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ausTralian cenTre for biosecuriTy and environmenTal economics

Protecting the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment through preventive economics

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent,

but the one most responsive to change.”

CHARlES DARWIn nATuRAlIST

Contact: Professor Tom Kompas Crawford School of Economics and Government College of Asia and the Pacific J.G. Crawford Building (Bldg 132) Lennox Crossing The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Australia Phone: +61 2 6125 4765 Email: tom.kompas@anu.edu.au Web: http://www.acbee.anu.edu.au

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biosecuriTy: ProTecTing PeoPle, indusTry and The environmenT

AC BEE’s mission is to lead Australia and the region in research on biosecurity and

environmental economics with an emphasis on policy applications. Our specialty is to

utilise an economic approach to protecting the environment and plant, animal and

human health from invasive species. We also provide broad expertise in applied research

on environmental economics and natural resource management. AC BEE maintains a

central focus on engaging with, and assisting in, the public policy process.

The development of trade between regions and countries is an increasingly important characteristic of modern economies. With increased trade comes the risk of importing exotic diseases and pests. Biosecurity programs provide essential protection against such threats, safeguarding both consumers and producers from imported pests and diseases. Left unchecked, these threats can harm human, plant and animal health, damage local agricultural and industrial production and destroy environmental assets.

Our approach

AC BEE leads the way in biosecurity economics to protect human, animal and plant health. While AC BEE delivers urgent and practical solutions to existing biosecurity issues, including world-class expertise in cost-benefit analysis, the centre also focuses on preventive and proactive measures, especially biosecurity measures. Through ‘early detection’ analysis, we work to prevent risks by assessing uncertainties before an invasion occurs, determining the optimal amount of expenditure for border quarantine and local surveillance against invasive threats. The results of our analysis are then channelled to authorities and policymakers to help them prepare and plan for resource allocation and program or policy development.

Biosecurity research areas:

• Early detection and local surveillance techniques

• Harmful disease and pest prevention

• Optimal containment

• Eradication measures

• Border quarantine

• Economic and environmental valuation

• Pre-border controls and risk-return analysis

• Cost–benefit analysis

• Bio-economic modelling

Recent Biosecurity Case Study Subjects

• Eradication and containment of Australia’s red imported fire ants

• The economic impact of restrictions on New Zealand apple imports

• Local surveillance against Papaya fruit fly, Australia

• Simulations of foot-and-mouth disease spread in livestock and wildlife and optimal economic surveillance measures

• The association between outbreaks of Avian flu (H5N1) and migratory waterfowl

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environmenTal economics: balancing human economies and environmenTal sysTems

Environmental economics research areas:

• Animal diseases

• Weed control

• Fisheries management

• Species conservation

• Agricultural productivity

• Biodiversity

• Soil and water management

• Climate change

Our Environmental Economics programs focus on natural-resource management—from conservation costs and assessments to biodiversity issues and strategies. Environmental Economics applies a broad and integrative perspective to environmental issues. It seeks to link up environmental economists, scientists, educators and policymakers, to face the challenges of sustainable water use, soil loss and salinity, biosecurity, biodiversity loss and adaptation to climate change.

Our approach

Integrating cutting-edge environmental and economic research is AC BEE’s expertise. Through applied research on the benefits and cost interactions between human economies and environmental systems, we aim to offer insights into improved environmental management methods. Using strategies including theoretical modelling, cost-benefit analysis, and economic and environmental valuation, we examine such industries as water, oil, fisheries, marine, and plant agriculture. We have had particular success in the area of fisheries management, as part of an award-winning research team we directly contributed to policy change in Australia.

leading The way To Policy Since the inception of AC BEE in 2009, we have been successful in solidifying our connection with policymakers and the public decision-making process, delivering substantial results in the policy arena. Recent examples of that success include work on the economics of quarantine for papaya fruit fly, ovine Johne’s disease, SARS and foot-and-mouth disease, along with substantial work on fisheries management and productivity for primary industries.

