NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub

The Resilient Landscapes Hub aims to deliver the science that will improve the management of Australia’s terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and make them more resilient to extreme events – including bushfires, droughts and floods – and pervasive pressures, such as invasive species.

This seven-year research program (2021 - 2028) will help to support the resilience of our natural landscapes and biodiversity by finding new ways to restore and enhance resilience. The researchers are working with a government and industry end users to co-design and implement research that provides practical solutions to critical problems.

Our Centre is leading the following projects (as well as contributing to others):

• Managing and monitoring resilience in Australia’s national parks

• Enhancing the resilience of urban rivers: informing the regional restoration of the Djarlgaroo Beeliar (Canning River, Perth)

• Updating the Offsets Calculator

For more details about the program visit the Resilient Landscapes Hub website: https://nesplandscapes.edu.au/

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: David Pannell, CJ Yong, Claire Doll.

WAMSI-WESTPORT Marine Science Program

The Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI) and Westport Marine Science Program is one of the largest and more comprehensive programs to fill important knowledge gaps in Cockburn Sound.

This three-year research program (2021 - 2024) will help inform a sustainable port design and ensure a robust environmental impact assessment based on independent and objective science.

It will also provide a better understanding of the Cockburn Sound environment that will be useful to guide broader management of the marine environment.

Our Centre is leading Theme 6 “Social Values in Cockburn Sound” and involved in the following key projects:

• Project 6.1: Community values for changes in environmental conditions

• Project 6.2: Opportunities & impacts for recreational fishing

• Project 6.3: Recreation, amenity and aesthetic values

• Project 6.4: Benefit-cost framework for environmental port design features

For more details about the program visit the WAMSI website: https://wamsi.org.au/research/programs/wamsi-westport-marine-science-program/

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: Abbie Rogers (Theme 6 Leader) , Michael Burton, Natasha Pauli, Milena Kim, Matthew Navarro and Cheryl Day.

ARC Discovery Project

Our centre is funded by the Australian Research Council through the Discovery Project scheme over 3 years (2021 – 2024) to investigate the benefits and costs of non-market valuation for environmental management.

The project will explore the ‘value of information’ provided by different non-market valuation approaches, in order to identify the trade-offs between the cost, complexity, uncertainty and usefulness associated with the approaches. Understanding these trade-offs will enable non-market valuation practitioners to guide decision makers on what approaches are most efficient in providing decision support for different types of environmental decisions

Led by Prof David Pannell, this grant will support a full time post doc and two PhD projects, and work with external collaborators, including Dr Sayed Iftekhar (Griffith University) and Professor Robert Johnston (Clark University).

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: David Pannell, Abbie Rogers, Michael Burton, Audrey Tascon (PhD candidate) and CJ Yong (PhD candidate)

NESP 2 Marine & Coastal Hub

Our Centre is contracted to the University of Tasmania to work on the Quantifying the ecosystem services of the Great Southern Reef (Project 1.9), 2021 - 2022.

The Great Southern Reef (GSR) is an interconnected system of reefs dominated by kelp forests spanning over 8,000 km along southern Australia. The Kelp forests are diminishing and evidence-based management is hindered without accurate estimates of their contribution to society and the economy. Our team has been contracted to systematically compile and synthesise existing data on the ecosystem values and services provided by the GSR, including market and nonmarket values. These assessments will be aligned with existing accounting standards to ensure compatibility with ongoing and future efforts.

Working closely with researchers from the University of Tasmania and University of New South Wales, our team will deliver a technical report with the analysed data, including a short summary of recommendations for policy makers of key findings.

The list of projects under the NESP Marine & Coastal Hub can be found at: https://www.awe.gov.au/science-research/nesp/hub-marine-coastal

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: Abbie Rogers, Michael Burton, and Johanna Zimmerhackel.

NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub

Our centre is funded by the National Environment Science Program (NESP) through the Threatened Species Recovery (TSR) Hub over the 5 years (2015 – 2020) to conduct a range of projects related to the economics of threatened species. The TSR Hub works closely with more than two dozen collaborating organisations, including management agencies and conservation groups, to ensure its research has an on-ground impact in threatened species management.

