Sahan T. M. Dissanayake

Valuing Grassland Restoration: Proximity to Substitutes and Trade-offs among Conservation Attributes

We demonstrate how choice experiment survey methods can be used to guide ecosystem restoration efforts. We use a choice experiment survey to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for different attributes of restored grassland ecosystems. We find that the presence of nearby grasslands increases a respondent’s WTP and that species richness, population density, and the presence of endangered species are all significant factors that contribute to the respondent’s WTP. This implies that all these conservation success measures should be taken into account in planning and in research. To our knowledge this is the first study to calculate the WTP for grasslands. (JEL Q51, Q57)

Optimal design of compact and functionally contiguous conservation management areas

Compactness and landscape connectivity are essential properties for effective functioning of conservation reserves. In this article we introduce a linear integer programming model to determine optimal configuration of a conservation reserve with such properties. Connectivity can be defined either as structural (physical) connectivity or functional connectivity; the model developed here addresses both properties. We apply the model to identify the optimal conservation management areas for protection of Gopher Tortoise (GT) in a military installation, Ft. Benning, Georgia, which serves as a safe refuge for this ‘at risk’ species. The recent expansion in the military mission of the installation increases the pressure on scarce GT habitat areas, which requires moving some of the existent populations in those areas to suitably chosen new conservation management areas within the boundaries of the installation. Using the model, we find the most suitable and spatially coherent management areas outside the heavily used training areas.

Measuring Risk Preferences in Rural Ethiopia

Risk aversion is generally found to decrease in income. Between countries, comparative findings with students suggest that people in poorer countries are more risk tolerant, potentially giving rise to a risk-income paradox. We test the robustness of this finding by measuring the risk preferences of 500 household heads in the highlands of Ethiopia. We find high degrees of risk tolerance, consistent with the evidence obtained for students using the same tasks. The level of risk tolerance is higher than for student samples in most Western and middle-income countries. We also find risk tolerance to increase in income proxies within our sample, thus completing the paradox.

A dynamic simulation/optimization model for scheduling restoration of degraded military training lands

Intensive use of military vehicles on Department of Defense training installations causes deterioration in ground surface quality. Degraded lands restrict the scheduled training activities and jeopardize personnel and equipment safety. We present a simulation-optimization approach and develop a discrete dynamic optimization model to determine an optimum land restoration for a given training schedule and availability of financial resources to minimize the adverse effects of training on military lands. The model considers weather forecasts, scheduled maneuver exercises, and unique qualities and importance of the maneuver areas. An application of this approach to Fort Riley, Kansas, shows that: i) starting with natural conditions, the total amount of training damages would increase almost linearly and exceed a quarter of the training area and 228 gullies would be formed (mostly in the intensive training areas) if no restoration is carried out over 10 years; ii) assuming an initial state that resembles the present conditions, sustaining the landscape requires an annual restoration budget of

Can improved biomass cookstoves contribute to REDD+ in low-income countries ? evidence from a controlled cooking test trial with randomized behavioral treatments

957 thousand; iii) targeting a uniform distribution of maneuver damages would increase the total damages and adversely affect the overall landscape quality, therefore a selective restoration strategy may be preferred; and iv) a proactive restoration strategy would be optimal where land degradations are repaired before they turn into more severe damages that are more expensive to repair and may pose a higher training risk. The last finding can be used as a rule-of-thumb for land restoration efforts in other installations with similar characteristics.

Preferences for REDD+ Contract Attributes in Low-Income Countries: A Choice Experiment in Ethiopia

This paper provides field experiment–based evidence on the potential additional forest carbon sequestration that cleaner and more fuel-efficient cookstoves might generate. The paper focuses on the Mirt (meaning “best”) cookstove, which is used to bake injera, the staple food in Ethiopia. The analysis finds that the technology generates per-meal fuel savings of 22 to 31 percent compared with a traditional three-stone stove with little or no increase in cooking time. Because approximately 88 percent of harvests from Ethiopian forests are unsustainable, these findings suggest that the Mirt stove, and potentially improved cookstoves more generally, can contribute to reduced forest degradation. These savings may be creditable under the United Nations Collaborative Program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. Because of the highly specific nature of the Mirt stove and the lack of refrigeration in rural Ethiopia, rebound effects are unlikely, but this analysis was unable completely to rule out such leakage. The conclusions are therefore indicative, pending evidence on the frequency of Mirt stove use in the field. The effects of six randomized behavioral treatments on fuelwood and cooking time outcomes were also evaluated, but limited effects were found.

Measuring risk preferences in rural Ethiopia: risk tolerance and exogenous income proxies

This paper informs the national and international policy discussions related to the adoption of the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Programme. Effective program instruments must carefully consider incentives, opportunity costs, and community interactions. A choice experiment survey was applied to rural Ethiopian communities to understand respondents’ preferences toward the institutional structure of the program contracts. The results show that respondents have particular preferences about how Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation programs are structured with regard to the manner in which the payments are divided between the households and the communities, the restrictions on using grazing land, and the level of payments received for the program. Surprisingly, restrictions on firewood collection do not significantly impact contract choice. The paper further analyzes the structure of the preferences by using attribute interaction terms and socio-demographic interaction terms. The analysis finds significant regional variation in preferences, indicating that Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation should be tailored to specific regions. Finally, the marginal willingness to pay for attributes is calculated using the traditional preference space approach, as well as the more recent willingness-to-pay approach.

Shifted Baselines Reduce Willingness to Pay for Conservation

Risk-aversion has generally been found to decrease in income. This may lead one to expect that poor countries will be more risk-averse than rich countries. Recent comparative findings with students, however, suggest the opposite, giving rise to a risk-income paradox. This paper tests this paradox by measuring the risk preferences of more than 500 household heads spread over the highlands of Ethiopia and finds high degrees of risk tolerance. The paper also finds risk tolerance to increase in income proxies, thus completing the paradox. Using exogenous proxies, the paper concludes that part of the causality must run from income to risk tolerance. The findings suggest that risk preferences cannot be blamed for the failure to adopt new technologies. Alternative explanations are discussed.

Preferences for marine protection in Okinawa: a comparison of management options and two groups of beneficiaries

A loss of memory of past environmental degradation has resulted in shifted historical baselines, which may result in conservation and restoration goals that are less ambitious than if stakeholders had a full knowledge of ecosystem potential. However, the link between perception of baseline states and support for conservation planning has not been tested empirically. Here, we investigate how perceptions of change in coral reef ecosystems affect stakeholders’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the establishment of protected areas. Coral reefs are experiencing rapid, global change that is observable by the public, and therefore are an ideal ecosystem to test links between beliefs about baseline states and willingness to support conservation. We find that respondents perceived change to coral reef communities across six variables: coral abundance, fish abundance, fish diversity, fish size, sedimentation, and water pollution. Residents who accurately perceived declines in reef health had significantly higher WTP for protected areas (US

Using STELLA simulation models to teach natural resource economics

256.80 vs.