Andrew Seidl

Colorado State University | CSU · Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Our planet is facing increasing challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, poverty, and many other problems closely linked to a deteriorating environment. Meanwhile, one of our most important assets, rangers working in protected and conserved areas responsible for managing large tracts of the planet's lands and waters, are often unde...

Finance for nature: Bridging the blue-green investment gap to inform the post-2020 global biodiversity framework

Finance will be among the priority concerns when the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity launches the post-2020 framework for global biodiversity conservation (Global Biodiversity Framework) in 2021. The Biodiversity Finance Initiative provides a means for countries to account systematically for their biodiversity expenditures. A samp...

There is widespread concern that funding for protected and conserved areas (PCAs) will decline substantially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic outcomes. This paper makes the case that the impacts of the global crisis do not in themselves introduce novel financial threats to PCAs; rather, they serve to magnify, intensify and exacerba...

Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will meet at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP 15) to carve out a post-2020 framework for global biodiversity conservation. Finance will be among the priority concerns. No global estimates of public biodiversity investments are in the peer reviewed literature. The methodology...

The Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD) is a follow-up to the “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB) database which contained over 1,300 data points from 267 case studies on monetary values of ecosystem services across all biomes. The TEEB database had not been updated since 2010 and naturally many gaps exist across biomes,...

The Workbook provides an innovative, stepwise and adaptable approach that enables countries to: Assess the policy, institutional, and economic context for biodiversity finance and map existing finance solutions; Measure current biodiversity expenditures, from the public and private sectors, donors and NGOs; Make a reliable estimate of the finance n...

MPAs enhance some of the Ecosystem Services (ES) provided by coral reefs and clear, robust valuations of these impacts may help to improve stakeholder support and better inform decision-makers. Pursuant to this goal, Cost-Benefit Analyses (CBA) of MPAs in 2 different contexts were analysed: a community based MPA with low tourism pressure in Vanuatu...

Global biodiversity finance needs are on the order of $150 to $440 billion per year. The Biodiversity Finance Initiative—BIOFIN (www.biodiversityfinance.net)—is a global partnership addressing the biodiversity finance challenge in a comprehensive manner in order to identify and implement biodiversity-centered sustainable economic development soluti...

The Bonn Challenge, a global effort to begin restoring 350 million hectares of degraded forest landscapes by 2030, was launched in 2011. To date countries have committed to restore more than 60 million hectares as part of the Bonn Challenge. As global decision-makers, governments, and communities join the effort to restore degraded land, new questi...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

The authors of the 2016 BIOFIN Workbook are the Global BIOFIN Team members: David Meyers, Massimiliano Riva, Marlon Flores, Annabelle Trinidad, Onno van den Heuvel, Andrew Seidl, Jamison Ervin, and Marco Arlaud; as well as Tracey Cumming (South Africa) and Usman Iftikhar (UNDP). Biodiversity finance is the practice of raising and managing capital a...

Protected areas are key to the conservation of global biodiversity and ecosystem services; however, their success is contingent upon adequate funding. One possibility to increase funding for park management is to “sell” a wider suite of ecosystem services “produced” by protected areas, such as carbon sequestration. We conducted 420 tourist surveys...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

University of Waikato Working Paper 06/13. Prior to publishing: Kaval, P., Loomis, J., and Seidl, A. 2007. Willingness-to-pay for prescribed fire in the Colorado (USA) wildland urban interface. Forest Policy and Economics Journal. 9:928-937.

Coastal and marine ecosystems provide a variety of ecological functions1 that directly and indirectly translate to economic services with value to humans. For example, they support fish populations that constitute a significant source of protein and sustain ecosystem stability through conservation of biodiversity and mitigation of climate change th...

The Guidance Manual is an output of the "TEEB National Implemention Project: Reflecting the Value of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Policymaking" which is financially sup-ported by the European Commission. The project is a re-sponse to the interest and demand expressed by developing countries, including Least Developed Countries, to build national,...

The conversion of ranch open space to development uses is common in rural areas experiencing rapid growth, often due to in-migration. There is concern that a growing and changing population could alter community preferences regarding development, permanently changing the physical and social landscape. This study investigates the nonmarket value of...

Scenic landscapes demonstrate public good attributes and will be undervalued in the market. This research compares estimates of tourists' non-consumptive use values of ranch land open space in Routt County, Colorado from contingent valuation and contingent behaviour methods. If ranch lands are converted to urban uses, the decrease in value of trips...

