Environmental Valuation in South Asia is about understanding the value of environmental services in South Asia. It provides an overview of different environmental problems in South Asia and examines how economic valuation techniques can be used to assess these problems. It brings together multiple case studies on valuation undertaken by economists and environmental scientists from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka under the aegis of the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE).
Environmental Valuation in South Asia addresses the challenges of valuing environmental changes that are unique to developing countries. Each chapter starts with a description of an environmental problem and the valuation strategy used, followed by a discussion of estimation methods and results. It is designed to serve as a reference book for students, teachers, researchers, non-government organizations and practitioners of environmental valuation. Those interested in development and environmental economics, and natural resource management policies, will also find it useful.
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Appendices
List of Contributors
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Environmental Valuation: A Review of Methods
Chapter 3: Valuing the Environment as a Production Input
Chapter 4: Should Shrimp Farmers Pay Paddy Farmers?: The Challenges of Examining Salinisation Externalities in South India
Chapter 5: Evaluating Gains from De-Eutrophication of the Dutch Canal in Sri Lanka
Chapter 6: Pesticide Productivity and Vegetable Farming in Nepal
Chapter 7: Forests, Hydrological Services, and Agricultural Income: A Case Study from the Western Ghats of India
Chapter 8: Can Mangroves Stem Property Loss during Big Storms?: An Analysis of House Damages due to the Super Cyclone in Orissa
Chapter 9: Valuation of Recreational Amenities from Environmental Resources: The Case of Two National Parks in Northern Pakistan
Chapter 10: Valuing the Land of Tigers: What Indian Visitors Reveal
Chapter 11: Estimating Welfare Losses from Urban Air Pollution using Panel Data from Household Health Diaries
Chapter 12: Children in the Slums of Dhaka: Diarrhoea Prevalence and its Implications
Chapter 13: Red Wells, Green Wells and the Costs of Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh
Chapter 14: Air Quality and Cement Production: Examining the Implications of Point Source Pollution in Sri Lanka
Chapter 15: Revisiting the Need for Improved Stoves: Estimating Health, Time and Carbon Benefits
Chapter 16: Benefits from Reduced Air Pollution in Delhi and Kolkata: A Hedonic Property Price Approach
Chapter 17: The Value of Statistical Life
Chapter 18: An Assessment of Demand for Improved Household Water Supply in Southwest Sri Lanka
Index
A. K. Enamul Haque is Professor of Economics at United International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. M. N. Murty specializes in Public Economics and Environmental and Resource Economics. He is a retired Professor from the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, India. Priya Shyamsundar is Program Director for the South Asian Network for Environment and Development Economics, Kathmandu, Nepal.
"Valuation of environmental resources is essential in designing socially desirable policies. This book gives an insightful review of valuation studies in South Asia. It should make an interesting read [for] environmental and ecological economists. Development economists and politicians can also benefit from this book to boost their understanding of how valuation can improve their recommendations and decisions in development planning."
- Karl Goran Maler, Former Director of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Swedish Academy of Sciences
"The studies brought together in this volume are excellent examples of research undertaken on valuing the environment for its services in the set of developing countries that make up South Asia. The case studies reflect careful and painstaking works from South Asia that also have policy implications."
- Anil Markandya, University of Bath