Valuing estuaries helps student win award

Abstract

Estuaries management There are just over 250 functioning estuaries in South Africa. Of these, a growing number are subject to river inflow deprivation due to an increased demand for water upstream. As a result, the services rendered by these estuaries are eroded. It is important for decision makers to be able to weigh the economic benefits from upstream activities against the loss of estuarine services, especially when decisions regarding water abstraction needs to be made. To date, this has proven a challenging process. For his Masters Degree, Dimopoulos, who studied at the Department of Economics at UPE, researched the valuation of freshwater inflows into selected estuaries in South Africa using the contingent valuation method (CVM). CVM is a method gaining popularity to value public goods and especially those yielding services to passive users (such as environmental resources). His research focused on the Knysna, Klein & Groot Brak estuaries and formed part of a larger project funded by the Water Research Commission.

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