Appraisal Step Supporting Information

Useful reading material

Full text of the appraisal step manual in pdf format.
SAF Appraisal guide for Economic Assessment
SAF User Guide for Implementing Economic Assessment
Extend manual, requires log in which you will have if you are an Extend user.
Sensitivity analysis within cost benefit analysis and accompanying spreadsheet. Read abstract

This report illustrates how sensitivity analysis can be used within cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in order to explore how the values of the benefits from ecosystem services influence the results of the overall analysis. It is accompanied by an interactive spreadsheet. Both the report and the spreadsheet are concerned with a case study of coastal management scenarios for flood defence in the Humber Estuary in the UK and are based on work that has been previously been published as the following:

Turner, R. K., Burgess, D., Hadley, D., Coombes, E. and Jackson, N. (2007) A cost-benefit appraisal of coastal managed realignment policy. Global Environmental Change 17, 397-407.

Stakeholders may have ethical or other objections to placing monetary valuations upon ecosystem services, however, the advantage of exploring the values of the benefits from ecosystem services using CBA is that the trade-offs involved are made more explicit. Conventional CBA uses various methodologies for valuing ecosystem services and ‘plugs’ these values into the analysis. The approach suggested here uses the framework of CBA to ‘discover’ what the values of ecosystem services would need to be in order to influence the overall result of the analysis. It is also suggested that this approach would most usefully operate in close cooperation with stakeholders in a deliberative process. Learn more here and access the accompanying interactive spreadsheet here.
Economic Specification Sheet: Cost Benefit Analysis Read abstract

Cost benefit analysis is a means of project or policy appraisal. It involves identifying and measuring, in monetary terms, as many of the costs and benefits as possible that relate to a particular project to capture the trade-off between the benefits to society and the resources that society must give up to obtain those benefits.
Economic Specification Sheet: Economic Valuation Read abstract

Monetary and non-monetary methods for ecosystem services valuation are used to establish how ecosystem services and their identified changes are valued by individuals.
Economic Specification Sheet: Financial Analysis Read abstract

Financial analysis is based on microeconomic theory and is used to model the production process, the core of the economic activity at the level of firms or groups of firms.
Economic Specification Sheet: Input Output Analysis Read abstract

Input-Output multipliers can be used to assess the regional (or national) economic impacts from an activity. The multipliers are derived from an Input-Output table or matrix.
Economic Specification Sheet: Multi Criteria Analysis Read abstract

Multi-criteria analysis compares measurable sets of criteria to assess in how far different options are achieving intended objectives and/or result in unintended side-effects.

Key references

Allen, J. I., Somerfield, P. J., Gilbert, F. J.- 2007. Quantifying uncertainty in high-resolution coupled hydrodynamic-ecosystem models. J. Mar. Syst., 64:3-14.

Benincà, E., Huisman, J., Heerkloss, Jöhnk, K. D., Branco, P., Van Nes, E. H., Scheffer, M., Ellner, S. P.- 2008. Chaos in a long-term experiment with a plankton community. Nature, 451: 822-825.

Carpenter, S. R., Pingali, P. L., Bennett, E. M., Zureck, M. B. (Eds.).- 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Scenarios, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Series, Vol. 2. World Resources Institute, Island Press, Washington, DC.

Engelen, G., Uljee, I., van de Ven, K.- 2003. WADBOS: Integrating knowledge to support policy-making in the Dutch Wadden sea. In: Geertman, S., Stillwell, J. (Eds.), Planning Support Systems in practice, Advances in Spatial Science, Springer-Verlag, pp. 513-537.

European Environment Agency.- 2001. Scenarios as tools for international environmental assessments. Environmental issue report n.24, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Freissinet C., Vauclin, M., de Bruyn, B.- 2001. Utilisation couplée des techniques d'analyse spatiale et de l'arithmétique floue pour évaluer la vulnérabilité d'un bassin versant (Combined use of spatial analysis techniques and fuzzy arithmetic to evaluate catchment area vulnerability). In "Geographical information and regional planning", volume on "Spatial risk management", pp. 47-61, Edition Hermés, ISBN 2-7462-0319-7.

Freissinet, C., Vauclin, M., Erlich, M.- 1999. Comparison of first-order analysis and fuzzy set approach for the evaluation of imprecision in a pesticide groundwater poluution screening model. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 37: 21-43.

Goh, B. S.- 1977. Global stability in many-species systems. The American Naturalist, 111: 135-143.

HarmoniQuA Consortium, HarmoniQuA’s Modelling Support Tool (MoST), version 3.1.5.

Huisman, J., Weissing, F. J.- 1999. Biodiversity of plankton by species oscillations and chaos. Nature, 402: 407-410.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Nebojsa Nakicenovic and Rob Swart (Eds.).- 2000. IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, Cambridge University Press, UK.

Lima, I. D., Olson, D. B., Doney, S. C.- 2002. Intrinsic dynamics and stability properties of size-structured pelagic ecosystem models. J. Plankton Res., 24: 533-536.

Melaku Canu D., Solidoro C., Cossarini G., Giorgi F. (Submitted). Effects of Global changes on clam aquaculture in Venice Lagoon Climate research (under revision in Climate Research).

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.- 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Scenarios, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Series, vol. 2. World Resources Institute, Island Press, Washington, DC.

Morecroft, J.- 2007. Strategic Modelling and Business Dynamics. John Wiley and Sons, 430 pp.

Moss, R. H., Schneider, S. H.- 2000. Uncertainties in IPCC TAR. Recommendation to Lead Authors for more consistent Assessment and Reporting. In: Pachuari, R., Taniguchi, T., Tanaka, K. (Eds.). Guidance papers on the cross-cutting issues of the Third Assessment Report of IPCC. Geneva, Switzerland, World Meteorological Organization, 33-51.

Odum, H. T., Odum, E. C.-2000. Modelling for all Scales. An Introduction to System Simulation. Academic Press, San Diego, California, 458 pp.

Pascual P., Stiber N., Sunderland E. – 2003. The Council for Regulatory Environmental Modelling Draft Guidance on the Development, Evaluation and Application of Regulatory environmental models. Office of Science Policy, Washington, D. C. www.epa.gov/crem/library/CREMguidancedraft12_03.pdf.

Refsgaard, J. C., Henriksen, H. J.- 2004. Modelling guidelines- terminology and guiding principles. Advances in Water Resources, 27: 71-82.

Rosen, R.- 1970. Dynamical System Theory in Biology. Vol I. Stability Theory and its Applications. Wiley-Interscience, New York, London, etc., 302 pp.

Solidoro C., Cossarini, G., Libralato, S., Salon, S.- 2010. Remarks on the redefinition of system boundaries and model parameterization for downscaling experiments. Progress in Oceanography, 84: 134–137

Stella.- 2001. Introduction to Systems Thinking. High Performance Systems Inc.

Sterman, J. D.- 2002. All models are wrong : reflections on becoming a systems scientist. System Dynamics Review, 18: 501-531.

STOWA/RIZA.- 1999. Smooth modelling in Water management, Good Modelling Practice Handbook; STOWA report 99-05, Dutch Dept. Of Public Works, Institute for Inland Water Management and Waste Water treatment report 99.036, ISBN 90-5773-056-1.

Wang, S., Nijkamp, P., Verhoef, E.- 2001. Modelling externalities between ecological and economic systems. Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper. TI 2001-098/3