Dr Riccardo Scarpa presents ‘Review of environmental economic valuation studies in Australia and New Zealand’, on Friday, 14 December from 1pm-2pm.
Environmental economic valuation (EEV) is recognised as an essential tool in policy decision making worldwide. Dr Scarpa’s seminar will examine the history of EEV in Australia and New Zealand, through a review of published studies. In the specific case of NZ, results show a significant increase in the number of studies, specifically those requested by government agencies, following the passage of the NZ Resource Management Act of 1991.
Studies are found to be concentrated in three major areas: outdoor recreation, environmental conservation/management, and travel time savings. These three areas covered eight environmental commodities, with the highest valued commodity being biodiversity services. At the same time, a severe lack of studies in many areas including pest control, water resources and outdoor recreation was also identified.
Riccardo Scarpa is Professor in Environmental Economics at the Economics Department of the Waikato Management School, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. He is an applied economist and an internationally recognised expert in non-market valuation, including with regard to the use of choice experiments.
Dr. Scarpa has a Laurea in Agricultural Sciences from University of Tuscia-Viterbo (Italy); an MSc in Environmental Sciences from the University College of Wales-Aberystwyth (UK); an M.A. in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) where he also got his Ph.D. in Forest Economics. Before Waikato he was employed at the University of Tuscia-Viterbo (Italy); the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), and the University of York (UK).
This seminar takes place in room 1, building 22, Casuarina Campus, Charles Darwin University.