We use a combination of non-market valuation and input-output approaches to inform community scale planning for natural-resource based tourism development in rural Colorado. Contingent behavior and trip expenditure information are used in conjunction with IMPLAN input-output software to simulate the likely regional economic effects of changes in lo...

Sarah Cline and Andrew Seidl discuss tourists' values for multi-functional working landscapes and water quality in Colorado. The dimensions of and influences on multifunctional rural land values can have important planning implications in communities where tourism is an important economic driver. A survey of adult tourists visiting Chaffee County w...

This article explores the economic contribution of the private, recreation-based aquaculture industry in the Western United States. New sectors are constructed in IMPLAN input-output software using data gathered between 2007 and 2010 from producers and their direct customers (stocked fisheries). Information from a third survey of anglers in Colorad...

Using a contingent behaviour survey approach informed by revealed travel cost data, this study explores the connection between private land use decisions and the quality and quantity of the tourism experience in Gunnison, Colorado, USA. The authors ask winter tourists about their expenditure patterns and other features of their visit. They then des...

The value of agricultural landscapes to tourists and local residents is not captured in the marketplace. Landowners provide stewardship over these valuable landscape attributes, but do not receive any ‘uncaptured’ value. Through real estate markets, it is easy to reveal the value of converting landscapes, but less easy to understand the value of no...

Tourists, protected area managers, gateway communities, and national or international interested parties may have different objectives for protected areas management in developing countries. When values and incentives are at cross-purposes, difficulties in management may persist, but policy alternatives may be available. This research hopes to bett...

During the summer of 2001, survey data were collected from Colorado residents living near public lands (i.e., the wildland urban interface). Data were collected by telephone after mailing respondents a survey. These data include detailed information of respondents' views towards wildfire management and willingness-to-pay (WTP) values for prescribed...

Introduction Community Based Forestry (CBF) implies commitment to the long term ecological, economic and social well being of forest dependent communities. CBF, or community scale sustainable forestry, constitutes a departure from industrial forestry due to this commitment to the preservation of the ecological integrity of the forest ecosystem in p...

This study provides an overview of cruise tourism economics in Costa Rica. We focus on cruise passenger demographics, preferences and purchase behaviour, and crew purchase behaviour juxtaposed against information from the broader Costa Rican tourism sector. Costa Rica's cruise tourists are motivated by similar features as are other tourists and ten...

Ecological tourism has held up as a potentially important development alternative in relatively undeveloped regions and countries. However, tourism is a highly vulnerable activity where tourists display voluntary and discretionary behavior. While tourism can serve as an income-generating activity for the region, uncontrolled tourism that is develop...

We estimate the compensation required by the local communities to forego access to the natural resources within the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR), Nepal using the contingent valuation method (CVM). In addition to contributing a CVM application from a seldom studied location to the literature, this case illustrates the sensitivity of WTA estim...

In order to satisfy legal requirements, many federal agencies must assess the potential effects of their policies on the public. This is often done through surveys, but frequently those surveys are only administered in English. This paper tests whether there are differences in survey response rates, refusals to pay, and willingness to pay (WTP) acr...

This paper illustrates an economic approach to understanding the cruise tourism industry as a driver of economic development in Costa Rica. The objective is to describe the role and activities of the cruise ship industry and identify sources of economic benefit and cost such that more informed local policy decisions about the cruise ship tourism mi...

Although conservation policies and practices have always been influenced by political and economic factors, economic analysis has played a limited role in conservation decision making until recent years. Many people are realizing that the fundamental forces driving the loss of biological diversity (e.g. land conversion and over exploitation of natu...

The American public values agricultural land for many reasons beyond its ability to produce food, fiber, and timber. Public values for agricultural land preservation have translated into public support for establishing agricultural land preservation programs at the local, state, and federal levels. A mixture of both regulatory and incentive-based a...

Public land designations are often primarily political decisions that may also have substantial local economic impacts. This paper econometrically estimates the visitation effect of the conversion of National Monuments to National Parks through the eight designation changes that have occurred between 1979 and 2000. The study finds robust and signif...

A hedonic price function is estimated that illustrates how the price per acre of open space paid by public buyers such as counties or land trusts, is influenced by local demand and supply factors. The empirical regression model is illustrated using 133 public transactions (73% are purchases and 27% are easements) of open space in the Front Range of...