AC BEE seeks to form new and expanded relationships with science, government and public policy experts to deepen our impact in biosecurity and natural resource management.

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honour received for work on bio-economic modelling AC BEE Director, Tom Kompas, is acknowledged for work on bio-economic modelling for establishing fisheries targets. This directly impacted on a change in the Australian law on fisheries management. The honour was received in conjunction with scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), who also put much effort into this endeavour.

keynoTe sPeech by honourable PeTer garreTT AC BEE launch, 23 november 2009.

Can I add my acknowledgement to the traditional owners of the land and say thank you for the invitation to launch this Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics on this site, and to have pointed out the way in which the building behind us does integrate both into the pre-existing built form that was here and also the natural environment as well. And I can’t think of any other part of Australia where quite so much attention to detail and consideration of impact is given to the siting of buildings of this sort, and I want to commend all those involved. As I congratulate the ANU and the Crawford School for its foresight in establishing the Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics, itself.

There is no question at all that the expertise of this centre is urgently needed. When we look out across the landscape anywhere in Australia, we see a place already changed and occupied by invasive species, whether it’s eroded hillsides riddled with rabbit burrows or wetlands turned into muddy pool by the feral pigs, the fact is that we have a dismal record on environmental biosecurity with a history of introducing species without careful thought or assessment. It’s in that context that this centre is opened. And there is no question as well that with globalisation, new infrastructure, faster transport technologies, greater accessibility, greater vectors out there in the natural landscape, the risks posed by invasives will continue to grow. Our response will need to be stronger, more directed, more strategic.

Some of you will be well aware that there is graphic and growing evidence across the nation of the economic cost of invasive species and of plant and animal diseases. We can quantify biosecurity in economic terms, particularly with its impacts on agricultural production, fishing, tourism, recreation or other commercial activities, and we know of the large and measurable costs of managing pests and diseases already here in Australia.

Plant diseases and invertebrate pests of plants estimated to cost us around 2 billion dollars per annum in control and lost production, for animal diseases and invertebrate pests, estimate at least 1.2 billion dollars per annum.

recenT achievemenTseminenT scienTisTs’ grouP aPPoinTmenTAC BEE Director, Professor Tom Kompas, appointed to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Eminent Scientists’ Group—a major government advisory and consultative body for import risk assessment on biosecurity matters. This is a high-level review group, independent of Biosecurity Australia, that is tasked with providing external scientific and economic scrutiny of expanded import risk analyses.

“...the expertise of this centre is

urgently needed.”

THE HOnOuRABlE PETER GARRETT

Honourable Peter Garrett, keynote speaker of AC BEE launch

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how to develop cost-sharing arrangements between the beneficiaries, something which I know will be focussed on later on with my fellow Ministers; how to implement programs and maintain the control on invasives that are already there.

Now we are, thankfully, taking a more strategic approach through improvements to Aus BIO SEC, the Australian biosecurity system for primary production and the environment, and here again, environmental economics has a crucial role to play with these reforms. Specifically helping decision-makers like myself understand the costs and benefits of proposed actions, describing the potential trade-offs, and identify who will benefit from decisions to manage particular invasive species. Economic tools will also help guide decision-making around invasives, particularly around emergency responses.

I know this particular issue that I am addressing now is being investigated by a working group of the National Biosecurity Committee. I understand that members of the centre have played an integral part of that process, so you’ve certainly got a few challenges to deal with. Setting discount rates that are appropriate to ecological timeframes, determining how to delineate threshold environmental conditions and the subsequent values that would be associated with them, and more.

For all of those reasons, I am pleased that the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities or the CERF program, as you’d know, has been able to provide 7 million dollars for the environmental economics research hub, the parent organisation for this centre, and this hub aims to bring together, leading economic and social scientists looking at new and improved ways of valuing environmental assets and determining the benefits and costs of different actions.

