Project Plan


A complete and accurate understanding of the costs of pollution, and the benefits of protecting and restoring the environment, is necessary for resource managers since it will enable them to make sound decisions on the regions's greatest economic asset: the Great Lakes. The Northeast-Midwest Institute and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chief Economist, on behalf of NOAA's Coastal Ocean Program, have launched a 2-year project which will produce vital information that will help resource decision makers and nonprofit environmental organizations anticipate more fully the economic consequences of proposed actions to increase or diminish environmental protectiveness. It will help these constituencies identify research projects that would contribute to sounder estimates of environmental benefits. Moreover, it will create a broad understanding among the region's residents and stakeholders of the cost-benefit tool, both its strengths and weaknesses.

Tasks

To carry out this project over the next two years, the Northeast-Midwest Institute and NOAA's Chief Economist, in collaboration with the State of Michigan, specifically will:

1. Convene a carefully-selected panel of economists from industry, government, academia, and environmental areas from the nation and the Great Lakes region who have experience in natural resource accounting and cost-benefit estimation. This panel will advise the Chief Economist and the Institute on the state-of-the-art in benefits assessment, and the ways that Great Lakes benefits could be valued. In addition, the panel will develop and define a research agenda that will help assess environmental benefits in the Great Lakes basin. Specifically, the panel will:

  • review existing techniques and their applicability to the Great Lakes;
  • review existing literature on environmental benefits and its applicability to specific resources in the Great Lakes to assess information already available on or "transferable" to Great Lakes environmental assets;
  • review case study approaches and findings, and their implications for benefits assessment of Great Lakes environmental protection policies; and
  • develop a research agenda to fill gaps in the information base necessary for effective valuation of the specific resource.

2. Research and write case studies of environmental management issues in the Great Lakes region. The case studies will demonstrate methods for assessing the benefits of environmental protection and the potential application of these methods in the policy arena. Based on available information and techniques, resource economists will run a sample valuation analysis for each case study. This analysis will be useful to managers making decisions on resource restoration and protection

3. Work with a task force of Great Lakes stakeholders/citizens to: a) array the range of benefits that should be included in cost-benefit assessments of environmental protection of the Great Lakes resource; b) gather ideas for and reactions to proposed approaches to assessing benefits; c) discuss applicability requirements, including how such a tool can or should be used, and its limitations. Case studies will help inform the discussion on ways to apply cost-benefit scenarios.

4. Write and distribute a guidebook on economic valuation for Great Lakes resource policy makers, resource managers, and the public. Building on the "Economic Valuation of Natural Resources: A Handbook for Coastal Resource Policymakers" written by the NOAA Coastal Oceans Program, the guide will provide background on cost-benefit techniques; describe the case studies; array benefits of the Great Lakes basin-wide environment that should be considered in such analyses; identify approaches to assessing these benefits; outline data sources and requirements; and identify additional research needs.

5. Provide training on benefit assessments to nonprofit environmental organizations. Institute staff will organize at least two, day-long training sessions in the region for Great Lakes advocates. Such sessions would explain the case studies, review the opportunities and shortcomings of cost-benefit analyses, and discuss opportunities to use new assessment tools to protect the region's biological resources.

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5 June 1997
http://www.nemw.org/glvalpln.htm