Environmental Economics

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    ECONOMIC VALUATION OF NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA: A Travel Cost Approach
    (UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM, 2009-09-01) Mwankemwa, Lusajo
    The purpose of this study is to estimate the recreational value of Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in Tanzania. To be able to give an estimate of the recreational value an economic valuation technique -the Travel Cost Method (TCM) is applied. The method will give rise to a demand function which can be applied in a regression model to estimate the relationship between the number of visits and the variables like travel cost, individual Income and educational level. This made it possible to derive the consumer surplus which is the value used to represent the recreational value of the NCA. The data used in the study is based on a sample of 240 visitors to the NCA. The study found the annual consumer surplus for NCA in 2008 to be about 507 229 USD (2008 prices) for the whole sample collected from the survey. However, the recreational value of NCA has been estimated to about 169.1 USD per visit. It is also important to note that the estimated value only represents one part of total economic value (recreational use value); the other values of the site’s total economic value have not been estimated in this study.
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    ENERGY DEMAND IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF THE ELECTRICITY SUBSECTOR
    (University of Ghana , Legon, 2011-06-06) ADOM, PHILIP KOFI
    In spite of the policy relevance associated with identifying the factors that affect electricity demand and quantifying their effects, there is still a dearth of research analysing aggregate electricity demand in developing countries. Even with the few studies that exist in the literature, the focal countries have been in Asia and the Middle East leaving a gap for Sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana in particular. In Ghana, efforts have been made (see Constantine et al, 1999 & Buskirk et al, 2006) to fill this gap. However, the focus of these studies has been on the household sector. The main focus of this work is, therefore, to forecast domestic electricity consumption specifically identifying what factors affect aggregate domestic consumption and assessing their impact using the ARDL Bounds Cointegration from 1975 to 2008. Also using data on Ghana I test the energy (electricity) conservation hypothesis using the Toda and Yomamoto Granger Causality test. The Bounds cointegration test shows evidence of a long-run equilibrium relationship implying that real per capita GDP, industrial efficiency, structural changes, and degree of urbanisation can be treated as the “longrun forcing variables” explaining total domestic electricity consumption. In the longrun, real per capita GDP, industrial efficiency, degree of urbanisation, and structural changes in the economy were found to be the main determinants of aggregate domestic electricity demand in Ghana while in the short-run all factors with the exception of structural changes in the economy were found to significantly impact on electricity demand. Aggregate domestic electricity demand is predicted to increase from 7,324 GWh in 2009 to 21,974 GWh in 2019 which represents an annual average growth rate of 11.8 percent. Based on the projected growth in electricity consumption, the total required plant capacity increase is projected to be 1,419 MW which represents an increase of 60% above the 2010 figure. This result implies that thermal generation as a percentage of total installed capacity is predicted to increase from the current 40% to 58% by 2019. Also I found evidence in support of the energy (electricity) conservation hypothesis for Ghana. The result shows that only industrial efficiency drives electricity consumption downwards. Based on this I suggest the development and intensification of the country‟s energy efficiency programs. Specifically proprietary electricity efficiency technologies and processes that have significant electricity-savings potential should be identified systematically. Also options should be provided to facilitate the deployment of such technologies in the industrial sector
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    DETERMINANTS OF DEFORESTATION IN GHANA
    (University of Ghana , Legon, 2011-06-06) MINLAH, MICHAEL KAKU
    Deforestation is one of the major environmental challenges facing Ghana. Today, the impacts of deforestation continue to impinge on livelihoods of rural and urban dwellers, disrupting important environmental functions and severely destroying forest ecosystems. Some studies have analyzed factors that influence deforestation in Ghana. However, none have placed emphasis on the occurrence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve for deforestation in Ghana. This study employs the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds Testing approach to cointegration to empirically investigate the factors that cause deforestation in the long and short run as well as investigating the occurrence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for deforestation using time series data from 1970 and 2009. The long run estimation results indicate that variables such as urbanization, rural population pressure, globalization, Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), and agricultural technology affect deforestation in Ghana positively, while agricultural production index, forest exports value as a percentage of GDP, enforcement of property right and forest protection and exchange rate influence deforestation negatively. The impact of total external debt on deforestation Ghana was positive but not significant implying a weak confirmation of the Debt Resource Hypothesis in Ghana. Analysis of the EKC for deforestation in Ghana indicate that the phenomenon is real in Ghana with the per capita income turning point being at $ US 364.99 (in constant 2000 $ US) which will occur in 2011 at a deforestation rate of 1.5%. General and specific recommendations aimed at reducing deforestation are provided.
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    Estimating the Recreational Demand for Domboshava Hill and Cave Using the Individual Travel Cost Method
    (University of Zimbabwe, 2018-05-22) Madzudzo, Valentine
    The main aim of this study was to investigate the determinants of recreational demand for Domboshava Hill and Cave, estimate the consumer surplus as well as establish the impact of entrance fee on the recreational demand for the site. This study is motivated by the dearth of literature on the subject leading to suboptimal economic policies on the site. The study sought to model the recreational demand function for the site. The Truncated Poisson Regression Methodology was used to investigate factors that determine demand for recreational site visit while the semi-log demand function was used to estimate the demand function for the site, relating number of visits to travel cost, holding all other factors constant. On-site crosssectional data was collected for the period March and April 2018. The findings were consistent with the Individual Travel Cost Model, showing that travel cost, income, mode of transport, household size, marital status and age are important determinants of recreational demand. There is need for the authorities to allocate substantially large budgetary allocations for the preservation of the site given the positive consumer surplus and recreational benefit. There is also need to pursue scientifically based economic policies to guide the site’s optimal entrance fee. Future economic decisions have to be based on the economic value of the site.