Now the mission of the Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics is to lead Australia and the region in biosecurity and environmental economics research, with an emphasis on policy application, engaging with and assisting the public policy process, by working in conjunction with Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) and Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and other key Commonwealth and State agencies. This is a daunting mission, and I want to acknowledge and applaud the priorities that you have identified for your initial work. The benefits of early expenditures to ensure biodiversity conversation; to measure the value of Australia’s bioregions and their attributes using both market and non-market valuation; to examine the economics of border quarantine and local surveillance to protect Australia from the entry and spread of invasive species and to identify the costs and benefits of the containment and possible eradication of Red Imported Fire Ants and various weeds of national significance. There is much of importance to do as enumerated in those topics, that I have identified.

We have 16 key research associates already assembled, people of eminence, well prepared to do this work and lead by Professor Tom Kompas of the Crawford School, who is known for his work in bio-economic modelling and I think you’ve got a CSIRO medal for research achievement, it says here in my notes, Tom, so congratulations for that. But it does mean that you’re well equipped and your team as well, to protect our environment, our plant, animal and human health from the threats that confront us, so I do wish you all the very best with this important centre. I am delighted to be able to announce that it’s open today and wish Professor Kompass and his team every success. Thank you very much.

Now it is more challenging to quantify the broader environmental impacts of pests and invasives, the flow-on effect of our natural and cultural heritage, but it is the case that from the first rabbit plague some 200 years ago to the devastation that camels are causing in our deserts today, it’s often only after the damage is done that we acknowledge that we actually have market failure and then we call in the economists; too late.

you will also know that after land clearing, invasive species also occupy the category of being the greatest immediate threat to Australia’s biodiversity. Astonishing numbers of feral cats have a major impact on native fauna, causing about 140 million dollars or so in losses each year, predation on birds and small mammals, and of course the importation of Red Fire Ants detected in Brisbane 2000; their impacts on the environment and social amenity, well documented. But if they were to become established, this one kind of tramp ant alone, will cost Australia around 45 billion dollars over 30 years. So by recitation of these figures, it makes it clear the economic costs and the economic consequences of not acting.

I think it is worthwhile reflecting on the fact that many invasive plants have been introduced intentionally as crops, as pastures, as garden plants, to prevent erosion. And a number of them have spread very quickly in the wild; Mimosa, one that we know well, a native of tropical America, escaping from the Darwin Botanic Gardens over a hundred years ago, and by the 1990s occupying more than 800 square kilometres of the Top End in the Northern Territory, in Kakadu National Park, which I have stewardship for, costing us around a half a million dollars a year to control.

Whilst it is difficult to quantity the impacts on the environment, that makes it difficult to make the case for intervention and then to determine the appropriate level of intervention. It is a case that if you add in this environmental challenge to the climate change risks, then we’ve got to factor economic and environmental core issues into our planning, and we’ve got to do it at the earliest stage as possible. That is what I’m very focussed on as Environment Minister, it is what I see as being the necessary kind of thinking change. Using the tools, the assessment methodologies, particularly those that environmental economics has to offer. And as we do that we have to look at the full range of values, not just the market values of our natural environment, and we’ve got to assess them in a holistic and a strategic way. Not species by species or ecosystem by ecosystem.

My challenge, Tom, to you and your colleagues is to think that way, because frankly a reductionist siloed scientific approach to invasives in the past hasn’t served us well, and I think that needs to be acknowledged.

Look at the issues that we now face in terms of problems around invasive species, how to prevent new species entering Australia, difficult with ever-increasing national trade and travel. How to boost surveillance to detect incursions; how to develop and implement emergency measures, should we have an incursion;

AC BEE Director Professor Tom Kompas and Honourable Peter Garrett

CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement

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AC BEE delivers collaborative outputs from researchers around the world. The majority of our research associates are located at the Crawford School of Economics and government at The Australian National University. other global associates are located in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as Europe and North America.

