIV/AIDS on labour allocation, crop choice and agrobiodiversity in Jimma Zone, south-western Ethiopia. The study comprised a survey of 205 farm households and an in-depth analysis of four rural households. HIV/AIDS caused households to increase sharecropping their land and led to more crop species grown in the home garden. The results show that the impact of HIV/AIDS on labour allocation and crop diversity depends on the stage of the disease and on which family member is (or members are) affected. Also labour allocation plays an important role, because of the options of having sharecropping contracts or opportunities for off-farm labour. The role of land tenure system in expanding the labour allocation and income-generating options has implications for intervention strategies in the various phases of the disease, both for men and women.

Dynamic cost-effective reduction strategies for acidification in Europe : An application to Ireland and the United Kingdom

This paper describes the application of an optimisation model for calculating cost-effective abatement strategies for the reduction of acidification in Europe while taking into account the dynamic character of soil acidification in a number of countries. Environmental constraints are defined in terms of soil quality indicators, e.g., pH, base saturation or the aluminium ion concentration in the soil solution within an optimisation model for transboundary air pollution.We present a case study for Ireland and the United Kingdom. Our results indicate that reduction of sulphur dioxide emission is more cost-effective than that of nitrogen oxides or ammonia. The reduction percentages for sulphur dioxide are highest, for two reasons: (i) marginal sulphur dioxide reduction costs are relatively low compared to marginal reduction costs of nitrogen oxides and ammonia and (ii) sulphur dioxide reduction is more effective in reducing acidification in physical terms than nitrogen oxides or ammonia abatement. Our dynamic analysis shows that a (fast) improvement of soil quality requires high emission reduction levels. These reduction levels are often higher than reduction levels that are typically deduced from the static critical loads approach. Once soil quality targets are reached, in our model, less stringent emission reductions are required to maintain the soil quality at a constant and “good” target level. Static critical load approaches that ignore dynamic aspects therefore may underestimate the emission reductions needed to achieve predefined soil quality targets.

Wildlife as insurance against rainfall fluctuations in a semi-arid savanna setting of southeastern Zimbabwe

This paper presents modeling approaches for wildlife conservation in a semi-arid savanna setting where there are frequent occurrences of drought. The model was used to test the extent to which wildlife income offers opportunities to reduce fluctuations in income as a result of variations in annual rainfall. For the application of the model the wildlife and agro-pastoral systems of southeastern Zimbabwe were simulated. Results show that wildlife income has the potential to compensate for some of the losses in expected income from livestock during droughts. However, wildlife income becomes second best to irrigated agriculture in stabilizing income in areas that show highly fluctuating rainfall. Possible reasons for this include high costs of exploiting the wildlife resource, and the small fraction of wildlife revenues received by households and communities. In order to search for sustainable solutions in areas such as the southeastern low veld of Zimbabwe, it is also important to be aware that the current human population and livestock densities are far above current sustainable levels. Our results therefore suggest that current and future efforts to conserve biodiversity are doomed to fail if there are no efforts made to decongest areas surrounding parks of high densities of human and herbivore populations, and to let local households earn more revenues from wildlife.

Global warming and the economics of land-use and land-cover change

Land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) is driven by a combination of: (1) biophysical factors which determine the capability of land use; (2) technological and economic considerations which determine the socioeconomic feasibility of land use and (3) institutional and political arrangements which determine the acceptability of land use (e.g., Barlowe, 1986; Turner et al., 1995).

Environmental Economics for Environmental Protection

Environmental economics deals with the optimal allocation of production factors and correcting market failure in protecting the environment. Market failure occurs because of externalities, common property resources, and public goods. Environmental policy instruments include direct regulation, taxes/subsidies, tradable permits, deposit systems, voluntary agreements, and persuasion. Environmental policies usually focus on one pollutant or environmental issue but may have substantial impacts on other emissions and environmental problems. Neglecting these impacts will result in suboptimal policies. We present an integrated optimisation model for determining cost-effective strategies to simultaneously reduce emissions of several pollutants from several sources, allowing for interrelations between sources and abatement options. Our integrated approach in regard to acidifying compounds and greenhouse gases will be able to provide cost-effective policy options that will result in lower overall abatement costs. This paper shows that efficient emission reduction can be calculated, but we argue that, for transboundary air pollution and climate change, it is difficult to implement the socially optimal solution because strong incentives exist for “free-riding”. In order to implement efficient policies, international environmental agree-ments like the Gothenburg or the Kyoto Protocol are necessary to establish stable coalitions. The stability of these agreements depends on the distribution of costs and benefits over countries and on the redistribution of the gains of cooperation.

Joint abatement strategies: a dynamic analysis of acidification and tropospheric ozone

Acidification impacts water, soil and ecosystems. Tropospheric ozone (sometimes called ground level ozone, hereafter referred to as ozone or O3) causes negative health effects and vegetation damage. Acidifying compounds such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are often produced together, most typically by the burning of fossil fuels. Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important factors in the formation of ozone. Currently, many ecosystems in the United States, Europe, and the emerging economies in Asia face acid depositions far in excess of their specified critical loads. Ozone exceeds critical levels in many cases. The excess acid depositions, the excessive ozone levels and the trans-boundary nature make it necessary to combat pollution on the continental level in the USA, Europe and Asia. The many interactions indicate that policies to reduce acidification influence ozone, and the other way around, ozone policies affect acidification. Figure 1 illustrates the main relations and interactions between economic activity, the sources of pollutants, the effects and receptors. This study pays special attention to the grey shaded boxes and their linkages.