Glenn Bush

Woodwell Climate Research Center | WHRC · Environmental Economics and Policy

Should we give equal weight to all responses in a choice experiment? Previous Choice Modelling papers have considered the issue of the internal consistency of choices—such as the extent to which strictly-dominated options are chosen. In this paper, a different focus is employed, namely the extent to which people choose options which violate their s...

Protected areas are employed worldwide as a means of conserving biodiversity. Unfortunately, restricting access to such areas imposes opportunity costs on local people who have traditionally relied on them to obtain resources such as fuelwood and bushmeat. We use contingent valuation to estimate the local benefits forgone from loss of access to a n...

Primary forests are essential ecosystems that can play a key role in mitigating climate change. REDD+ is designed to help countries and communities secure benefits for avoiding deforestation but has faced significant implementation challenges. There are substantial potential benefits for REDD+ in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where shifti...

We evaluate the impact of collaborative management agreements (CMAs) designed to protect forests and raise incomes for smallholders living adjacent to Rwenzori Mountains National Park (RMNP), Uganda. We use a quasi-experimental study design to estimate changes in several income measures, as well as land cover using three waves (2003, 2007, and 2012...

As DRC moves from REDD+ readiness to implementation, analysis of the causes of deforestation at the local level is paramount. The present study contributes to this by assessing both proximate and underlying causes of deforestation in two REDD+ pilots of the Équateur province. The study found that agricultural expansion through shifting cultivation...

This paper presents a case study to stimulate debate and action concerning the lack of capacity to plan and manage development sustainably in the Équateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The case study examines environmental literacy of higher education students enrolled in programs focused on rural sustainable development i...

Background/Question/Methods Over the past century, chimpanzee populations throughout equatorial Africa have been reduced to a small fraction of their historic range. While recent surveys in Uganda suggest a large population (~5000 individuals) of the eastern subspecies (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), most are located in small, isolated patches o...

En el método del experimento de elección se supone que el entrevistado es perfectamente racional, está informado y maximiza su utilidad siguiendo una regla de elección perfectamente compensatoria. Sin embargo, es posible que los individuos empleen otras reglas de decisión en sus elecciones para simplificar el esfuerzo cognitivo del ejercicio p...

Integrated Conservation and Development Plans (ICDPs) have been put forward as means of reconciling wildlife conservation in developing countries with improvements in community incomes. In this paper, we use the Choice Experiment approach to quantify overseas tourists' willingness to pay for attributes of nature-based tourism as part of an ICDP, fo...

Reducing deforestation and forest degradation will mean imposing restrictions on the use of forest resources by households that currently use natural forests to maintain their livelihoods. An emerging issue in forest monitoring is the need to assess social and economic impacts in forest user communities of alternative policy and management approach...

Abstract Protected areas ,are employed ,world-wide ,as a ,means ,of conserving ,biodiversity. Unfortunately, restricting access to such areas imposes costs on local people who have traditionally relied on access ,to local natural resources such as fuelwood ,and bushmeat. In this paper, we use contingent valuation to estimate these costs of conserva...

Resumen En el método del Experimento de Elección se asume que el entrevistado es un individuo perfectamente racional e informado que maximiza su utilidad siguiendo una regla de elección perfectamente compensatoria. Sin embargo, es posible que los individuos empleen otras reglas de decisión en sus elecciones para simplificar el esfuerzo cognitivo de...

The objective of this thesis is to quantitatively understand the economic performance of protected area management strategies for forest and biodiversity conservation. Examples such as integrated conservation and development and eco tourism are assessed in terms of their ability to deliver on welfare benefits to local communities, and an assessment...