Nir Becker, Asael Greenfeld , Shiri Shamir-Zemah (p)

Urban full river restoration is costly, and with limited resources, the priority of the different elements of a plan needs to be considered. The benefits of separable restoration components were analysed in one of the most polluted rivers in the northern city of Haifa, Israel: the Kishon River. The proposed restoration plan was broken into four segments: riverbed cleaning, ecological restoration, accessibility, and sports facilities. Benefit estimation was done through non-market valuation. We find that the full restoration program passes the cost–benefit test, but partial restoration is more efficient. Based on these conclusions, different funding alternatives are discussed.

Hiroyuki Shibusawa (p), Katsuhiro Sakurai , Yuzuru Miyata

Mikawa Bay, situated between the Atsumi and Chita peninsulas in Aichi Prefecture, is an inner bay that is overall very shallow. The port section is not large, and is a closed ocean area with little exchange of outside sea water. This makes it easy for pollutants to build up, and the ocean area has frequent outbreaks of red or discolored tides. Because of this, purifying the Mikawa Bay, in particular infrastructure such as sewage systems and merger treatment septic tanks, the pollution in private and industrial wastewater, seawater quality, and the pollution of sediment, has become an issue. The objective of this study is to quantitatively evaluate the environmental impact of economic activities of the Mikawa Bay watershed and surrounding regions consisting of the Toyogawa, Yahagi, Sakaigawa river basins, Atsumi Bay watershed, and Chita Bay watershed that flow into Mikawa Bay. We estimate an inter-regional input-output table of Aichi Prefecture, and analyze the relationship between each city and town and the environmental impact on Mikawa Bay in light of economic trade relationships between cities and towns using the input-output model and optimization model.

Hannu Savolainen (p), Santtu Karhinen

High recycling rate of mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) is an EU-wide policy target aiming to increase material efficiency and abatement of environmental degradation. During the last years, landfilling has been decreased by large-scale waste incineration, but at the same time the incineration can be seen as a major obstacle in reaching material reuse and recycle targets. Between 2007 and 2014 waste incineration of all municipal waste in Finland has increased from 12% to 48% while the recycling rate has stayed at a constant level of ca. 30 %. In this paper we study the economic incentives of regional waste incinerators. In our framework, we treat MSW as a valuable resource instead of the common view of finding the most cost-efficient way of getting rid of it. In the analysis we use Finnish data on municipal-level MSW flows and characteristics of the waste incineration plants. The economic value of MSW for waste incineration plants is estimated by analyzing plants’ cost structures and income streams from district heat supply, electricity generation and gate fees. In addition, the effects of plants’ fuel substitution are quantified. After determining the income and cost functions, we discuss how the waste incinerators are affected by possible policy measures (e.g. tax schemes) and changes in the operational environment (e.g. changes in the cost structures or income streams).

Henrique Tateishi (p), Felipe Santos , Cassiano Bragagnolo

This abstract reports the findings from a study of agricultural sector in the Brazillian state of São Paulo for 2006. It explored the environmental and technical efficiencies used a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). The study also employed a spatial data model to determine and map the distribution of these efficiencies within the state.
Technical efficiency (TE) can be described as obtaining the maximum output possible given a constrained set of inputs or by using less inputs to achieve the same amount of production. Sao Paulo’s agriculture sector was responsible for more than 15% of the country’s gross agricultural product in 2017 and 14.4% of its agrochemical use in 2014. Environmental efficiency (EE) is the utilization of production inputs that maintain or improve output while having the least adverse environmental consequences.
This study used data from the Brazilian Agricultural Census of 2006 aggregated at the county level for the state of São Paulo. These data were the most current available to the general public at the time of the study. The census was compiled by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. We used a total of 625 observations. We employed a translog function form at a first stage SFA. We used labor, capital and organic fertilizers as non-detrimental inputs and pesticides and synthetic fertilizers were considered detrimental inputs. For the spatial model, we considered TE and EE as dependent variables. We employed average farm size within each county, the spatial lag, producer’s schooling and experience, rural credit use and technical assistance.
Key study results were that the Sao Paulo’s agriculture sector’s average technical efficiency (60%) was much greater than its environmental efficiency (8.5%). The elasticities of non-detrimental inputs in were all positive to output. Capital’s elasticity was 1.13, labor’s was 0.42 and organic fertilizers’ was 0.86. The detrimental inputs’ elasticity was negative (-0.22) to output. TE and EE and EE and Gross Production Value were negatively correlated, TE and GPV were positively correlated. The spatial data analysis indicated that there is spatial interdependence and that it is positively correlated with both TE and EE. Higher values for average years of schooling were positive to TE but negative to EE. We found that an increase in the use of credit raises TE but decreases EE. Average farm size, experience and technical assistance were not statistically significant.

Burcu Yaslak (p), Sevkiye Sence Türk

The world population has an increasing trend, especially in developing countries. Parallel to the rise of population results higher needs for human such as sheltering, food or waste disposal. According to Hardin (1968), the commons can lead to the Tragedy of the Commons and overutilization of a source. Turkey as a developing country has almost 80 million population and the growth did not stop at a fixed rate. The growth rate causes a serious pressure on agricultural land although the productive agricultural areas are limited. Transformation from agricultural uses into non-agricultural uses have increased since 2000s in Turkey. To protect agricultural areas, the state provides a legal framework but non-agricultural uses mostly become as subject of Supreme Court. As a consequence, many lawsuits can occur. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the legal and administrative framework related to transformation from agricultural uses into non-agricultural uses and examine the reasons behind them. In the study, firstly literature review is made to explain theoretical background, then legal and administrative framework of the subject is analysed. Finally, some cases from Turkey are examined by evaluating jurisdiction verdicts. Consequently, it is a clear that agricultural areas are vulnerable to economic development and spatial growth. Here, how balance between use and protection are provided is quite a critical subject.