It offers state-of-the-art research on biosecurity and environmental economics with a policy focus. our research associates have expertise in a wide range of areas—notably bio-economic modelling, resource management, economic and environmental valuation, and cost–benefit analysis.

our PeoPle

Tom komPas ac bee direcTorTom Kompas is Professor of Economics and Director of the Crawford School of Economics and Government at The Australian National University (ANU). He is the Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics (AC BEE), an editor of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and, in 2009, received the ANU’s highest award for teaching: the ‘Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.’ His bio-economic modelling and biosecurity research have been published in the world’s leading international journals (including Science). His current work focuses on the major biosecurity issues in Australia and across the world.

Emma Aisbett

The Australian National University, Canberra

Emma Aisbett holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California (Berkeley) and a Master of Science degree from Oxford. Her research focuses on the ways in which the institutions supporting international economic integration (globalisation) can be designed to promote efficiency—

with a particular emphasis on reducing environmental externalities. Her applied theory work considers the design of efficient compensation mechanisms for government regulatory actions - where efficiency avoids overregulation as well as over-investment in environmentally risky projects. Efficient schemes can be used as a benchmark against which to compare institutional arrangements such as WTO rules on application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures. Emma’s recent empirical work includes estimation of dynamic panel data models for variables such as soil quality and foreign investment flows. Emma teaches a master level course on Economic Globalisation and the Environment which she designed for the Crawford School.

Jeff Bennett

The Australian National University, Canberra

Jeff Bennett holds a PhD from ANU and has over 30 year’s experience researching, consulting and teaching in the fields of Environmental Economics, Natural Resource Economics, Agricultural Economics and Applied Micro-Economics. He is currently leading research projects investigating the use of non-market techniques to estimate the value of the environment, the use of

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auctions to encourage land use change in western China, and private sector conservation initiatives.

Jeff was President of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society in 2004 and is currently co-editor of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. He is Principal of the consulting group, Environmental and Resource Economics. Jeff is also director of the Environmental Economics Research Hub funded under the Commonwealth Environment Research Facility.

Oscar Cacho

University of New England, Australia

Oscar Cacho is associate professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of New England. He started his professional life as a marine biologist and later obtained a PhD in agricultural economics from Auburn University (USA). At UNE he has taught bio-economics, operations research, farm management, finance and risk management and natural resource economics, among other subjects. His research interests include bio-economics of invasive species, market solutions to environmental problems, and techniques to solve complex decision problems. He has published over 70 journal papers, book chapters and technical reports. His recent work on application of search theory to eradication of invasive species (co-authored with Hester and Spring) was awarded the best journal paper for 2007 in the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, as well as the best scientific project for Program 1 of the CRC for Australian Weed Management. This work has attracted additional funding from the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis. He has been a member of the Technical Advisory Group on Control of Invasive Species in the Galapagos Islands and a visiting expert to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the UN. He has received numerous invitations to international meetings and workshops. He is currently a consultant to the Fire Ant Eradication Program in collaboration with Monash University.

Nhu Tuong Che

Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Australia

Nhu Tuong Che received her PhD in economics from The Australian National University. She has been working on the economics of biosecurity for over ten years. Nhu specializes in applied economics for risk analysis, quarantine and local surveillance measures, and cost-benefit analysis. She is the author of over 35 professional and technical publications in this area, with more than 25 economic reports and working papers on biosecurity in Australia.

Nhu is senior economist at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) of Australia and a Research Associate at AC BEE.

Hoaug Long Chu

The Australian National University, Canberra

Hoaug Long Chu received his PhD in economics from The Australian National University. His research interests include numerical methods in economics, stochastic programming, dynamic optimisation and applied econometrics. He is the author and/or co-author of professional and technical publications in fisheries economics, numerical techniques in dynamic programming, hybrid dynamic economic systems, biosecurity and marine reserves. Long was an exchange rate policy economist at the Central Bank of Vietnam before joining AC BEE.

