About Us and our Mission

• EPRU is a research unit at the University of Cape Town (UCT) whose mission is to enhance environmental policy-making in Southern Africa through rigorous training, research and policy extension in order to attain poverty reduction and sustainable development!

• Established as a programme under UCT’s Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) in 2007 and got accreditation in 2008

Our Vision

• EPRU aims to be the Southern African centre of excellence in environmental and resource economics where a) policy makers and practitioners can be exposed to current

thinking and practice on environmental policy making,

b) academics and policy practitioners are encouraged to interact in the process of rigorous environmental policy research, and

c) policy makers and practitioners can obtain professional and well-researched environmental policy advice.

Our Research Fellows

• Beatrice Conradie

• Tony Leiman

• Edwin Muchapondwa

• Jane Turpie

• Martine Visser

• Kerri Brick

• Johane Dikgang

• ... and our graduate students

Our Facilities

• We are housed in the School of Economics at UCT

• Each fulltime research fellow has a fully furnished office with access to internet, sizable online journals, printing, photocopying, coffee, etc.

• An additional shared office for use by our graduate students; the School arranges offices for our guests

• We are participating in the space allocation discussions in a new School of Economics building expected to be up by 2011

Our Activities for 2008

• Training– Teaching environmental and resource economics courses

– Postgraduate thesis supervision

– In-service training for policy makers and technocrats

• Research– Research in critical environmental policy issues in Southern Africa

– Collaboration with sister centres world-wide

• Policy Outreach– Interaction with relevant departments, agencies and municipalities

– Dissemination of research outputs

Stock-taking: Training 2008

• Third Year Natural Resource Economics (UCT) 35

• Honours Environmental Economics (UCT) 25

• Masters Natural Resource Economics (UCT)10

• Masters Environmental Economics (AERC JFE) 27

• Honours/Masters Social Impact Analysis (UCT) 12

Stock-taking: Training 2008

• EPRU fellows supervising M and P dissertations on:– “tourism in Tanzania”

– “the role of institutions in transfrontier conservation areas”

– “mitigation and adaptation in a public goods framework”

– “the efficiency of national parks in Southern Africa”.

– “valuation of degraded and restored sub-tropical thickets”

– “risk-aversity, discounting and pre-commitment”

– “the role of the Greater Addo Elephant National Park in the regional economy of the Eastern Cape province”

– “implications for mine rents and extraction rents of recent SA mineral tax and mineral rights”

– “use of modelling to identify inefficiencies in energy use and energy policy”

Stock-taking: Training 2008

• Whelan, B. and E. Muchapondwa. “Assessing the viability of small-scale wind turbines in SA in different policy scenarios”. Paper presented at the AERC conference on NRM and climate change

• Heyns, J. “Exploring a Possible Regulatory Environment for the Private Production of Electricity from Renewable Sources in South Africa: Lessons from European Case Studies”. Paper presented at the AERC conference on NRM and climate change

Stock-taking: Training 2008

• Snyman, S. “Policy options to provide incentives to landowners to restore land for CDM and to promote sustainable development”. Paper presented at the AERC conference on NRM and climate change

Stock-taking: Research Outputs 2008

• Turpie, J.K., Marais, C. and J. Blignaut (2008). “Evolution of a payments for ecosystem services mechanism addressing both poverty and ecosystem service delivery in South Africa”. Ecological Economics.

• Muchapondwa, E., Carlsson, F. and G. Kohlin (2008). Wildlife management in Zimbabwe: Evidence from a contingent valuation study. South African Journal of Economics

Stock-taking: Research Outputs 2008

• Leiman, A., Pauw, K. and T. Harris (2008). Macro-Economic Evaluation of the South African Fishing Industry. World Bank.

• Leiman, A. “Trading off the economy and ecology: can we afford to protect biodiversity?” Forthcoming National Research Foundation?

• Leiman, A. and H. Van Zyl. “Rehabilitation of an urban estuary”. Forthcoming African Journal of Marine Science.

Stock-taking: Research Outputs 2008

• Kocher, M.G., Martinsson, P. and M. Visser (2008). “Does Stake Size Matter for Cooperation and Punishment?” Forthcoming Economics Letters.

• Akpalu, W., Muchapondwa, E. and P. Zikhali. "Can the restrictive harvest period policy conserve mopane worms in Southern Africa? A bio-economic modeling approach". Forthcoming Environment and Development Economics.

Stock-taking: Research Outputs 2008

• Muchapondwa, E. (2008). “Estimating aggregate agricultural supply response in Zimbabwe". ERSA Working Paper No. 90.

• Musuna, S. and E. Muchapondwa (2008). "Will availing credit incentives to Zimbabwean farmers trigger a maize output response?". ERSA Working Paper No. 100.

Stock-taking: Research Visits and Interations 2008

• Ethiopia

• Kenya

• Tanzania

• Sweden

• China

Stock-taking: Policy Outreach 2008

• Turpie, J.K. In-service training for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF)

• Muchapondwa, E. “Cost-effectiveness Analysis of PM10 reduction Interventions in the KAPS Project”. Project report for the City of Cape Town.

Stock-taking: Policy Outreach

• 2008 Biodiversity Planning Forum, 4-7 March, Mpekweni Beach Lodge, East London, South Africa

• AERC Senior Policy Seminar X: Climate Change and Economic Development in Sub-saharan Africa, 7-9 April 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

• EPRU, SANParks and SANBI Workshop on use of economic incentives in bioregions, 22-23 October 2008, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town

The current policy processes

• Response to climate change

• Environmental fiscal reform

• Bioregional conservation vs. land restitution

• Land use conversion from agriculture to conservation

• Fishing industry policy

• Agriculture and water

The way forward with the research process

• Conradie, B. “Farm labour and water policies”

• Turpie, J.K. “Assessment of the social value of small-scale fisheries in the Zambezi River Basin”

• Turpie, J.K. “An ecological-economic model for management of and water allocation in an estuary”

• Turpie, J.K. “Quantification and Valuation of the Water Treatment Services of Wetlands at a Landscape Scale”

The way forward with the research process

• Muchapondwa, E. et al. “Using economic incentives in conservation-oriented regional management in Southern Africa”

• Muchapondwa, E. “Optimal park pricing with price discrimination and substitution”

• Bezabih, M., Muchapondwa, E. and M. Visser “Conservation and information asymmetries”

• Brick, K and M. Visser “Risk experiment with local fishing communities”.

The way forward with the research process

• Visser, M. et al. “Climate change deals with firm behaviour and psychological motives in tradable permits

• Visser, M. et al. “Gender and poverty amongst farmers and fishers”

• Visser, M. et al. “Measuring the impact of changes in access to basic services on individual well-being amongst poor urban settlements in South Africa”

• Dikgang, J., Leiman, A. and M. Visser “The national plastic legislation: a cross-country study”

The way forward with the research process

• Leiman, A. Research on mining policy and taxation, water policy and treatment of grey water, etc.

• Leiman, A. Implicit costs involved in land use conversion from extensive ranching to game farming

• Leiman, A. Determinants of adoption rates of GE maize seed in Zimbabwe

Our Contact Details

• The CoordinatorEnvironmental Policy Research Unit (EPRU)

School of EconomicsUniversity of Cape TownPrivate BagRondebosch 7701South AfricaURLs : www.efdinitiative.org/centers/south-africa

: www.saldru.uct.ac.za/evironment&poverty.html

News

• Martine Visser coming in as new coordinator on 1 January 2009