Skip to main content

How to Choose? A Bioeconomic Model for Optimizing River Barrier Mitigation Actions

King, Steven, O'Hanley, Jesse R., Fraser, Iain (2021) How to Choose? A Bioeconomic Model for Optimizing River Barrier Mitigation Actions. Ecological Economics, 181 . Article Number 106892. ISSN 0921-8009. (doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106892) (KAR id:83466)

PDF Author's Accepted Manuscript
Language: English


Download (1MB) Preview
[thumbnail of River_Barrier_Economics_v0.7b.pdf]
Preview
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
Request an accessible format
Official URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106892

Abstract

River infrastructure can cause adverse impacts on fish populations, which, in turn, compromises the ability of river ecosystems to provide a range of ecosystem services. In this paper, we present a methodological approach to assess the potential economics costs and benefits of river connectivity enhancement achieved through removal and mitigation of fish dispersal barriers. Our approach combines the results of a stated preference study for nonuse values of rivers and statistical models of fish population responses to barrier mitigation actions within an integrated bioeconomic optimization framework. We demonstrate the utility of our methodology using a case study of the River Wey catchment in southeast England, which contains over 650 artificial barriers. Our results reveal the presence of benefit-cost trade-offs which can form the basis for river barrier mitigation policy development. In particular, we find that benefits exceed costs in the River Wey for all levels of investment in barrier mitigation considered (£2.5 to 53.4M). Furthermore, from an economic efficiency standpoint, a total budget of approximately £22.5M allocated to barrier mitigation would maximize net societal benefits derived from anticipated increases fish species richness and abundance.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106892
Uncontrolled keywords: fish passage barriers, river connectivity, discrete choice experiments, bioeconomic modeling, optimization, cost benefit analysis
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Economics
Divisions > Kent Business School - Division > Department of Analytics, Operations and Systems
Depositing User: Jesse O'Hanley
Date Deposited: 15 Oct 2020 09:03 UTC
Last Modified: 21 Oct 2021 23:00 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/83466 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
O'Hanley, Jesse R.: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3522-8585
Fraser, Iain: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4689-6020
  • Depositors only (login required):

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year