Naomi Cogger

Massey University, New Zealand

Naomi Cogger was awarded a PhD from the Faculty of Veterinary Science University of Sydney is now employed at the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences,

Massey University. Through her research and consultancy Dr Cogger has developed an understanding of a number of key issues and problems in the area of biosecurity. Previously, she has undertaken research to develop surveillance strategies for animal diseases and conducted risk analyses to evaluate quarantine risks associated with the importation of animal products. Presently, she is undertaking research to:

• Develop methodologies to evaluate pre-harvest strategies to control quarantine risk associated with the importation of fruit;

• Evaluate the usefulness of a risk-efficient portfolio approach to allocation of surveillance resources;

• Collect data to improve New Zealand’s preparedness for an equine influenza outbreak; and

• Determine training needs in the area of biosecurity.

Dr Cogger also works closely with individuals and groups in New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency.

David Cook

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and The Australian National University, Canberra

David Cook hails from the Great Southern region of Western Australia. He completed a Bachelor of Economics degree with Honours at Murdoch University in 1995. Between 1996 and 2004 he was employed as a Regional Economist with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture, where he worked almost exclusively on invasive species issues. During this period David completed a PhD with The University of Western Australia’s School of Agricultural and Resource Economics (1999–2001), and worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at the Wye campus of Imperial College London (2003–2004). In 2005 David moved to Canberra to take up a Research Economist position with CSIRO Entomology, and an adjunct appointment with the Fenner School of Environment and Society at The Australian National University.

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David’s research interests centre on biosecurity issues. Much of his work has involved invasive species affecting agricultural industries, ranging from vertebrates, invertebrates, weeds, pathogens, fungi, as well as some aquatic and marine species. He has completed economic analyses on many different incursion responses, and on-going management strategies for naturalised species of regional, State and national significance. He has also been involved in import risk assessments investigating the net social welfare implications of sanitary and phytosanitary measures imposed on imported products.

Kevin Fox

University of New South Wales, Australia

Kevin Fox works primarily in the field of economic measurement, with a focus on productivity, prices and efficiency analysis. His research spans multiple areas of environmental and natural resource management, including biosecurity, water, fisheries and salinity mitigation. He has been awarded Australian Research Council grants for his work on salinity mitigation and biosecurity, and is a project leader for the Environmental Economics Research Hub, funded through the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities program.

He is a member of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Methodology Advisory Committee, Chair of the Advisory Group for the 16th Series CPI Review, and has been a consultant for agencies such as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Swiss National Bank, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, the Asian Development Bank, and the New Zealand Treasury. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Productivity Analysis.

Anada Ghose

Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia

Ananda Ghose is an Economist working for the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA). His present work involves biosecurity and Natural Resource Management economic research and policy including modelling, environmental asset evaluation, risk analysis, and trade and development issues. He has also worked as a policy adviser for the Commonwealth Treasury where he was involved with international taxation issues and GST implementation for A New Tax System. His field of interest encompasses financial economics, econometrics, environment, forestry and development economics. Dr Ghose worked for a number of ARC and ACIAR projects and had been involved in the teaching of mathematical economics, statistics and finance in Australian universities. His international experience encompasses advisory positions in fund management industry and the infrastructure sector in India.

R. Quentin Grafton

The Australian National University, Canberra

R. Quentin Grafton is Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy, The Australian National University; the Chair of the ANU-UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Trans-boundary Water Governance; and Chief Editor of the Global Water Forum—a world-wide water blog. He works in various areas of environmental economics including climate adaptation research in both the water and fisheries sectors.

Pham Van Ha

Ministry of Finance, Vietnam

Pham Van Ha graduated with a PhD in economics from The Australian National University. His research interests are: Computational Stochastic Programming, Dynamic General Equilibrium Modelling, Macro-econometric Modelling, and Errors-in-Variables Analysis. He is the author and co-author of over 20 professional and technical publications in resource economics, biosecurity, dynamic CGE modelling, macro-econometric modelling, and finance. Ha is now a senior researcher at the Policy Advisory Group in Ministry of Finance of Vietnam. He was a deputy director of Institute of Financial Science before joining the group.

Shuang Liu

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia

Shuang Liu works at CSIRO and is interested in exploring the roles of conflicting values and uncertainty in environmental decision-making. Her current research activities include:

• estimating the non-market impact of invasive species

• constructing an ecological-economic model to estimate the economic impact of potential invasion, and

• using the model as a tool for communication in a deliberative multi-criteria decision-making environment.

