WRI Publications Feed: Eutrophication and Hypoxia

How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Pennsylvania Farms

Maggie Barron — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:11:33 -0400

Summary

Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, is a vital economic, cultural, and ecological resource for both the region and the nation. But the water quality and the overall ecology of the bay have been harmed by excess runoff and discharges of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, from farms, pavement, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and other sources responsible for creating excess algal growth.

In response, Congress is considering proposals to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.. The “Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009” (S. 1816, H.R. 3852) would provide significant new resources and tools to help restore the bay, including a baywide (interstate and interbasin) nutrient trading program. With nutrient trading, entities that can reduce below target levels the runoff of nutrients like nitrogen would be able to sell their surplus reductions as “credits” to entities with higher nutrient reduction costs. Nutrient trading thus offers a cost-effective, market-based mechanism for accelerating the achievement of the baywide cleanup goals.

Agricultural sources typically have lower nutrient reduction costs per pound than do other sources of nutrients, such as wastewater treatment plants and municipal stormwater systems.1 This cost advantage opens a window of economic opportunity for farms to sell nutrient credits to those sources facing more expensive nutrient control options. The combination of the government’s cost-sharing agricultural best management practices (BMPs) and the proposed baywide nutrient trading market could benefit Pennsylvania’s farms. First, these cost-sharing programs and conservation payments would cover many of the expenses of the practices that are required before trading can begin. Second, nutrient trading could be a source of new revenue and profit for many (but not all) farms, with the benefits likely varying according to location, preexisting implementation of BMPs, and other factors. Third, a baywide nutrient trading program could increase the demand for credits generated from Pennsylvania farms beyond that of a nutrient trading program restricted to Pennsylvania.

Additional Information

How Nutrient Trading Could Help Restore the Chesapeake Bay

How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Maryland Farms

How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Virginia Farms

How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Maryland Farms

Maggie Barron — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:36:14 -0400

The largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay is a vital economic, cultural, and ecological resource for the region and the nation. Excess runoff and discharges of nutrients—particularly nitrogen and phosphorus—from farms, pavement, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and other sources is responsible for creating excess algal growth that degrades water quality and harms the ecology of the bay.

Congress is considering proposals to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The “Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009” (S. 1816, H.R. 3852) would provide significant new resources and tools to help restore the bay, including a baywide (interstate and inter-basin) nutrient trading program. Nutrient trading provides a cost effective market-based mechanism for accelerating achievement of the upcoming baywide clean-up goals. With nutrient trading, entities that are able to reduce runoff of nutrients such as nitrogen below target levels are able to sell their surplus reductions as “credits” to entities facing higher nutrient reduction costs.

Agricultural sources typically have lower nutrient reduction costs per pound than other sources of nutrients such as wastewater treatment plants and municipal stormwater systems. This cost advantage opens a window of economic opportunity for farms—selling nutrient credits to sources facing more expensive nutrient control options.

The combination of existing government agricultural best management practice cost-share programs and the proposed baywide nutrient trading market could yield benefits to Maryland farms.

First, existing government cost-share programs and conservation payments could cover many of the costs associated with practices that are required before trading can occur.
Second, nutrient trading could be a source of new revenue and profit for many (but not all) farms, with the benefits likely varying among farms based on location, pre-existing implementation of best management practices (BMPs), and other factors.
Third, a baywide nutrient trading program could increase demand for credits generated from Maryland farms beyond the demand from a nutrient trading program restricted only to Maryland.

Additional Information

How Nutrient Trading Could Help Restore the Chesapeake Bay

How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Virginia Farms

How Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Pennsylvania Farms

Eutrophication: Policies, Action, and Strategies to Address Nutrient Pollution

Maggie Barron — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:58:51 -0400

Nutrient overenrichment of freshwater and coastal ecosystems—or eutrophication—is a rapidly growing environmental crisis. Worldwide, the number of coastal areas impacted by eutrophication stands at over 500. In coastal areas, occurrences of dead zones, which are caused by eutrophic conditions, have increased from 10 documented cases in 1960 to 405 documented cases in 2008. In addition, many of the world’s freshwater lakes, streams, and reservoirs suffer from eutrophication; in the United States, eutrophication is considered the primary cause of freshwater impairment.

