Richard T Yao

Verified

Richard verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

Verified

Richard verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

• MS AgEcon, PhD EnviroEcon
• Senior Research Economist at Scion

Millions of people participate in outdoor recreation activities in New Zealand every year. Economic recreation studies in the country concentrate mostly on market values. Market values only present part of the outdoor recreation benefit; while non-market values represent the other part. In this study, a meta-analysis is used to determine the non-ma...

The value of biodiversity enhancement in New Zealand was estimated from a survey sample of 457 residents. We determined the willingness of respondents to financially support biodiversity programs on private and public lands, as well as determining which factors influence this willingness-to-pay. Our data indicates that an average respondent was wil...

Panel data are used to study the technical efficiency of rice producers in the Philippines. Production efficiency over time is measured using a stochastic frontier regression with error decomposition. Sources of inefficiency are identified and the link between irrigation and productive efficiency is measured. Results suggest that irrigation was ass...

Many long‐distance migratory birds are experiencing global declines, creating an urgent need for conservation actions. Engaging public commitment to their conservation is therefore crucial. However, this task is challenging as the social interest diminishes as the geographic distance to conservation issues increases. One potential solution is to re...

Over the past couple of years there has been renewed interest in agroforestry research, primarily driven by the unrealised potential of the role of food forests in New Zealand. A workshop with leading research institutes brought together a multi-discipline group of scientists across forestry, agriculture, horticulture, land care, food research and...

While quantified environmental benefits from biosecurity protection programmes are available, they remain scarce, patchy, and context-specific. This contributes to the oversight of non-market economic values such as recreation and conservation in practical decision-making. To better understand this situation, we conducted a systematic review focuse...

Forestry management worldwide has become increasingly effective at obtaining high timber yields from productive forests. In New Zealand, a focus on improving an increasingly successful and largely Pinus radiata plantation forestry model over the last 150 years has resulted in some of the most productive timber forests in the temperate zone. In cont...

We estimated stand level timber investment returns for a range of 16 countries and 47 planted species/management regimes in 2020, using capital budgeting criteria, at a real discount rate of 8%, without land costs. Plantation management financial returns were estimated for the principal plantation countries in the Americas—Brazil, Argentina, Urugua...

Mountain biking has increased in popularity in many countries over recent decades. Production forests provide not only an outstanding space for mountain bike riding, but also specific characteristics conducive to purpose-built track building. With recreational access to production forests, managers must balance commercial operations and industry en...

Forest resources and the flow of ecosystem services they provide play a key role in supporting national and regional economies, improving people’s lives, protecting biodiversity, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Based on the ISI (Institute of Scientific Information) Web of Science (WoS) database, we used a bibliometric approach to anal...

1. Growing interest and affordability of environmental DNA and RNA (eDNA and eRNA) approaches for biodiversity assessments and monitoring of complex ecosystems have led to the emergence of manifold protocols for nucleic acids (NAs) isolation and processing. Although there is no consensus on a standardized workflow, the common practice for water sam...

Credence or believability are paramount values in trade. The role of products' credence attributes has been well-analysed in the agricultural and food sector. This study examined the application of credence attributes to forest management and forest products marketing for the first time. We describe specific credence attributes of forest products a...

Investments in forestry are long-term and thus subject to numerous sources of risk. In addition to the volatility from markets, forestry investments are directly exposed to future impacts from climate change. We examined how diversification of forest management regimes can mitigate the expected risks associated with forestry activities in New Zeala...

This study highlights the importance of incorporating objectively quantified, non-market environmental values (such as avoided erosion and carbon sequestration) into land use decision making for sustainable forest management. A continuously developing approach that has facilitated discussions between researchers, industries, and governments on the...

Following the recent leap in biotechnologies and particularly in high-throughput sequencing techniques, environmental DNA and RNA (eDNA and eRNA) are increasingly being used for biodiversity assessments and monitoring of complex ecosystems – lakes, streams and coastal waters. Growing interest and affordability of eDNA/eRNA based tools have led to t...

In recent years, there have been several instances of forestry residue piles (“birds’ nests”) self-combusting in skid sites across New Zealand. This has renewed the interest of Fire and Emergency New Zealand in further understanding the conditions leading to spontaneous combustion at skid sites. These unintended slash pile fires can be difficult an...

