IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v28y2014i6p1751-1766.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Assessment of Best Management Practices in the Mara River Basin: Toward Implementing Payment for Watershed Services

Author

Listed:
  • George Atisa
  • Mahadev Bhat
  • Michael McClain

Abstract

The Mara River in East Africa is currently experiencing poor water quality and increased fluctuations in seasonal flow. Improved water quality will require upstream farmers and foresters to adopt Best Management Practices (BMPs), which might cost them considerably. This study proposes a Payment for Watershed Services (PWS) mechanism. This is a market-based approach, whereby downstream water users would pay upstream watershed service providers towards the costs of BMPs implementation. This study analyzes the technical feasibility and economic viability of adapting selected BMPs and provides cost estimates of a PWS program. Using three criteria of water quality improvement, economic feasibility, and technical suitability, a detailed economic opportunity cost analysis revealed that farmers would indeed incur economic losses for all BMPs except no-till farming. We also developed a multi-criteria (demographic and environmental) methodology for identifying land areas to be placed under BMPs. More than 122,000 ha of land would require BMPs, including a moratorium on agriculture inside the Mau Forest Complex. The initial per hectare opportunity costs across the five highest ranked BMPs ranged from US$ 272 to US$ 926. Using these cost estimates, the paper draws some valuable policy and management insights on how to finance BMP implementation. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • George Atisa & Mahadev Bhat & Michael McClain, 2014. "Economic Assessment of Best Management Practices in the Mara River Basin: Toward Implementing Payment for Watershed Services," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(6), pages 1751-1766, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:6:p:1751-1766
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-014-0585-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-014-0585-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-014-0585-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wunder, Sven, 2008. "Payments for environmental services and the poor: concepts and preliminary evidence," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 279-297, June.
    2. Pushpa Tuppad & Narayanan Kannan & Raghavan Srinivasan & Colleen Rossi & Jeffrey Arnold, 2010. "Simulation of Agricultural Management Alternatives for Watershed Protection," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(12), pages 3115-3144, September.
    3. Lina Sun & Wenxi Lu & Qingchun Yang & Jordi Martín & Di Li, 2013. "Ecological Compensation Estimation of Soil and Water Conservation Based on Cost-Benefit Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(8), pages 2709-2727, June.
    4. Kimberly Artita & Prakash Kaini & John Nicklow, 2013. "Examining the Possibilities: Generating Alternative Watershed-Scale BMP Designs with Evolutionary Algorithms," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(11), pages 3849-3863, September.
    5. Ekboir, Javier M. & Boa, Kofi & Dankyi, A.A., 2002. "Impact Of No-Till Technologies In Ghana," Economics Program Papers 23721, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    6. Everton Rocha & Maria Calijuri & Aníbal Santiago & Leonardo Assis & Luna Alves, 2012. "The Contribution of Conservation Practices in Reducing Runoff, Soil Loss, and Transport of Nutrients at the Watershed Level," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(13), pages 3831-3852, October.
    7. Nyangena, Wilfred & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2008. "Estimating Returns to Soil and Water Conservation Investments: An Application to Crop Yield in Kenya," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-32-efd, Resources for the Future.
    8. Pieter Zaag, 2007. "Asymmetry and Equity in Water Resources Management; Critical Institutional Issues for Southern Africa," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(12), pages 1993-2004, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qin Tu & Hong Li & Xinkun Wang & Chao Chen & Yin Luo & Frank Dwomoh, 2014. "Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Small-Scale Sprinkler Irrigation Systems Using Grey Relational Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(13), pages 4665-4684, October.
    2. Parita Shah & George Atisa, 2021. "Environmental education and awareness: the present and future key to the sustainable management of Ramsar convention sites in Kenya," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 611-630, December.
    3. O'Brien, G. C. & Dickens, Chris & Hines, E. & Wepener, V. & Stassen, R. & Landis, W. G., 2017. "A regional scale ecological risk framework for environmental flow evaluations," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 22(2):957-9.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mudaca, Joao Daniel & Tsuchiya, Toshiyuki & Yamada, Masaaki & Onwona-Agyeman, Siaw, 2015. "Household participation in Payments for Ecosystem Services: A case study from Mozambique," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 21-27.