In order to reverse eutrophication trends and mitigate nutrient losses to aquatic ecosystems, policymakers should:

Implement research and monitoring programs to characterize the effects of eutrophication, collect water quality data, and inform adaptive management strategies. Information is a key element in the development of robust strategies to reduce eutrophication.
Raise awareness of eutrophication. Eutrophication and its effects are not well understood by the public or policymakers. Public awareness campaigns, school environmental education programs, and targeted outreach and technical assistance are all important components of raising the profile of eutrophication within communities and building a foundation and support for effective actions to reduce nutrient losses and eutrophication.
Implement regulations to mitigate nutrient losses, such as standards, technology requirements, or pollution caps for various sectors.
Create fiscal and economic incentives to encourage nutrient reducing actions using taxes and fees, subsidies, or environmental markets.
Preserve and restore natural ecosystems that capture and cycle nutrients.
Establish strong, engaged, and coordinated institutions to address eutrophication. Effective institutions to implement and enforce policies are important to the success of any eutrophication strategy, especially where multiple jurisdictions are involved.
Capitalize on environmental synergies when designing comprehensive policies to address eutrophication. Many policies and activities associated with reducing nutrient pollution have synergies with other environmental problems such as climate change, smog, and acid rain. Policies selected and implemented should seek to maximize environmental benefits.

Additional Links

This policy note is third in a series. Click below to read the other two:

Eutrophication: Sources and Drivers of Nutrient Pollution

Tim Herzog — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Nutrient over-enrichment of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, or eutrophication, is a rapidly growing environmental crisis. Worldwide, the number of coastal areas impacted by eutrophication stands at over 500. In coastal areas, occurrences of dead zones, which are caused by eutrophic conditions, have increased from 10 documented cases in 1960 to 405 documented cases in 2008. In addition, many of the world’s freshwater lakes, streams, and reservoirs suffer from eutrophication; in the United States, eutrophication is thought to be the primary cause of freshwater impairment. Many of our largest freshwater lakes are entrophic, including Lake Erie (United States), Lake Victoria (Tanzania/Uganda/Kenya), and Tai Lake (China).

The increase in eutrophication is the result of human activities. Major sources of nutrients to freshwater and coastal ecosystems include wastewater, agriculture, and atmospheric deposition of nitrogen from burning fossil fuels. The drivers of eutrophication are expected to increase for the foreseeable future. Specifically:

World population will continue to grow, reaching an estimated 9.2 billion by 2050, which will increase pressures on the productive capacity of agriculture and industry.
Intensive agriculture and land use conversion—for crops, livestock, and aquaculture—will increase, especially in the developing world. In addition to population growth, intensifi cation is driven by changing dietary patterns. For example, over the period from 2002 to 2030, global meat consumption is expected to increase by 54 percent.
Energy consumption is expected to grow 50 percent from 2005 to 2030. Fossil fuels, which release nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the environment when burned, will continue to be the dominant fuel source in this century.

As a result of these increasing global trends in population growth, energy use, and agricultural production, we expect that coastal and freshwater systems impacted by eutrophication and hypoxia will continue to increase, especially in the developing world.

Additional Links

This policy note is second in a series. Click below to read the other two:

Paying for Environmental Performance: Potential Cost Savings Using a Reverse Auction in Program Signup

Tim Herzog — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:06:41 -0400

A reverse auction in the Conestoga watershed in Pennsylvania demonstrated that auctions are a more cost-effective way to allocate conservation funding than the traditional funding allocation process used in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). On average, the reverse auction resulted in a seven-fold increase in the reduction of phosphorus runoff per dollar spent compared to EQIP during the same period and in the same watershed.

In a reverse auction, multiple sellers compete to provide services (environmental outcomes) to a single buyer. In the context of conservation programs, sellers are typically land managers such as farmers or ranchers; the buyer is typically a governmental entity. The Conestoga Reverse Auction differed from traditional funding allocation strategies in three ways:

It quantitatively estimated the expected reduction in phosphorus runoff from proposed changes in management practices.
It allowed farmers and ranchers to compete for funding through unrestricted bidding.
It prioritized program payments based on how cost-effectively reductions in phosphorus runoff could be achieved. Cost-effectiveness was measured as the expected reduction in phosphorus runoff per program dollar spent.

Policy Implications

Government could improve the cost-effectiveness of their conservation funding by implementing reverse auctions or incorporating the principles of reverse auctions into their conservation program design. Specifically, policy-makers could improve the allocation of conservation funding in three ways:

Increase the use of quantitative measurements of performance (e.g., measuring the reduction in nutrient runoff for water quality improvement) to rank funding applicants.
Use measures of cost-effectiveness to rank funding applicants.
Allow competitive bidding between funding applicants.

