Natural Resource Management in Agriculture

Methods for Assessing Economic and Environmental Impacts

Hardback
December 2004
9780851998282
More details
  • Publisher
    CABI
  • Published
    3rd December 2004
  • ISBN 9780851998282
  • Language English
  • Pages 384 pp.
  • Size 6.875" x 9.75"
$230.60

In response to increasing concerns about the degradation of natural resources and the sustainability of agriculture, many research programs have been established in natural resource management (NRM). However, although methods for evaluating the impacts of crop improvement technologies are well developed, there is a dearth of methods for evaluating the impacts of NRM interventions. This is partly due to the complexity of interactions among natural resources, spatial and temporal dimensions of impact, and the valuation of direct and indirect environmental costs and benefits.

This book discusses the unique features and methodological difficulties of NRM impact assessment. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of various impact assessment approaches, including econometric, bio-economic, and more direct methods. It also assesses and identifies data requirements for developing impact indicators and recommends suitable methodologies for assessing the impacts of NRM technologies on issues such as soil and water conservation and watershed and biodiversity management.

"The editors have achieved a clear structure, consistency in nomenclature an coherency within and between themes. The book marks an important milestone in our understanding of how complex agro-ecosystems can be evaluated and how researchers from different disciplines can link their efforts to provide rational methods for NRM assessment."

- Experimental Agriculture

Part I. Introduction
* Assessing the Impacts of Natural Resource Management Interventions in Agriculture: Concepts, Issues and Challenges

Part II. Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Biophysical Indicators of NRM Impacts
* Valuation Methods and Approaches for Assessing Natural Resource Management Impacts
* Measurable Biophysical Indicators for Impact Assessment: Changes in Soil Quality
* Measurable Biophysical Indicators for Impact Assessment: Changes in Water Availability and Quality
* Biophysical Indicators of Agro-ecosystem Services and Methods for Monitoring the Impacts of NRM Technologies at Different Scales

Part III. Methodological Advances for a Comprehensive Impact Assessment
* Econometric Methods for Measuring Natural Resource Management Impacts: Theoretical Issues and Illustrations from Uganda
* Assessing Economic Impacts of Natural Resource Management Using Economic Surplus
* Bioeconomic Modelling for Natural Resource Management Impact Assessment

Part IV. NRM Impact Assessment in Practice
* Valuing Soil Fertility Change: Selected Methods and Case Studies
* Evaluating the Impacts of Watershed Management Projects: A Practical Econometric Approach
* Assessing Economic and Environmental Impacts of NRM Technologies: An Empirical Application Using Economic Surplus Approach
* Assessing the Economic and Environmental Impacts of Conservation Technologies: A Farm-level Bioeconomic Modelling Approach
* Assessing the Impacts of Natural Resource Management Policy Interventions with a Village General Equilibrium Model

Part V. Towards Improved Approaches for NRM Impact Assessment
* The Concept of Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) and its Implications for Developing Evaluation Methods
* NRM Impact Assessment in the CGIAR: Meeting the Challenge and Implications for CGIAR Centres
* Towards Comprehensive Approaches in Assessing NRM Impacts: What We Know and What We Need to Know

Bekele Shiferaw

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H A Freeman

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Scott M Swinton

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