She is also interested in valuation of ecosystem services and application of the valuation results in establishing payment systems for ecosystem services.

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Ngo Van Long

McGill University, Canada

Ngo Van Long’s main areas of research are natural resources and environmental economics, dynamic games, and international economics. His research outlets include American Economic Review, Econometrica, Economic Theory, Games and Economic Behaviour, International Economic Review, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Journal of International Economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies.

John Rolfe

Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia

John Rolfe is a resource economist and is also Professor in the Faculty of Arts, Business, Informatics and Education at the Central Queensland University. John has a number of research interests, but specialises in non-market valuation, agricultural production issues, resource tradeoffs, and economic impact assessment in regional areas.

John has more than 80 refereed publications in the form of journal articles, book chapters, book reviews and conference papers, and a further 250 non-refereed journal articles, conference papers and research reports. John has led a number of major research projects (> 30) over the past 10 years for a total funding value of more than $3.6M. He has a background in beef cattle production in the Central Queensland region, and has extensive practical knowledge of agricultural and regional development issues in northern Australia.

Kurt Schwabe

University of California (Riverside), United States of America

Kurt Schwabe holds a PhD in Economics from North Carolina State University, USA and a Masters Degree from Duke University, USA. He uses both theoretical and applied economic analyses to investigate issues related to the interaction between agriculture and the environment, environmental and natural resource valuation, and environmental regulations. Examples of his research include: (i) evaluating alternative policies for regulating non-point source pollution, (ii) evaluating the impacts of various wildlife management policies, (iii) investigating the value of fisheries stocking programs for both consumptive and non-consumptive fishing, and (iv) evaluating the impact on agricultural productivity from climate change and in meeting various environmental quality objectives.

Dr. Schwabe’s papers have appeared in a wide range of peer-reviewed technical publications. He is a recipient of the Kenneth R. Kellar Award for Excellence in Doctoral Research (1996), Outstanding Journal Article Award (Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2002), the Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Manuscript Review (Journal of Environmental Quality, 2002), and a Flagship Fellowship Award from CSIRO in 2007.

Michael Ward

The Australian National University, Canberra

Michael Ward’s research spans a wide range of issues in environmental and natural resource economics. Areas of recent focus include water management under drought, biodiversity conservation, enforcement of environmental regulations, biosecurity, environmental valuation, public response to environmental health advisories and impact of climate change on agriculture. Michael’s work in these areas has been published in leading economics journals such as the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and the Economic Record. His research on the impact of education and information provision about the recent mercury-in-fish advisory was selected in 2008 by the American Agricultural Economics Association as the best economics paper in food safety. His work with R. Quentin Grafton on the welfare costs of water restrictions was cited by the Productivity

Commission as the basis for some of their key numbers in recommending that price rather than restrictions be used to manage drought. In environmental enforcement, the methodology developed by Michael and his co-author has been adopted by the US EPA to guide their enforcement targeting and develop a measure of enforcement cost-effectiveness.

Michael P. Ward

University of Sydney, Australia

Michael Ward holds a PhD from the University of Washington, USA, two Masters degrees and is a Member of the Australian College of Veterinary Science. He is a veterinary epidemiologist with experience in analytical epidemiological methods, spatial epidemiology and simulation modelling. He has 20 years of experience in conducting research on diseases of livestock, including bluetongue in Australia, foot-and-mouth disease in Argentina and West Nile virus in the U.S. He currently serves as Associate Editor of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, and on the editorial boards of Veterinary Research and Zoonoses and Public Health.

Professor Ward is a graduate of the University of Queensland and has held positions within the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, as well as the veterinary schools at Purdue University (Indiana) and Texas A&M University. Professor Ward returned to Australia from Texas in 2008 to take up the new position of Chair of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety within the Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney.

