Please note the venue for the next Water Institute Distinguished Scholar Seminar is 209 Emerson Hall!

Thursday February 7, 2008
Len Shabman, Natural Resource Economist, Resident Scholar in Energy and Natural Resources, Resources for the Future, Washington DC<http://www.rff.org/rff/Shabman.cfm>
Seminar Title: "Ecosystem Service Markets: Myths, Realities and Prospects"
Time: 3:00-4:00pm Thursday, February 7, 2008
Location: Emerson Alumni Hall, room 209 (please note change in venue)

Abstract
One of the current "hot topics" in environmental policy is advocacy for market based approaches to solving environmental problems. However, there is much confusion in the public dialogue, as well as the professional literature, on the policy and technical requirements of, as well as the possibilities for, incorporating market-like features in environmental programs. I will describe what is required to add such features, with attention to the policy, regulatory and technical barriers that will be encountered. Examples are drawn from two real world contexts: nitrogen and phosphorus load trading; and, production and sale of hydrologic restoration, nutrient reductions, and habitat enhancement from working agricultural lands. Genuine market-like approaches are contrasted with existing water quality trading programs structured by the confines of the Clean Water Act and with the agricultural BMP cost share programs of the US Department of Agriculture and the states. I will illustrate my presentation with Florida experiences and examples.

Dr. Shabman is a resident scholar at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit organization that conducts research -- rooted primarily in economics and other social sciences -- on environmental, energy, and natural resource issues.  Dr. Shabman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council Water Science and Technology Board. He was a faculty member in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech for 30 years prior to joining Resources for the Future in 2002.

Wendy Graham
Carl S. Swisher Chair in Water Resources
Director UF Water Institute
PO Box 116601
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida 32611-6601
Phone 352-392-5893 x 2113
Email  [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
www.waterinstitute.ufl.edu<http://www.waterinstitute.ufl.edu>