Econometrics Informing Natural Resources Management:Selected Empirical Analyses

The increasing scarcity of natural resources (in terms of quantity and quality) is one of the most pervasive allocation issues facing development planners throughout the world. The need for sustainable management of these valuable resources has become a critical policy concern. Econometrics is a tool that can inform and facilitate such a management. However, it is only recently that natural resource management has attracted the attention and interest of a critical mass of applied econometricians.This volume outlines the fundamental principles and difficulties that characterize the challenging task of using econometrics to inform natural resource management policies and illustrates them through a number of case-studies from all over the world. The book aims to be a comprehensive sketch of the boarder picture of the state-of-the-art in the area of Econometrics applied to Environmental and Natural Resource Management. The selection of contributions and referee process, opted for a wide range of econometric techniques that can be used to inform natural resource management, while keeping a balance between methods and applications. Applications concern atmospheric carbon reduction, water resource management, wildlife, crop and aquatic biodiversity conservation, fisheries management, as well as broader issues on the relationship between growth, sustainability and the environment. The case studies have been carefully chosen to be of major concern in the arena of environmental policy, mainly in Europe (both EU member states and assessing countries), but also in the US and some developing countries.