Ben White

University of Western Australia, Australia

Ben White has jointly published (with Nick Hanley and Jason Shogren) three textbooks on environmental economics. He holds a PhD from Newcastle, United Kingdom and a Masters degree from London University, United Kingdom. His research interests include the design of incentive contracts for biodiversity conservation and environmental protection. He is currently working on an ARC Discovery Project on the design of environmental bonds for the resources sector in Western Australia and a Cooperative Research Centre for Plant Biosecurity project on R&D priorities for grain storage pests and fruit fly free areas.

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The benefits and costs of biosecurity

Previously an Environmental Economics Research Hub (EERH) project on biosecurity, this seeks to determine how, and to what extent, resources should be used to monitor, prevent and manage potential incursions of exotic pests and diseases, especially those that can bring substantial (occasionally catastrophic) damage to the environment and local habitat. It attempts to answer the question: how much should be spent on border quarantine and local surveillance activities, including cost-effective containment and eradication programs that balance all relevant costs and benefits for those pests already in Australia?

The first stage of this project has been to develop ‘jump-diffusion’ models of pest spread and control, allowing for normal random spread patterns given an incursion, along with large jumps in environmental state variables. The first two applications—used to develop the modelling framework—only have indirect environmental impacts

(1) optimal border quarantine measures against an Ovine Johne’s incursion to sheep in Western Australia, and

(2) optimal surveillance against a potential Papaya fruit fly incursion in Queensland.

Using this modelling context, the last two applications in the project will tackle the issue of recreational and environmental costs and benefits head on (1) the control and local surveillance against red imported fire ants in Queensland, and (2) the eradication (along with preventing their spread to the rest of the Mainland) of crazy ants in Northwest Queensland and on Christmas Island. Professor John Rolfe at Central Queensland University will help establish these recreational and environmental values, and, when combined with the ‘jump-diffusion’ modelling context, they will provide an example of how to model, cost and control the potential entry of these harmful pests and their effects on the environment.

The value of an Australian bioregion and biosecurity measures

Inception from the Environmental Economics Research Hub

This project is designed to measure the value of an Australian bioregion and biosecurity measures by its main attributes. Measures are designed to be comprehensive and include social amenity values, recreational values, the value of agricultural production, the value of biodiversity, and option and existence values. The measures—principally obtained through stated preference techniques—will be used to help calibrate the potential damage that may result from a disease or pest incursion. The bioregion surrounding Brisbane is used as a primary case study.

recenT ProjecTs

addiTional ProjecTs

Fisheries Research and Development

Corporation project—Maximum economic yield: a case study of deepwater

flathead and bight redfish in the Great Australian Bight.

Department of Primary Industries Victoria project—

Productivity and efficiency analysis for Victorian dairy

farms: The impact of climate, irrigation and water use.

A Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority project—A

supply chain analysis for the Australian aquarium industry.

A Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry project—Cost–benefit

analysis and the economics of biosecurity: animal

health in China.

Professor Tom Kompas, Director of AC BEE and The

Honourable Kevin Rudd MP, Australian Minister for

Foreign Affairs

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recenT research and PublicaTions Cook, D.C., Liu, S., Fraser, R.W., Siddique, A.B. and Paini, D.R., 2009. Estimating the social welfare effects of New Zealand apple imports, CRC Plant Biosecurity Discussion Paper.

Kompas, T. and Che, T.N., 2009. A Practical Border Quarantine Measure for Imported Livestock, Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics, Canberra.

Kompas, T. and Che, T.N., 2009. A Practical Optimal Surveillance Measure: The case of papaya fruit fly in Australia, Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics, Canberra.

Kompas, T., Che, T.N. and Ha, P.V., 2009. An Optimal Surveillance Measure against Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the United States, Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics, Canberra.

Spring, D., Cacho, O. and Jennings, C., 2010. The use of spread models to inform eradication programs: application to red imported fire ants, IDEC Working Paper, Canberra.

Ward, M.P., Highfield, L.D., Vongseng, P. and Garner, M.G., 2009. ‘Simulation of foot-and-mouth disease spread within an integrated livestock system in Texas, USA’, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 88:286–97.