Led by Prof David Pannell and Dr Ram Pandit, our team of researchers are involved in two key projects, including Better offsets for threatened species (project 5.1), and The economics of threatened species management (project 6.1).

Under the project 6.1, several outputs were designed and developed:

1) Database of threatened species' non-market values;

2) Benefit Transfer for Evaluating Threatened-Species Management: Guidelines for Extrapolating and Adjusting Existing Non-Market Values;

3) Improved budgetary planning for threatened species and ecological community recovery plans; and

4) Valuing multiple threatened species and ecological communities in Australia.

The two major outputs from this project have recently been published, Improved budgetary planning for threatened species and ecological community recovery plans, and Valuing multiple threatened species and ecological communities in Australia, which are both available to download and share widely. A previously published report relevant to this project is A review of non-market valuation studies of threatened species and ecological communities

A PhD research project funded under this program also has a major output available to the public: Using non-market valuation and cost-benefit analysis to prioritise introduced predator control strategies for threatened species’ recovery

For more details on this project, please visit the NESP-TSR Hub website: http://www.nespthreatenedspecies.edu.au/projects/the-economics-of-threatened-species-management

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: Ram Pandit, David Pannell, Asha Gunawardena, Jacob Hawkins, Vandana Subroy

NESP Northern Australia Hub

Our centre is funded by the National Environment Science Program (NESP)’s Northern Australia Environmental Resources Hub through Charles Darwin University to conduct projects related to Multi-Objective Planning (project 1.6), Transdisciplinary Environmental Research (project 6.2), and Prioritising threatened species and threatening processes across northern Australia (project 3.3).

Professor David Pannell, Dr Milena Kim, and Ken Wallace have been working on the ‘Multi-Objective Planning’ project for over three years engaging with multiple stakeholders in the Fitzroy river catchment (Western Australia). Our team has run four workshops with participants from Aboriginal Organisations, government, pastoralists, environmental groups, mining companies and others to collaborate in the creation and assessment of future development scenarios for the region.

Professor Pannell and Dr Kim are also part of the Transdisciplinary Environmental Research project, which aims to evaluate and support projects using a transdisciplinary (solution-focused, interdisciplinary and participatory) approach to research.

Prof Pannell and Dr Jacob Hawkins worked together on the ‘Prioritising threatened species and threatening processes across northern Australia’, which has mapped rare and threatened species distributions, as well as the main threatening processes in northern Australia, among other products aiming at enhancing our understanding of how exposed and sensitive species are to various threatening processes.

For detailed information about these projects, visit the NESP Northern Australia Hub’s website: https://www.nespnorthern.edu.au/nesp/

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: David Pannell, Milena Kim, Jacob Hawkins and Ken Wallace.

CRC for Water Sensitive Cities

Our Centre is contracted to the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities to lead one of their key integrated research projects; Comprehensive Economic Evaluation Framework (IRP2), 2017 - 2020.

Our team developed the Investment Framework For Economics of Water Sensitive Cities (INFFEWS) to identify and quantify economic, environmental and community values of investments in water sensitive practices and systems. It can be applied to business case development and decision making at multiple levels in public and private sector organisations, and contribute towards achieving water sensitive, liveable and resilient cities. INFFEWS consists of a custom-built Benefit Cost Analysis Tool, detailed guidelines, users guide and other associated resources. It also consists of a Value Tool that holds over 2000 non-market values derived from investments in water sensitive practices and solutions that can be used in benefit transfer.

Led by Dr Sayed Iftekhar, the project developed economic tools, frameworks and case study reports.  The project was underpinned by a strong strategy for stakeholder engagement, and overseen by an end-user-driven steering committee.  The team closely engaged with 100+ stakeholders including participant (member) organisations of the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) and other strategically important industry groups, such as water utilities, government agencies, local councils, peak bodies and networks, consultants and state-based regulators and treasuries. Through regular and wide communication and adoption activities, the CRCWSC is helping industry to adopt this standardised economic evaluation framework and improve capacity for economic analysis in decision making.