We estimated timber investment returns for 22 countries and 54 species/management regimes in 2017, for a range of global timber plantation species and countries at the stand level, using capital budgeting criteria, without land costs, at a real discount rate of 8%. Returns were estimated for the principal plantation countries in the Americas—Brazil...

In 2018, New Zealand announced an ambitious effort to plant one billion trees by 2028 as part of its climate change mitigation plan and Paris Agreement targets for 2030 and 2050. Afforestation will be promoted through a series of incentives, including payments for carbon sequestration linked to New Zealand’s Emission Trading Scheme. Given that affo...

Limited information is provided on the potential impacts of ingredients in consumer products to assist individuals to purchase household products. This study applied the choice experiment technique to examine the preferences of 385 New Zealand households on their purchasing choice of liquid soap for handwashing. Results from the choice experiment s...

Planted forest ecosystems provide a wide range of goods and services such as timber, carbon sequestration, and avoided erosion. However, only ecosystem services with market values (e.g., timber) are usually represented in decision making while those with non-market values (e.g., avoided erosion) that are difficult to quantify are often ignored. A s...

Citation: Tóth, A. and Yao, R.T., 2019. Cultural Ecosystem Services and Water Quality Improvement provided by Forest Landscapes in New Zealand. Rotorua: Scion. 23 p. ISBN 978-0-473-48088-2 (print), 978-0-473-48089-9 (digital). DOI https://doi.org/10.15414/2019.9780473480899._____In this study, we have focused on ecosystem services provided by fores...

The problem A number of tree species in the genus Eucalyptus L’Her are grown in New Zealand on a small scale. However, the economic value of this resource is not known. The economic impact of damage caused by a pest, the eucalyptus tortoise beetle (Paropsis charybdis), to Eucalyptus species in grown in New Zealand is also not defined. The current a...

The EU Water Framework Directive aims to ensure restoration of Europe’s water bodies to “good ecological status” by 2027. Many Member States will struggle to meet this target, with around half of EU river catchments currently reporting below standard water quality. Diffuse pollution from agriculture represents a major pressure, affecting over 90% o...

Exploratory presentation to gauge interest and solicit feedback around exploring new/different ways for small-scale forest owners to improve their economic returns from harvesting their forests.

Planted forests provide multiple benefits to society such as timber, carbon sequestration and avoided sedimentation, which are collectively called ecosystem services. Assessing the economic viability of timber production and the value of other ecosystem services of planted forests has become increasingly important for policy and investment decision...

University of Waikato Working Paper 09/05.

University of Waikato Working Paper 08/07

University of Waikato Working Paper 07/22

University of Waikato Working Paper 07/17.

University of Waikato Working Paper 07/14. Prior to publishing: Kaval, P. and Yao, R. 2010. Research Note: A New Zealand Outdoor Recreation Benefit Database that can be used for Benefit Transfer. Annals of Leisure Research. 13(4):709-715.

Comparative results from an evaluation of inferred attribute non-attendance are provided for experimental designs optimised for three commonly employed statistical criteria, namely: orthogonality, Bayesian D-efficiency and optimal orthogonality in the difference. Survey data are from a choice experiment used to value the conservation of threatened...

This study was commissioned by Oji Fibre Solutions (OjiFS) and the Waikato Regional Council to provide sound evidence about the effects of land use in New Zealand using the dairy and forestry industries in the Central North Island (CNI) as a case study. The study was independently reviewed by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) t...

We measure the impacts of irrigation development on poverty and income inequality in a frontier region of the Philippines. Using household panel data we measure changes in standard poverty measures and income inequality over the period 1995–2002. We make comparisons within the beneficiary community and between the beneficiary community and an adjac...

The proposed National Environmental Standard (NES) for plantation forestry will result in positive environmental benefits compared to the status quo. The environmental variables assessed are wildings; erosion and sedimentation; and freshwater and riparian terrestrial biodiversity and quality. The environmental benefits identified and, in some insta...

Prior research in 2005 and 2008 estimated planted forest investment returns for a set of countries and included some natural forest species in a few countries. This research has extended those analyses to a larger set of countries and focused on plantation species, for seven years. This research serves as a "benchmarking" exercise that helps identi...

