Source: AUBURN UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
VALUING WATER AND OTHER ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0222156
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2010
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2015
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
108 M. WHITE SMITH HALL
AUBURN,AL 36849
Performing Department
Foresty & Wildlife Sciences
Non Technical Summary
In the Southern U.S., a traditionally water-rich region, water has become scarce in some areas. Yet no study has been done to assess systematically the demand for water in various sectors at watershed level in the Southern U.S. Similarly, there is a gap in knowledge and methodology related to valuing ecosystem services from forests in the country. To conserve water effectively and guard the tradeoff between timber production and ecosystem services provided by forest ecosystems, we need to know the responsiveness of quantity of water demanded to water prices and the value of these ecosystem services in the country. This research promises to have direct bearing on public policy with respect to water demand, especially pricing, and to yield new and provocative insights about the aggregate value of ecosystem services provided by forests. These results will help decision-making in resource use and conservation.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1110210301020%
1230320301030%
6050699301030%
6100320301020%
Knowledge Area
605 - Natural Resource and Environmental Economics; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources; 610 - Domestic Policy Analysis;

Subject Of Investigation
0320 - Watersheds; 0210 - Water resources; 0699 - Trees, forests, and forest products, general;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The objectives of this project are two-fold: (1) to estimate water demand at watershed level in the Southern U.S. and (2) to estimate the value of ecosystem services provided from productive forest ecosystem in the U.S. The expected outputs will be demand elasticity (or responsiveness of water demand to price and income change) in various sectors in all given watershed in the Southern U.S. and aggregate value of ecosystem services provided by productive forest ecosystems in the U.S.
Project Methods
Since this project has two components, we will use two different approaches. We will use the end-use approach and econometrics to study water demand, and the Faustmann-Hartman model to study the aggregate value of ecosystem services from productive forests. None of these methods have been applied to achieve the objectives of this study before. Secondary data will be collected from various governmental and industrial publications.

Progress 10/01/10 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One Ph.D. student is scheduled to graduate in 2016. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through conferences, seminars, and refereed publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have developed a new method for valuing the benefits and costs of environmental services. We have estimated water demand at watershed level and looked into the payments for forest-based ecosystem services.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2015 Citation: Zhang, D. 2015. Payments for Forest-Based Environmental Services: A Close Look. Forest Policy and Economics. forthcoming
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Zhang, D. 2015. Contracts for Not Polluting Water: The Case of Vittel. University of Kentucky Department of Agricultural Economics Seminar. Delivered on October 14.


Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Policy-makers and timberland owners. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Through conferneces and publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Markets and methods of valuing forest ecosystem services were analyzed and presented.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Zhang, D., and A. Stenger. 2014. Value and Valuation of Forest Ecosystem Services. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy. DOI: 10.1080/21606544.2014.980852
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Zhang, D. 2014. Payment for Forest Environmental Services through Private and Political Markets. Society of American Foresters Annual Convention. Salt Lake City. October 5-11.


Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Two presentations were made in two international conferences in France. One is on payment for environmental services through political and private markets, and the other is on standing timber insurance. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This porect allows me to hire one master student for 2.5 years and a post-doc for 1 year. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Yes. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Have the two papers under recview published.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have produced three papers and made presentations at international conferences. All papers are published in conference proceedings and two are under review for referred publications.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Under Review Year Published: 2013 Citation: Zhang, D. 2013. Payments for Environmental Services through Private and Political Markets. INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research). Champenoux, France. May 24.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Zhang, D., and A. Stenger. 2013. Timber Insurance: Perspectives from A Legal Case and A Review of Practices in the World. Workshop of the 3rd World Planted Forest Congress, Boudreaux, France, May 15-17.


Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The objective of this project is to value water and other services from forest ecosystems. One paper on water demand has been submitted to American Journal of Water Resources. A paper on valuing forest ecosystem services was presented in an international conference in Finland in September. PARTICIPANTS: Daowei Zhang, Alumni Professor, Auburn University Eric Dooley, MSc student, Auburn University TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The results show that water demand elasticities are different among various water use sector, and thus, it is more efficient to allocate water using price mechanism. Further, the aggregate forest ecosystem services provided by forest ecosystem services is, at the minimum, $35 billion per year.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period


Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The objectives of this project is to value water demand in various watershed and ecosystem services from forest ecosystems. Progress has been made on both fronts. As for water demand, we have collected and analyzed water use data by sector (e.g., residential, agricultural, industrial) and produced a preliminary report. As for water ecosystem services, we have produced a concept paper, which will serve as the basis for a proposal to be submitted to a funding agency. PARTICIPANTS: Daowei Zhang, Alumni and George W. Peake Jr. Professor of Forest Economics. Auburn University Gloria Umali-Maceina, Post-doc fellow, Auburn University TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
The preliminary results show that water demand elasticity is different among various water use sector and thus, it is highly possible to allocate water use more efficiently among these sectors using price.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period