Recreational fishing value of the Brazilian Pantanal is measured using travel cost method (TCM). We compare non-linear, Poisson and negative binomial count data models to estimate recreational fishing trip demands. The count data and truncated models are used primarily to account for non-negative integer and truncation properties of recreational fi...

The relationship between state-level environmental regulations and firm location decisions in the U.S. livestock industry is explored. We focus on the overall size of the livestock industry by state and over time. We find that the effects of differences in productive input costs across states, for instance property tax and local slaughter capacity,...

A hedonic price function is estimated that illustrates how the price per acre of open space paid by public buyers such as counties or land trusts, is influenced by local demand and supply factors. The empirical regression model is illustrated using 133 public transactions (73% are purchases and 27% are easements) of open space in the Front Range of...

Executive Summary Due to the predominant role of public lands in Moffat County, there is a clear need to better understand public land management issues in order to better inform local decision-making and to create strategies for Mof-fat County to thrive into the foreseeable future. Issues of access and appropriate use may be particularly contentio...

The impact of three treatment strategies for Trypanosoma evansi control on horse mortality in the Brazilian Pantanal based on four size categories of cattle ranches is explored. The region's 49,000 horses are indispensable to traditional extensive cattle ranching and T. evansi kills horses. About 13% of these horses would be lost, annually, due to...

Computer spreadsheets were developed to evaluate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from U.S. beef and dairy livestock systems from nine locations. Of the beef systems the cow-calf herd emitted the most and feedlot cattle the least methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) per unit product. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per unit product were the least for...

Regional economic indicators and incentives for agricultural landowners in the Brazilian Pantanal were explored in order to understand better the observed increases in deforestation for the implantation of cultivated pastures to assist in the extensive management of beef cattle. About 95% of Pantanal lands are privately owned and about 80% are used...

This paper provides an examination of the EKC Hypothesis applied to deforestation in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland. It is hypothesized that the unsustainable subdivision of many of the larger ranches due to inheritance may result in greater deforestation pressure than a less equal distribution of land and animal resources. The analysis advances un...

We have addressed the impact of state environmental regulation on the livestock industry by selected two species. Beef cattle, as a leading livestock of the U.S, has experienced relatively steady structural transformation, on the other hand, hog industry has changed rapidly of its size and the location. The beef industry more or less sticks with tr...

1. Participatory research methodologies incorporating local knowledge are important to the success of ecological research and the sustainable management of natural systems. However, methods of this type are not commonly employed in the natural sciences. 2. We adopted a scientifically rigorous ethnographic research methodology to incorporate local k...

In Costanza et al.’s famous Nature paper [Costanza, R., d’Arge, R, de Groot, R, Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., et al., 1997. The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 15 (387), 253–260.] a value for the world’s ecosystem services is posited as a point of departure for further discussion. These calculations were re...

This paper explores the relationship between state level environmental regulations and stocking and location decisions in the U.S livestock and poultry industry (beef, chicken, dairy and hogs). Rather than conduct this analysis on a species-by-species basis, we choose to focus upon the overall size of the livestock industry (expressed in animal uni...

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The financial impact of the first outbreak of Trypanosoma vivax in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland is estimated. Results are extended to include outbreaks in the Bolivian lowlands providing a notion of the potential influence of the disease and an analytical basis. More than 11 million head of cattle, valued at more than US$3 billion are found in th...

The Brazilian Pantanal is a 138,000 km2 tropical seasonal wetland located in the center of South America bordering Bolivia and Paraguay. The Pantanal contains approximately 1100 cattle ranches, 3 million cattle, 49,000 horses and a unique diversity of wildlife. Cattle ranching is the most important economic activity in the Pantanal. This study expl...

Le Pantanal brésilien est une plaine d’environ 138 000 km2, régulièrement inondée et située au centre de l’Amérique du Sud. L’élevage extensif du bétail est pratiqué sur plus de 80 % du territoire, constituant ainsi l’activité économique la plus importante du Pantanal. On y compte approximativement 1 100 élevages avec environ 3 millions de têtes de...

1. Optimality Criteria: Matching Resources with Institutions The theoretical conditions under which markets yield economically efficient outcomes are well known. Markets and market-like institutional arrangements allocate pure private goods and services most efficiently. The analogous conditions for effective governmental control of resources are a...