Ward, M.P., Laffan, S.W. and Highfield, L.D., 2009. ‘Modelling spread of foot-and-mouth disease in wild white-tailed deer and feral pig populations using a geographic-automata model and animal distributions’, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 91:55–63.

Ward, M.P., Maftei, D.N., Apostu, C.L. and Suru, A.R., 2008. ‘Association between outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 and migratory waterfowl (family Anatidae) populations’, Zoonoses and Public Health, 56:1–9.

The benefits of ‘early expenditures’ for biosecurity

Inception from the Environmental Economics Research Hub

It is often the case that expenditures to ensure biodiversity and maintain a species at acceptable levels, occur after a process of ongoing and often serious depletion. This project investigates the conditions under which ‘early expenditures’ to maintain biodiversity and species levels are justified. It has two components:

(1) the examination of the effect of time-dependent and declining rates of discount, both formally and calibrated through stated preference measures, on expenditure values; and

(2) the effect of stochastic shocks to species levels and the potential resilience effects that come with established reserves and maintaining species levels at high or non-depleted values.

Optimal economic strategies for controlling invasive weeds

In this project we address two questions regarding the optimal economic management of invasive weeds, namely what level of expenditures for ‘early detection’ and the eradication and control of an invasive weed are the most appropriate, and how should resources be allocated to surveillance measures for early detection. The model can be applied to a wide variety of invasive weeds, and guide policymakers on economically best approaches to the management of invasive species, with specific guidelines on what should be done in practical situations with a minimum set of parameter values. An application to orange hawkweed in Australia is provided as an example.

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natural resource management

Grafton, R.Q., Kompas, T. and Pham, V.H., 2006. ‘The economic payoffs from marine reserves: resource rents in a stochastic environment’, Economic Record, 82:469–80.

Grafton, R.Q., Kompas, T., Chu, L. and Che, N., 2010. ‘Maximum economic yield’, Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 54:273–80.

Grafton, R.Q., Kompas, T., McLoughlin, R. and Rayns, C., 2007. ‘Benchmarking for fisheries governance’, Marine Policy, 31:470–9.

Kompas, T., 2005. ‘Fisheries management: economic efficiency and the concept of “maximum economic yield”’, Australian Commodities, 12(1):152–60.

Kompas, T. and Che, T., 2005. ‘Efficiency gains and cost reductions from individual transferable quotas: a stochastic cost frontier for the Australian south-east fishery’, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 23:285–307.

Kompas, T. and Che, T.N., 2006. ‘Economic profit and optimal effort in the Western and Central Pacific tuna fisheries’, Pacific Economic Bulletin, 21:46–62.

Kompas, T. and Gooday, P., 2007. ‘The failure of “command and control” approaches to fisheries management: lessons from Australia’, International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 7:174–90.

Kompas, T., Che, N. and Grafton, R.Q., 2008. ‘Fisheries instrument choice under uncertainty’, Land Economics, 84:652–66.

Kompas, T., Che, T. and Grafton, R.Q., 2004. ‘Technical efficiency effects of input controls: evidence from Australia’s banana prawn fishery’, Applied Economics, 36:1631–41.

yamazaki, S., Kompas, T. and Grafton, R.Q., 2009. ‘Output versus input controls under uncertainty: the case of a fishery’, Natural Resource Modelling, 22:212–36.

Environmental economics

Akter, S. and Grafton, R.Q., 2009. Environmental Value Transfer: Non-use values, uncertainty and species conservation, Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics, Canberra.

Ward, M. and Kompas, T., 2010. The Value of Information in Biosecurity Decisions: An application to red imported fire ants in Australia, Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics, Canberra.

ACkNoWlEDgmENTS

We would like to thank the following research collaborators and partners:

Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Biosecurity Services Group of Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF)

Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis (ACERA)

Associates of the Environmental Economics Research Hub

National Centre for Epidemiology and Human Health

The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics

The National Centre for Biosecurity, The Australian National University