Mr Francis Karanja
Postgraduate Student, School of Economics
Contact
| Email: | fkaranja@une.edu.au |
| Room: | W39 108 |
| Phone: | 02 6773 2046 (or +61 2 6773 2046 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3596 |
PhD Programme: PhD (Ecosystem Management and Economics)
Supervisor (s):
Associate Professor Nick Reid (SES&NRM), Associate Professor Oscar Cacho (EBL) and Dr. Lalit Kumar (SES&NRM)
Topic title and description:
Valuation of Ecosystem Services Relevant to Cotton Production in the Gwydir Catchment: Spatially Explicit Analysis at the Catchment Level The approach of identifying the ecosystem services and recognising the role that they play is a new approach to natural resource management, because it focuses on the values that they provide, rather than focusing on the problems that arise from inappropriate natural resources management (Binning et al., 2001). Major policy decisions in the next decades will have to address trade-offs among current uses of natural resource and between current and future uses. Particularly important trade-offs involve those between agricultural production and water quality, land use and biodiversity, water use and aquatic biodiversity, and current water use for irrigation and future agricultural production (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). Gwydir catchment, like many others in Australia, is experiencing several natural resource management issues ranging from dryland salinity, degradation of riparian habitats, land degradation, loss of native biodiversity, river flow regulation. The $200 million Gwydir Catchment blueprint focuses on five areas – soil, water, vegetation, biodiversity and the Gwydir catchment community. It has established targets for biodiversity, riverine ecosystems, soils and land-use and salinity. A major problem for the Gwydir CMA is that detailed information about where and how much to invest in natural resource management (NRM) and repair work is generally unavailable to guide their blueprint investment strategy. This study will provide useful information that could be used to guide the BGCMA on the most appropriate areas of intervention for the various natural resources management issues based on ecological-economical models that will be developed in a spatially explicit format. The research will further identify and value the ecosystem services operating across the Gwydir catchment and indicate where strategic investment in natural resource management will have the greatest economic and ecological impacts in safeguarding or enhancing ecosystem service provision in the catchment for both the cotton industry and society generally.
The objectives are to:
- Identify the range of land and water uses and natural vegetation types across the Gwydir catchment, their spatial extent, and the supply and value of ecosystem services arising from each resource use and vegetation type;
- Determine the importance of the spatial juxtaposition of different resource uses, vegetation types and other biophysical features in the catchment to the maintenance and supply of ecosystem services, including those critical to the continuation of an adequate quantity and quality of river flow;
- Pinpoint the most important changes in land and water use, restoration and conservation management (e.g. revegetation, riparian protection) and their location in the catchment to maintain or enhance the value of ecosystem service provision in the Gwydir catchment to the cotton industry and to society; and
- Recommend where investment by the Catchment Management Authority (CMA) in the Gwydir catchment will have greatest ecological and economic impact for industry and the community
Research interests
Kenyan research student finds 'ideal study environment' at UNE
A Kenyan researcher mid-way through his PhD program at The University of New England (UNE) has described his experience as the best he could have hoped for anywhere in the world. Francis Karanja came to Australia to undertake his PhD... Posted by Jim Scanlan on May 18, 2006 02:46 PM