North Atlantic Swordfish are back

It's hard to believe that NMFS is labeling N. Atlantic swordfish as a sustainable seafood choice. This is a major victory for international fisheries management.  Read about it here at NOAA.

A short summary of the regulations can be found here.

Ecosystem values from trees

This is really cool: http://ecosystemcommons.org/discussion/ohio-state-unv-ecosystem-services-awareness

Background info here: http://www.itreetools.org/

U.S. soon to be world's largest oil producer

The International Energy Agency projects that the United States will soon surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer, but only for a few years. Further, natural gas will soon become the largest piece of our energy portfolio.

Read about it here at Bloomberg

What factors are driving these changes?
What are the implications for internalizing negative externalities associated with fossil fuel production and consumption?
What are the implications for economic growth?

Here is a related story at the NYT about the expiration of the production tax credit for wind power.

Family size and wealth

Nikolai's response regarding Hardin and population growth got me thinking about this... 

Here is an interesting read at ENN regarding family size, household wealth and evolution. 

The research appears to be seeking an evolutionary explanation for slowing rates of population growth. We know that world population growth is slowing. i.e. population is growing, but not nearly as fast as it has in the past. The UN has predicted that world population will plateau by around 2050, at a population somewhere between 7.4 and 10.6 billion people (best guess is 8.9 B). This is despite significant increases in longevity and lower mortality rates due to advances in medicine and sanitation.  The slowing of population growth is due to lower birth rates. People are deciding to have fewer children, mostly in  developed countries.


The article summarizes the results of a study which attempted to test the hypothesis that having fewer children leads to future reproductive success for offspring due to the advantages of wealth. i.e. having fewer children conveys an evolutionary advantage, if having fewer, but richer children today increases the likelihood that your genes will multiply in the future. 

I'm not sure I follow this line of reasoning, but in any event, the authors of the study did not find support for the hypothesis. However, there are a lot of economic reasons why parents in richer nations might have smaller families than parents in poorer nations. Can anyone think of these?

Here is more reading at the World Bank.

Here is a long report from the UN on population growth and predictions for the future.

One step closer to a global carbon market

Australia joins the EU carbon trading program.
Read about it here at Triple Pundit.

Collaboration and the commons

I've been working on a chapter describing the Tragedy of the Commons for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Natural Resource Economics (I'm also writing one on Coastal Resource Economics, more about that one soon).  Hardin discusses the tragedy of depletion as an inevitable result when natural resources are rival and non-excludable, noting that self-interested users will tend to ignore the social costs and focus on maximizing personal benefits. To solve the problem, Hardin called for privatization of the commons or government control via rationing or taxation.  We see many modern day examples of this tragedy, from over-fishing to atmospheric pollution. As I've noted on more than one occasion, all of us can be seen as the herdsmen of our day in one way or another.  

It's important to point out that Hardin's tragedy does not always unfold as he described. Under certain conditions, collective action (group management) can be an effective means of achieving environmentally sustainable and economically efficient outcomes for common pool resources. Elinor Ostrom (winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics) was a leading researcher in this area.

Here is an excellent summary of Ostrom's work.

Read more about Ostrom's work here and here.

A similar notion is provided by this interesting new sharing site. 

Lots of reading on the Tragedy here at Science.

Reading on valuation & Caribbean applications

Here is a short policy perspective that summarizes the main points of this report.

The report is fairly lengthy. The first 16 pages provide an overview of economic value and valuation methods. The remainder is a summary of marine resource valuation work in the Caribbean and recommendations for future work.  Please let me know if you find any typos (I'm sure there are a few), as I am working on the final version of the report.

Pamlico Sound to Close to Large-Mesh Gill Net Fishing to Protect Sea Turtles

This just came through my inbox...
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Pamlico Sound to Close to Large-Mesh Gill Net Fishing to Protect Sea Turtles

MOREHEAD CITY – To protect sea turtles, Pamlico Sound will close to all large-mesh gill net fishing on Wed., Sept. 26.

The Pamlico Sound Gill Net Restricted Area opened Sept. 15, and during the first week the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries has documented four interactions between gill nets and sea turtles in these waters. These interactions included one dead and one live endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles.

It is uncertain if the waters will reopen this fall. The decision will depend on the occurrence of sea turtles in the area.

By federal rule, all of Pamlico Sound closes to large-mesh gill net fishing from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30 each year. The closure began in 1999 after several instances of fishery interactions with threatened and endangered sea turtles.

However, since 2000, the National Marine Fisheries Service has allowed a highly-monitored, large-mesh gill net fishery during the closure in limited areas of the sound under a series of incidental take permits. These permits, authorized under Section 10 of the federal Endangered Species Act, allow for limited takes of threatened or endangered species in an otherwise lawful activity.

North Carolina’s latest incidental take permit for the Pamlico Sound Gill Net Restricted Area expired Dec. 31, 2010. However, the National Marine Fisheries Service has agreed to allow this fishery to continue while the state applies for an incidental take permit to cover set gill nets statewide. An application for this permit, submitted in May 2010, is still under review.

Specific regulations pertaining to the closure can be found at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/proclamation-m-42-2012.

Readings on economic incentives for pollution control

Here is a link to a report on the use of economic incentives for pollution control in the US. You can use the "quick links" on the right to navigate the document.

Environmental Defense Fund has a short piece on how the use of incentives was a powerful solution to addressing acid rain.

The Environmental Literacy Council has a nice short article on standards vs. incentives.

Here's more from the World Bank.

Here is a short article on economic incentives for water quality management from the WHO.

Here is a great article by Robert Stavins on the topic.

Lots of great information in this report on Economic Incentives for Pollution Control from UNEP.

Welcome CERMES students

Welcome CERMES students!

From today forward we will have 26 students from the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) UWI Cave Hill joining us on the blog.

These students come from Barbados, Belize, The Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago. I hope I didn't forget anyone...