Common Resources

A Tale of Two Parks (In One)

Without intending to, the team of civil servants that in 1990 created Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) launched a forest conservation policy experiment. In an ecologically rich region where ranchers and farmers were illegally clearing forests at an astounding clip, they established a huge (two million hectare) protected area with two distinct management regimes—a core […]

Ivory Stockpiles: Will Destroying Them Really Help Stop Poaching?

Just over five years ago, sanctioned auctions of ivory stockpiled in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe raised more than $15 million for elephant conservation. Now, Tanzania is set to destroy $50 million of ivory stockpile, following the lead of the US, France, Hong Kong, and China. The US is also taking steps to further […]

A Global Perspective on the Social Cost of Carbon

Some recent posts examining estimates of the social cost of carbon (SCC) noted that the SCC applies to the world as a whole: it is the global concentration of CO2—irrespective of the geographic origin of emissions—that prompts concern over climate change. How does that fact translate into costs facing one or another CO2-emitting country?

The Global Cost of Carbon Emissions: A Lingering Quandary For Policy

The federal government has a new estimate for the global social cost of carbon emissions. A recent “Technical Support Document” prepared by an interagency working group bears the more elaborate and dispassionate sub-title: “Technical Update of the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis—Under Executive Order 12866.” That Executive Order, among other things, allows “agencies […]

The Economics of Shame: A New RFF Press Book

Here’s a shameless plug for a new RFF Press book about naming and shaming polluters. OK, the title, “Environmental Regulation and Public Disclosure: The Case of PROPER in Indonesia” is admittedly a bit owlish. But I think many will be quite interested in the contents—an in-depth case study of an innovative pollution control program in a […]

Paying Ecuador to Protect the Rainforest

A recent episode of NPR’s Planet Money discussed Ecuador’s proposed solution to a national dilemma: the fact that a massive oil discovery and a national park happen to be in the same place. Ecuador’s proposal is to forswear drilling - but only if other countries donate half the value of the oil in aid (about $3.6 […]

Does Eco-Certification Pay? Costa Rica’s Blue Flag Program

RFF Senior Fellow Allen Blackman and his colleagues present some of the first evidence that eco-certification programs in developing countries can have positive impacts for both the economy and environment. To read this piece in its entirety, click here.

Resources 2020 with Joseph E. Stiglitz

2001 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences Joseph E. Stiglitz recently delivered the first in a series of lectures celebrating RFF’s 60th anniversary. Archived video of the event is now available.

RFF Policy Commentary: Population and Sustainability: The View from 2012

This week, Warren C. Robinson reflects on a changing world population. He concludes that world population is still a very important issue, but perhaps not quite in the way it appeared to be 20 years ago in Rio at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Read the Commentary here. Comments about it are welcome on […]

Eco-certification: Making (organic) apples to (conventional) apples comparisons

The Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin had a piece this week on concerns that the sustainably harvested fish you’ve been paying extra for may not be so sustainable after all. A new study published online that will appear in the journal Marine Policy finds 31% of fisheries certifiied as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) remain subject to […]