Lecture 4 Flashcards
(46 cards)
What is the “Easterlin Paradox” in relation to happiness and income?
- Income is correlated with happiness within countries
- Income is unrelated to happiness across countries
- Income is unrelated to happiness over time.
What are the five main drivers of biodiversity loss according to IPBES?
- Habitat loss
- Overharvesting
- Climate change
- Pollution
- Invasive species
How does biodiversity loss affect carrying capacity and ecosystems,
- Reduces ecosystem efficiency and stability
- Increases risk of infectious diseases
- Reduced option value, cultural, and relational values
Define “background extinction”:
Background extinction refers to the natural rate of species extinction over time, typically without human influence.
What is the most powerful leverage point according to Meadows?
The power to transcend paradigms
What is the “extinction of experience”?
A positive feedback loop where losing contact with nature lowers appreciation for it, undermines conservation efforts, and leads to further loss of nature, perpetuating the cycle.
What are the main causes of the “extinction of experience”?
- Loss of opportunity to interact with nature
- Loss of orientation or connection to nature.
What are the consequences of the extinction of experience?
Emotional changes
Attitudinal changes
Behavioural changes
Health and well-being changes.
How do feedback loops reinforce the extinction of experience?
The cycle of losing contact with nature leads to decreased appreciation and efforts to conserve, further reducing nature and repeating the loop.
Why is it necessary to provide value estimates for nature, according to Costanza et al.?
“Decisions we make as a society about ecosystems imply valuations. While ecosystem valuation is difficult and uncertain, we cannot avoid it. We can choose to make valuations explicit or not, but as long as we make choices, we engage in the process of valuation.”
What is the purpose of cost-benefits analyses in invasive species management?
To evaluate the trade-offs between the costs of control measures and the value of avoided damages or potential benefits of invasive species.
Why is early intervention important in managing invasive species?
Early intervention reduces long-term costs and prevents significant cumulative damages caused by invasive species.
How are the net benefits of invasive species management calculates?
Net benefits = Benefits to target species- Program costs - Lost benefits to the status quo.
What factors affect the cost of controlling invasive species?
- Effectiveness of the control option
- Length of time required for the control option.
What are the opportunity costs in invasive species management?
Potential benefits that invasive species might provide, such as hunting, weighed against the long-term costs of allowing them to persist.
Define Ecosystem services
Ecosystem services are the benefits humans derive from ecosystems.
Name 4 main benefits that humans derive from ecosystems (Ecosystem services)
- provisioning services (food, water, raw mats)
- regulating services (Climate regulation, pollination, water purification)
- Cultural services (recreation, spiritual, enrichment, aesthetic value)
- Supporting services (nutrient cycling, soil formation, habitat provision)
What are the two main approaches to estimating nature’s value?
- Preference-Based Approaches: Use values (direct, indirect, option) and non-use values (existence, altruism)
- Biophysical Approaches: Insurance value and physical consumption
What methods are used in preference-based approaches?
- Market analysis
- cost methods
- Contingent valuation
What methods are used in biophyiscal approaches?
- Resilience theory
- Industrial ecology.
What is Hotelling’s travel cost method?
A method to value parks or geographically defined sites by calculating the net satisfaction individuals derive, using travel costs as a measure. Satisfaction is integrated over the population to find the total social gain.
What does hedonic regression estimate, and how is it used?
It estimates the value of attributes like:
- Proximity to green spaces
- Air quality
- Noise pollution, using differences in housing prices
What issues with contingent valuation did Diamond and Hausman identify?
- Embedding effects: Total WTP = WTP for a part
- Order effects: WTP varies based on question sequence
- Payment mechanisms influence WTP
- WTP =/ WTA
What are Kling, Phaneuf, and Zhao’s best practices for contingent valuation?
- Use referendum format
- Familiar payment mechanisms
- Present both status quo and policy changes graphically
- Pre-test prices in focus groups or interviews.
