NatuRE Policy Lab

Scott Somerville presented plans for a study estimating the contribution of livestock farms to nitrate water pollution in the Central Valley of California. Nitrates are a significant health risk when present at high concentrations in drinking water. Agriculture and livestock farms can be significant sources of nitrate pollutants. This is a large concern in the Central Valley, where groundwater is used for drinking and other residential purposes.

Jack Bucker presented preliminary findings from a research project modeling the economic value of environmental monitoring for fisheries management. Fisheries management agencies, such as the US National Marine Fishers Service, spend a large fraction of their budgets collecting and analyzing data to assess the status of harvested populations. This information is used to determine sustainable and productive harvest rates, a critical component of the management process.

Devin Serfas presented findings from his work developing and applying models of soil carbon dynamics to field-level soil and crop production data from Saskatchewan. Agricultural soil carbon sequestration is considered by many to be an important method for reducing atmospheric carbon. Agricultural practices and production decisions affect the rate at which carbon from the atmosphere enters the soil and the rate at which carbon from the soil mineralizes and leaves the soil as CO2.

Qian Wang presented some recent work developing a modeling framework to identify effective air pollution control strategies for the city of Chengdu. The current policy framework sets emission limits based on ambient pollution levels, reducing emission limits when the level of air pollution is high. However, this does not account for the dynamics of the system. Emissions are known to accumulate in the basin around the city over time and remain in the area until it is cleared by high winds or rain.

Last week Kaiwen Wang gave a presentation discussing the joint effects of a vessel by back and fuel subsidy program on the number of vessels participating in fisheries in the East China Sea.  Here fishery managers have used input controls to reduce the risk of overfishing. These measures include a quota system designed to limit the number and size of vessels participating in the fishery and a buyback program designed to reduce the size of the fleet over time.