    2. Kun Cheng & Qiang Fu & Xi Chen & Tianxiao Li & Qiuxiang Jiang & Xiaosong Ma & Ke Zhao, 2015. "Adaptive Allocation Modeling for a Complex System of Regional Water and Land Resources Based on Information Entropy and its Application," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(14), pages 4977-4993, November.
    3. Kosoy, Nicolás & Corbera, Esteve, 2010. "Payments for ecosystem services as commodity fetishism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1228-1236, April.
    4. Beichen Ge & Congjin Wang & Yuhong Song, 2023. "Ecosystem Services Research in Rural Areas: A Systematic Review Based on Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Trædal, Leif Tore & Vedeld, Pål Olav & Pétursson, Jón Geir, 2016. "Analyzing the transformations of forest PES in Vietnam: Implications for REDD+," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 109-117.
    6. Xin Jiang & Yuyu Liu & Ranhang Zhao, 2019. "A Framework for Ecological Compensation Assessment: A Case Study in the Upper Hun River Basin, Northeast China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-13, February.
    7. Börner, Jan & Wunder, Sven & Wertz-Kanounnikoff, Sheila & Tito, Marcos Rügnitz & Pereira, Ligia & Nascimento, Nathalia, 2010. "Direct conservation payments in the Brazilian Amazon: Scope and equity implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1272-1282, April.
    8. Kathleen McAfee, 2012. "The Contradictory Logic of Global Ecosystem Services Markets," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 105-131, January.
    9. Duke, Esther Alice & Goldstein, Joshua H. & Teel, Tara L. & Finchum, Ryan & Huber-Stearns, Heidi & Pitty, Jorge & Rodríguez P., Gladys Beatriz & Rodríguez, Samuel & Sánchez, Luis Olmedo, 2014. "Payments for ecosystem services and landowner interest: Informing program design trade-offs in Western Panama," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 44-55.
    10. Heidi Gjertsen & Theodore Groves & David A Miller & Eduard Niesten & Dale Squires & Joel Watson, 2021. "Conservation Agreements: Relational Contracts with Endogenous Monitoring [“Toward a Theory of Discounted Repeated Games with Imperfect Monitoring]," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 1-40.
    11. Charles Perrings, 2016. "Options for managing the infectious animal and plant disease risks of international trade," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 27-35, February.
    12. Xinwen Lin & Angathevar Baskaran & Yajie Zhang, 2023. "Watershed Horizontal Ecological Compensation Policy and Green Ecological City Development: Spatial and Mechanism Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-21, February.
    13. D. Mora-Melia & P. Iglesias-Rey & F. Martinez-Solano & P. Ballesteros-Pérez, 2015. "Efficiency of Evolutionary Algorithms in Water Network Pipe Sizing," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(13), pages 4817-4831, October.
    14. Yijia Wang & Senwei Huang & Jia Liu, 2023. "Research on the Rural Environmental Governance and Interaction Effects of Farmers under the Perspective of Circular Economy—Evidence from Three Provinces of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-20, September.
    15. Grabowski, Philip & Jayne, Thom, 2016. "Analyzing Trends in Herbicide Use in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Security International Development Working Papers 245909, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    16. Grillos, Tara & Bottazzi, Patrick & Crespo, David & Asquith, Nigel & Jones, Julia P.G., 2019. "In-kind conservation payments crowd in environmental values and increase support for government intervention: A randomized trial in Bolivia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Fisher, J.A. & Cavanagh, C.J. & Sikor, T. & Mwayafu, D.M., 2018. "Linking notions of justice and project outcomes in carbon offset forestry projects: Insights from a comparative study in Uganda," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 259-268.
    18. Shinbrot, Xoco A. & Holmes, Ignacia & Gauthier, Madeleine & Tschakert, Petra & Wilkins, Zoë & Baragón, Lydia & Opúa, Berta & Potvin, Catherine, 2022. "Natural and financial impacts of payments for forest carbon offset: A 14 year-long case study in an indigenous community in Panama," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    19. Menale Kassie & Gunnar Köhlin & Randy Bluffstone & Stein Holden, 2011. "Are soil conservation technologies “win‐win?” A case study of Anjeni in the north‐western Ethiopian highlands," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(2), pages 89-99, May.
    20. Kanchanaroek, Yingluck & Aslam, Uzma, 2018. "Policy schemes for the transition to sustainable agriculture—Farmer preferences and spatial heterogeneity in northern Thailand," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 227-235.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:6:p:1751-1766. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.