701-1653-00L Policy and Economics of Ecosystem Services
| Semester | Spring Semester 2021 |
| Lecturers | R. Garrett, A. Müller |
| Periodicity | yearly recurring course |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Comment | Number of participants limited to 50. |
Courses
| Number | Title | Hours | Lecturers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 701-1653-00 G | Policy and Economics of Ecosystem Services | 2 hrs |
| R. Garrett, A. Müller |
Catalogue data
| Abstract | The course addresses ecosystem services, their value for society, the causes of their degradation, the stakeholders involved in their provision and use, and policies to reduce their degradation. One focus is on environmental economics approaches, highlighting their potential and limitations. During the spring of 2021 this course will focus on these issues through the case of the Brazilian Amazon. |
| Learning objective | Students can describe, analyse and explain • the basic concepts used to describe ecosystem services provision and management; • the basic social and natural science theory underlying ecosystem service degradation, • the role and characteristics of different key stakeholders involved in ecosystem services management, including their different value systems; • the different types of policy instruments and institutional arrangements that can be used for improved ecosystem services management and provision; and • empirical tools to assess the performance of various policy instruments and management systems for ecosystem services provision, and to investigate the factors of success or failure of different policy instruments |
| Content | Many of the world's ecosystem services are being degraded or used unsustainably, which has considerable impacts on human well-being. Various aspects need to be taken into account to change this development, to work towards improved ecosystem services management and to design appropriate policy instruments and institutional contexts. First, the societal value of different ecosystem services and the trade-offs between them needs to be assessed. Second, an assessment of the causes of excessive ecosystem services degradation is needed. Potential causes include the presence of externalities and public goods, improperly designed property rights systems, divergence of private and social discount rates, and lack of information and knowledge. Third, we need to understand the drivers of human decision-making in relation to ecosystem services use. Fourth, choosing an appropriate policy instrument (or a combination thereof) requires an understanding of the relative strengths and weaknesses of different instruments, their preconditions for success and the political economy of their implementation. Finally, it is important to assess the actual impacts of different policy and management options. This requires a careful assessment of appropriate baselines, of the situation after a policy or management change, and of the various stakeholder groups involved, etc. To address all these issues, we will first work with some broad conceptual issues and theories relevant to this field and then deepen our understanding through reading, presentations, and assignments focused on the case of the Brazilian Amazon. |
| Lecture notes | Lecture notes, homework exercises and readings will be made available on Moodle. |
| Literature | There is no single textbook for this class. Instead, a number of texts will be distributed and used during the lecture, and some texts for further reading will be indicated. |
| Prerequisites / Notice | The course consists of a combination of lectures, homework assignments and discussions in small groups. The final grade will be based on the homework assignments, class participation, and a group project. A prerequisite for this course is a bachelor-level course in Environmental Economics (e.g. 363-0537-00L Resource and Environmental Economics) or Quantitative Policy Analysis and Management. In particular, students are expected to be familiar with basic environmental economics' concepts such as externality, public good, market failure, opportunity cost, social optimum and market equilibrium, the basic types of policy instruments, and methods of policy analysis. Students with no background in environmental economics or policy analysis will be expected to come up to the required standards on their own, prior to starting the class. |
Performance assessment
| Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again) | |
Performance assessment as a semester course | |
| ECTS credits | 3 credits |
| Examiners | R. Garrett, A. Müller |
| Type | graded semester performance |
| Language of examination | English |
| Repetition | Repetition only possible after re-enrolling for the course unit. |
Learning materials
| No public learning materials available. | |
| Only public learning materials are listed. |
Groups
| No information on groups available. |
Restrictions
| Places | 50 at the most |
| Priority | Registration for the course unit is until 24.02.2021 only possible for the primary target group |
| Primary target group | Environmental Sciences MSc (736000)
Doctorate Environmental Sciences (739002) Agricultural Sciences MSc (762000) Doctorate Humanities, Social & Political Sciences (864002) |
| Waiting list | until 05.03.2021 |
