Data from the 1990-1994 period presented in the "Brazil's Initial National Communication" document indicated that the country is one of the top world greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters. A large majority of Brazil's GHG emissions come from deforestation mainly of the Amazon biome…
This study provides an introduction to the right to food and human rights principles in international law, explores the relationship between international fisheries instruments and the right to food and seeks to identify components that are considered important for the implementation of the…
Developments in China will have substantial impacts on forestry in the rest of the region. This wide-ranging country outlook study discusses a host of topics including prospects for China's afforestation/reforestation efforts, supply and demand for forest products and ecological services,…
New Zealand is atypical among the Annex I parties within the Kyoto Protocol with agriculture forming a large part of greenhouse gas emissions and planted forests sequestering large amounts of carbon. This presentation will summarise the methods and data used to estimate flows of greenhouse gases…
The 2007-08 drought affected a large area of New Zealand. This paper describes the analytical framework used to estimate the associated regional and national economic impacts. Results suggest that calculating drought economic impacts by applying standard farming industry multipliers to changes…
Biosecurity incursion response decisions require timely, high quality informationinvolving science and economics. The value of the impact on indigenous biodiversityis a key aspect of the economics typically involving cost-benefit analysis. Thehypothetical incursion of Biosecurity New Zealand’s…
In New Zealand, regional councils have the task of sustainably managing rivers andtheir flows. In trying to achieve this task they face enormous challenges including theneed to allocate flows amongst often highly disparate in- (e.g., angling, kayaking,native fish and birds) and out-of-river (e.g…
Multi-Agent Simulation (MAS) models are intended to capture emergent properties of complex systems that are not amenable to equilibrium analysis. They are beginning to see some use for analysing agricultural systems. The paper reports on work in progress to create a MAS for specific sectors in…
Agri-environmental indicators (AEIs) developed by the OECD have been used to assess the environmental performance of the agricultural sector in developed countries. The Agricultural Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS) in New Zealand has investigated using these AEIs to assess the…
The Agriculture Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS) monitors a wide ange of environmental, social, economic and management parameters on matched cohorts of organic, conventional and integrated farms in the sheep/beef and kiwifruit sectors. Over six years significant differences have been…
New Zealand’s success in raising agricultural productivity has been accompanied by higher input use, leading to adverse effects on the environment. Until recently, analysis of farm performance has tended to ignore such negative externalities. The current emphasis on environmental issues has led…