The attached document provides an overview of this research project.  Four case studies were undertaken to apply the framework and associated tools and guidelines.

For detailed information about this project, and to download outputs, visit the CRCWSC IRP2 website: https://watersensitivecities.org.au/content/project-irp2/

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: Sayed Iftekhar, David Pannell, Tammie Harold, Maksym Polyakov, Asha Gunawardena, Abbie Rogers, Louise Blackmore, Michael Burton.

Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC

Our centre was first contracted by the Bushfire CRC (2011-2014), the predecessor of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, to work on a project titled Integrated assessment of prescribed burning investigating the costs and benefits of different arrangements of prescribed burns in the Mt Lofty Ranges in South Australia. Since 2015, we have been funded by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC to conduct research on the economics of natural hazards management and develop tools for our end users to help them get better value for money from investments in mitigation.

Under the current CRC, the Economics of Natural Hazards project aims to help natural hazards managers improve the allocation of resources for mitigation efforts and have the tools they need to justify their investments. Dr Veronique Florec, Associate Professor Atakelty Hailu, Dr Abbie Rogers, Professor David Pannell and Dr Fiona Dempster have been working on this project over the last 5 years engaging with end users and developing tools that will help them make better use of economics in their decision making. Examples of these tools include:

• A Value Tool for generating estimates of non-financial benefits and improve the inclusion of intangibles in decision making for natural hazards mitigation.

• A Quick Economic Analysis Tool (QUEAT) to obtain a quick and rough overview of the potential benefits that different mitigation options can generate. With this information managers can identify the options they need to develop business cases for and then prioritise the type and quality of information needed to improve decisions.

• A series of videos on the economics of natural hazards to improve the understanding of economic concepts in the emergency management sector.

For detailed information about this project, visit the Bushfires and Natural Hazards CRC website: https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/research/policy-economics-hazards/229

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: Veronique Florec, Atakelty Hailu, Abbie Rogers, David Pannell, Fiona Dempster and Jacob Hawkins.

NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub

Our centre is funded by the National Environment Science Program (NESP)’s Marine Biodiversity Hub (2015 - 2021) through the University of Tasmania to contribute an economic framework to research projects. Through close collaborations with the University of Tasmania, Associate Professor Michael Burton, Associate Professor Marit Kragt and Dr Abbie Rogers contributed and led a range of Hub research and activities, including Project D6 – Socioeconomic benchmarks, Project B1 - Road testing decision support tools via case study applications, and Project E5 - The role of restoration in conserving matters of national environmental significance.

These research collaborations were established during the National Environmental Research Program (NERP) Marine Biodiversity Hub from July 2011 to December 2014, where Associate Professor Michael Burton and Dr Abbie Rogers contributed to Project 1 - Integrating social, economic and environmental values.

The Marine Hub program is complemented by a range of other marine research activities completed by our team, including our research students: 

• Optimal management and resource allocation, including managing recreational fishing at Ningaloo, and strategies to reduce nutrient pollution on the Great Barrier Reef. 

• Benefit-cost analyses of marine eco-tourism, including evaluation of shark-diving tourism in Palau, the Maldives and Semporna.

• Benefit-cost analyses of ecological habitat restoration, including shellfish and seagrass habitats.

• Social licence to operate for marine industries, including mining, tourism and fisheries.

• Evaluation of community preferences for marine conservation and management, including measuring community values for marine parks, community values for coastal assets affected by coastal hazards, social acceptance of marine biodiversity offsets, and comparisons of how the general public value the marine environment relative to marine scientists.

For detailed information about these projects and to obtain copies of publications, visit the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub’s website: https://www.nespmarine.edu.au

CEEP researchers: Michael Burton, Abbie Rogers, Marit Kragt, Johanna Zimmerhackel and Matt Navarro.

Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research

Our centre has been awarded several grants with ACIAR. Some recent ones include:

Institutions to Support Intensification, Integrated Decision Making and Inclusiveness in Agriculture in the East Gangetic Plain

Associate Professor Michael Burton is collaborating with administering organisation, University of South Australia, to contribute to this ACIAR project.  In  particular, she is working on the issue of identifying farmers and experts evaluation of the effectiveness of alternative institutional designs.  

