Green economics
A UVic economist proves there's more to saving the environment than science
Cornelis "Case" van Kooten may seem like a fish out of water. He's the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Studies and Climate Change and he's housed in UVic's department of economics.
"It might seem a little odd," he says, "but in fact the two seemingly disparate fields of climate and economics go hand in hand. To study climate change and natural resources, you have to look at economics at the same time."
Van Kooten is widely recognized as a leader in devising effective economic measures for analysing various aspects of the environment. He approaches natural resource issues from many angles. One of his research projects looks at the cost of using terrestrial "carbon sinks" to lessen climate change.
Increased tree growth and better agricultural practices create what scientists call carbon sinks. As the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to a build-up of greenhouse gases, carbon sinks help by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and reversing the effects of greenhouse gas buildup.
His studies have looked at the cost of tree-planting programs. "One idea is to encourage farmers to plant trees rather than agricultural crops," he says. "We're looking at the cost of doing that, versus getting someone out of their SUV and into a smaller car. Interestingly, it turns out that getting them into a smaller car is much cheaper than trying to plant trees."
He has also examined the use of zero tillage, the practice of not plowing crops into stubble after farmers harvest their fields. "When you plow a field it's more susceptible to decay, and decay releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," van Kooten explains.
Van Kooten looks at the big economic picture when it comes to climate change. "Scientists have to ask, do you moderate climate change, or do you just let it go and then adapt to it?" he says. "Farmers can adapt by planting more drought-resistant crops, and in places where sea level rise is threatening, engineers can build dykes."
In another branch of his research, van Kooten is studying invasive species, specifically a California plant called the yellow star thistle. "It's actually quite pretty," he says, "but it sucks up the moisture on dry rangelands, cows don't like it, and it can kill horses if they eat it."
Like Canada's broom, the thistle came to North America in the 1890s and has expanded its range ever since. It now covers about half of California and van Kooten is researching how to control it. "There are different methods you can use, but remember, we're trying to control it from an economic perspective."
Options include chemicals, fire, and integrated pest management. The Canadian Forest Service is interested in the project, he notes. "We've been looking at the economics of using a particular kind of fly that lays its eggs in the seed head and then about 80 per cent of the seeds die."
Van Kooten also studies the economic value of wildlife. "If we want to know what grizzly bears are worth, for example, how do we determine that? Nobody trades them, nobody buys them, there's some hunting of them, but that's not their true value to society," he says.
As an economist, van Kooten wants a framework for valuing wildlife such as bears and is working to refine an existing technique called the "contingent valuation method."
"We propose a program in a questionnaire and then ask people what they're willing to pay for that program," he says. "Given the right questions and respondents, you can know what people are willing to pay for elephants in Africa, or for whales in the North Atlantic."
Other wildlife projects include the economic impact on sage grouse of grazing cattle on public land, and whether trade in ivory is good or bad for conserving African elephants.
In the future, van Kooten will be looking at energy sources as they relate to land use and watersheds to generate economically viable power.
"Economists are usually more theoretical," he says. "I'm trying to relate economics to application, not theory." |
