Kerry Collins

The multiple criteria analysis tool (MCAT): A new software tool to support environmental investment decision making

This article describes a decision support software system referred to as the multiple criteria analysis tool (MCAT). MCAT identifies a portfolio of decision options that return a maximum aggregated benefit under a constrained budget. Benefits scores of decision options - which we will refer to as projects - are computed using multiple criteria analysis whereas in a subsequent step, binary combinatorial optimisation is employed to identify the combination of projects that return a maximised aggregated benefit subject to a constraint. MCAT has primarily been developed to be used in natural resource management contexts. Though we illustrate MCAT through three Australian natural resource management case studies its use is explicitly not restricted to environmental decision problems. Wherever multi-criteria analysis (MCA) is regarded to be a suitable approach to evaluate decision options subject to a budget constraint, MCAT can be applied. We therefore believe that MCAT has potential for widespread application. It can help improve the transparency, analytic rigour and auditability of investment decisions.

Review of agri-environment indexes and stewardship payments.

Agri-environment programs aim to secure environmental and social stewardship services through payments to farmers. A critical component of many agri-environment programs is an agri-environment index (AEI) used to quantify benefits and target investments. An AEI will typically comprise multiple indicators, which are weighted and combined using a utility function, to measure the benefit of investment options (e.g., projects, farms, regions). This article presents a review of AEIs with 11 case studies from agri-environment programs in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. We identify a generic procedure used to define AEIs and explore the implications of alternative methodological approaches. We conclude that AEIs have become an extremely important policy instrument and make suggestions for their improvement.

Housing shadow prices in an inundation-prone suburb

For flood-prone urban areas, the prospect of increasing population densities and more frequent extreme weather associated with climate change is alarming. Proactive adaptation can reduce potential flood risks in theory. However, there is limited empirical economics exploring this issue, without which convincing residents within exposed areas to participate in adaptation is challenging. In this paper, a hedonic model is presented of property prices for a flood-prone inner-city suburb of Brisbane, Australia. The study defines a continuous flood-risk variable based on the vertical distances of properties relative to a flood level that occurs on average once every 100 years. The results show significant property-price discounting of 5.5 per cent per metre below the defined flood level. Detailed hedonic characteristics also provided shadow price estimates of housing characteristics and distances to amenities (such as bus-stops, train-stations, parks and bikeways) and these hedonics need to be considered when holistically assessing the dynamics of suburbs for adaptation planning.

Integration, synthesis and climate change adaptation: a narrative based on coastal wetlands at the regional scale

The idea that integration and synthesis are critical for designing climate change adaptation and mitigation is well entrenched conceptually. Here, we review the concepts of adaptation, synthesis and integration and apply them to the case study of coastal wetlands in South East Queensland, Australia. The distribution and condition of coastal wetlands will change as climate changes. This will create conservation challenges and economic costs, but these can be minimised by drawing from a broad sectoral perspective in undertaking adaptation planning and by ensuring integration into policy. Our review indicates that adaptations to sea level rise that are focussed on wetland and biodiversity conservation are likely to have impacts for urbanisation patterns. Planning regulations that provide spatial buffering around wetlands may give rise to more compact urban forms that may lead to reductions in the cost of defence against sea level rise, reduce energy usage per person and provide more green space. However, more compact urban forms could exacerbate heat island effects and place greater burden on the economically disadvantaged as, for example, single-family homes become more expensive. Planning for climate change needs to balance these equity and cross-sectoral issues in order to reduce the likelihood of unforeseen negative consequences.

From local to central: a network analysis of who manages plant pest and disease outbreaks across scales

One of the key determinants of success in managing natural resources is “institutional fit,” i.e., how well the suite of required actions collectively match the scale of the environmental problem. The effective management of pest and pathogen threats to plants is a natural resource problem of particular economic, social, and environmental importance. Responses to incursions are managed by a network of decision makers and managers acting at different spatial and temporal scales. We applied novel network theoretical methods to assess the propensity of growers, local industry, local state government, and state and national government head offices to foster either within- or across-scale coordination during the successful 2001 Australian response to the outbreak of the fungal pathogen black sigatoka (Mycosphaerella fijiensis). We also reconstructed the response network to proxy what that network would look like today under the Australian government’s revised response system. We illustrate a structural move in the plant biosecurity response system from one that was locally driven to the current top-down system, in which the national government leads coordination of a highly partitioned engagement process. For biological incursions that spread widely across regions, nationally rather than locally managed responses may improve coordination of diverse tasks. However, in dealing with such challenges of institutional fit, local engagement will always be critical in deploying flexible and adaptive local responses based on a national system. The methods we propose detect where and how network structures foster cross-scale interactions, which will contribute to stronger empirical studies of cross-scale environmental governance.