For more information, visit the project website.

Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) Project

Associate Professor Fay Rola-Rubzen is collaborating with CIMMYT in the Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) Project, which is being conducted in South Asia. The South Asian region accounts for two-thirds of the world’s poorest population, and one of the strategies to alleviate the condition of the poor, particularly smallholder farmers is through sustainable and resilient farming systems. The aim of the SRFSI project is to reduce poverty in the Eastern Gangetic Plains by improving productivity, profitability and sustainability of smallholder farmers while safeguarding the environment. Dr Fay Rola-Rubzen leads a team of social scientists in understanding farmers’ risk behaviour and how it affects their adoption of CASI technologies. Using mixed-methods approaches, Dr Fay Rola-Rubzen and researchers from CIMMYT, CSIRO, and various partners in Nepal, Bangladesh and India are also examining the socio-economic impacts of conservation agriculture technologies among men and women farmers in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia, and the determinants of CASI adoption. She also leads the gender mainstreaming efforts in the project.

Farmer Behaviour Insights Project (FBIP)

Associate Professor Rola-Rubzen is also leading a multidisciplinary team of researchers under the Farmer Behaviour Insights Project (FBIP), in understanding the decision making behaviour of farm-households on the adoption and adaptation of innovations by smallholder farmers in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of South Asia. Using behavioural economics, Dr Rola-Rubzen’s team is applying behavioural insights to design/re-design, test and assess selected interventions in agricultural extension, input provision and agricultural service delivery in the EGP. By incorporating behavioural insights, the design of interventions will better reflect the context of smallholders in the EGP.

For more information on this project, please visit the FBIP website.

ARC Discovery Projects

Our centre has been awarded several ARC Discovery grants. Some projects include:

Steven Schilizzi (with Prof John Rolfe; A/Prof Nick Hanley; A/Professor Patrick O'Connor; Prof Uwe Latacz-Lohmann) (2022 - 2024):

Redesigning Landcare policy to better coordinate across landholders

David Pannell (with Richard Hobbs at UWA, Eve McDonald-Madden and others at University of Queensland and Eddie Game at The Nature Conservancy) (2018 - 2020):

Global extent of degraded farm lands and their conservation potential

Steven Schilizzi (2015 - 2018):

Designing for Uncertainty in Conservation Auctions

ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions

The Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED) began in 2011 with funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) over a 7-year period. It includes researchers from five Australian universities (University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, Australian National University, RMIT University and University of Western Australia) and five Partner Organisations (CSIRO, Trinity College Dublin, Imperial College London, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel, the United States Geological Survey and, for a short period, Stellenbosch University, South Africa). All members of our centre were involved in CEED, including our postgraduate research students.

The aim of CEED was to push the frontiers of environmental decision science and solving environmental management problems for the benefit of environmental policy, management and science across Australia and around the world. Research in the Centre was broken into the following themed areas: Environmental Policy & Management Evaluation; Optimal Monitoring; Socio/Ecological Analysis and Modelling; Ecological Theory and Processes; and Quantitative Tools.

Some of the projects our members led were:

• Public Preference for Drinking Water

• Environmental Costs of Using Poor Decision Metrics to Prioritise Environmental Projects

• Learnings from agri-environment schemes in Australia

• Determining optimal spatial distribution of investment in land restoration to enhance biodiversity

CEED achieved a very high academic performance. More than a quarter of CEED publications are in the top 10% of the literature, based on their citations. There have been 58 publications in journals with Impact Factors of greater than 10, including 9 papers in Nature and 14 in Science.

For more information on CEED and its impact, visit the website: http://ceed.edu.au/

CEEP researchers involved in this grant: David Pannell, Sayed Iftekhar, Maksym Polyakov, Tammie Harold, Abbie Rogers, Fiona Dempster, Marit Kragt, Michael Burton, Morteza Chalak, Steven Schilizzi and Ram Pandit.