This study has served as a proof of concept for the application of the ecosystem services approach as a framework for realising the full value of the services derived from ecosystems in a catchment. The results of the study, despite its limitations, provide a foundation that can support land management planning at the catchment level.

We employ an integrated spatial economic model to assess the net private and public benefits of converting marginal agricultural land into forest plantations (afforestation) in New Zealand. For numerous locations, we conduct policy analysis considering the magnitudes of net private and public benefits of land use changes to determine whether a poli...

Planted forests are increasingly recognised for the provision of habitats for species threatened with extinction. Despite this development, a limited number of empirical studies have been undertaken to estimate the economic value of this ecosystem service. New Zealand's planted forests provide habitat to at least 118 threatened species. These fores...

22In 2009, five unique methods were used to inspect vegetation-related conditions along Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) rights-of-way (ROW). Some methods were trials that BPA committed to execute as part of a settlement with its regional regulatory organization, the Western Electric Coordination Council (WECC), for violations of reliability s...

Non-market valuation (NMV) is recognized as an important tool in environmental policy decision-making worldwide. In this paper, we investigate the history of NMV, specifically in relation to New Zealand, by compiling and reviewing all available published NMV studies prior to the year 2006. The results illustrate a significant increase in the number...

Recreation is an important environmental service provided by many planted forests. The value of this service, however, is not well known. For policy makers and land managers to make informed decisions on planted forest management for multiple benefits, they need to recognise the value of the environmental services provided. The objective of our stu...

The population in New Zealand is expected to increase to over five million by the mid 2020’s from the current level of 4.3 million (Statistics New Zealand, 2009). An increasing demand for primary produce as a result may put pressure on marginal land to be farmed. Understanding the economic value of avoided erosion in New Zealand is therefore an imp...

The link between human well-being and biodiversity has not been well studied and was therefore the goal of this research project. Focus was placed on an increase in New Zealand native biodiversity, by an increase in the number of native trees and shrubs being planted on public lands. An increase in well-being occurred in response to an increase in...

This paper presents the results of a national study examining the economic value of biodiversity in New Zealand. Three valuation techniques were used to collect information from respondents: the contingent valuation method, the well-being method and the choice modelling method. Results revealed that respondents were familiar with the native plants...

New Zealand’'s biodiversity consists of over 80,000 types of native plants, animals and fungi, a considerable number of which are indigenous and located on private property. To preserve and enhance native biodiversity and discourage activities that may deplete it, economic values can be calculated which can, in turn, guide the use of policy tools,...

Millions of people participate in outdoor recreation activities in New Zealand every year. Economic recreation studies in the country concentrate mostly on market values. Market values only present part of the outdoor recreation benefit; while non-market values represent the other part. In this study, a meta-analysis is used to determine the non-ma...

Non-market valuation (NMV) is recognized as an essential tool in policy decision making worldwide. In this paper, we investigate the history of NMV, specifically in relation to New Zealand (NZ), by compiling and analyzing all available published studies. Results show a significant increase in the number of studies, specifically those requested by g...

New Zealand’s biodiversity consists of over 80,000 native plants, animals and fungi, many of which are indigenous and located on private property. To enhance native biodiversity and discourage activities that may deplete it, policies can be introduced that can encourage individual self-interest to coincide with social interest. Economic values for...

We investigate the Philippine government's price stabilization policy for rice. Seemingly Unrelated Regressions are used to examine the effectiveness of the program at regional and national levels over a 21-year period (January 1983 to December 2003). Results of the regional analysis indicate some NFA-induced spatial and temporal differences in ter...

Soil erosion in the Philippine uplands is widely regarded as the country's most serious environmental problem which affect about 63—76 percent of the country's total land area (Paningbatan 1990). This paper summarizes the experiences gained from eight upland development projects regarding promotion and adoption of recommended soil conservation prac...

Biodiversity loss is a global problem, especially in reference to private lands. In response, we investigated whether private land biodiversity may be attained by developing incentives which include funding landholders through the provision of native trees to enhance biodiversity on their own properties. Using choice modelling, we tested this hypot...