(b) Cost-Benefit Analysis

Coordinators: Jan Barkmann/ Rainer Marggraf

Our empirical research projects on the valuation of ecosystem services and the environment are usually related to a larger research or planning context, or they are directly involved with welfare economic project evaluation.

Our research projects include the following:

• Germany: development and evaluation of EU-Agro environmental programs in Germany e.g. within projects in the counties of Northeim and Wolfenbüttel (Lower-Saxony); preferences for the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMO) into the agricultural practice and the production of GMO food; for the establishment of the first “bioenergy-village” Jühnde; a nature reserve at Steinhuder Meer and rehabilitation of a dump site in Osnabrück; animal husbandry in the service of maintaining open land in Göttingen and in the Harz mountains; reestablishment of the beaver in Hessen; forest species diversity in and around Hainich National Park (Thuringia) and grassland species diversity across the Thuringia/Bavaria border.
• Latin America: the Balama-Bijagós Biosphere Reserve in Guinea-Bissau; the Guayas-Delta, and the Podocarpus-National Park in Ecuador; the Rio Guatiquaia and the Rio Checua watersheds in Colombia; the Fray Jorge National Park, the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, and the protection of soil resources in the VII Region (Maule) in Chile;
• Indonesia: the Gede Pangrango National Park, and biodiversity-dependent ecosystem services in the region of the Lore Lindu National Park;
• Kenya: forest ecosystem services of Kakamega Forest;
• China: preferences for nature- and landscape-based tourism;

Cost-benefit analyses in support of policy require accurate valuation and scenario impact data on market and non-market goods. For example, when functional ecosystem services, such as erosion protection or water provisioning are affected, the ecological condition of an ecosystem directly affects the capacity to produce agricultural market goods. The evaluation of project alternatives must, therefore, consider the dynamic interaction of the production of market goods with the ecosystems that supports it. This aspect is highly important for the valuation of ecological systems in many low- and middle income countries where a substantial share of the population works in the primary sector. In order to tackle some of the most important dynamic interactions, we are currently forming an ecological/economic modeling group.