Eutrophication and Hypoxia in Coastal Areas: A Global Assessment of the State of Knowledge

Mindy Selman — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Eutrophication – the overenrichment of waters by nutrients – threatens and degrades many coastal ecosystems around the world. The two most acute symptoms of eutrophication are hypoxia (or oxygen depletion) and harmful algal blooms, which among other things can destroy aquatic life in affected areas.

Of the 415 areas around the world identified as experiencing some form of eutrophication, 169 are hypoxic and only 13 systems are classified as “systems in recovery.”

Mapping and research into the extent of eutrophication and its threats to human health and ecosystem services are improving, but there is still insufficient information in many regions of the world to establish the actual extent of eutrophication or identify the sources of nutrients. To develop effective policies to mitigate eutrophication, more information is required on the extent of eutrophication, the sources of nutrients, and the impact of eutrophication on ecosystems.

Recommendations

To improve knowledge of where eutrophication is occurring and its impacts, environmental agencies or coastal authorities worldwide need to proactively assess and monitor water quality, specifically those variables commonly linked to eutrophication such as nutrient levels and dissolved oxygen. In addition, internationally accepted methods and definitions for assessing and classifying eutrophic coastal waters—including proxies for eutrophication—need to be developed.

In Asia, Africa, and Latin America, environmental agencies or coastal authorities should:

Undertake systematic and routine assessments of coastal areas, particularly those exhibiting symptoms of eutrophication.
Develop transparent and public reporting procedures for tracking the occurrence of eutrophication and hypoxia, as well as monitoring their impact on ecosystem health.
Develop and adopt decision-support tools – such as nutrient budgets and water quality models – that can facilitate the development of appropriate local and regional responses to eutrophication.

In the United States, Europe, and Australia, environmental agencies or coastal authorities should:

Continue coastal zone assessments.
Ensure that eutrophication assessment methodologies are being consistently applied.
Enhance existing decision-support tools and develop tools for those areas where none currently exist.

Additional Links

This policy note is first in a series. Click below to read the other two:

Paying for Environmental Performance: Estimating the Environmental Outcomes of Agricultural Best Management Practices

admin — Tue, 01 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

This Policy Note outlines how the environmental performance of agricultural BMPs can be estimated, and what steps are necessary for improving these estimations–both important elements for effectively allocating conservation funding. This Policy Note sets forth the following recommendations:

Standardize estimation methodologies to quantify the environmental outcomes of agricultural best management practices.
Conduct site-specific assessments of environmental performance through programs such as the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) to:
- increase site-specific research on estimating environmental outcomes and environmental co-benefits;
- Establish a monitoring framework to validate estimation methodologies and test their accuracy; and
- Create a central repository to provide access to estimation methodologies and monitoring data.
Utilize online tools to make standardized estimation methodologies widely available.

Paying For Environmental Performance: Using Reverse Auctions to Allocate Funding For Conservation

admin — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Can reverse auctions be used to achieve cost-effective improvements in environmental quality?

This Policy Note explains how reverse auctions can be used to allocate funding in agricultural conservation programs or environmental trading programs with constrained or limited budgets. Reverse auctions are competitive bidding systems where sellers compete to supply buyers with a specified good or service, ensuring cost-effective environmental improvements are purchased with conservation dollars.

The Policy Note outlines the findings and lessons learned from the Conestoga Reverse Auction Project in Pennsylvania, where a reverse auction was used to allocate funding to agricultural conservation or Best Management Practices based on their ability to reduce phosphorus losses.

The World Resources Institute is releasing a series of Policy Notes outlining issues and providing recommendations relating to environmental markets, energy, climate, and trade. These recommendations are based on the World Resources Institute’s independent analysis of biofuel policies, experience with developing and testing environmental markets, and our expertise in climate and trade issues.

We hope that you find the Notes informative and useful in helping define policies that promote environmental sustainability, rural vitality, and a healthy farm sector. Additional Policy Notes can be downloaded from http://www.wri.org/publications/policy-notes.

Awakening the Dead Zone: An investment for agriculture, water quality, and climate change

admin — Sat, 01 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0500

The Dead Zone is an hypoxic or oxygen-depleted zone in the Gulf of Mexico that is largely attributed to the loss of nitrogen from agricultural land in the Mississippi River Basin.

This report explores a number of policies available to the agricultural sector to reduce nutrients reaching the Gulf of Mexico. These nutrients, particularly nitrogen are the principle cause of hypoxic areas (or dead zones) in the Gulf. Using market-based mechanisms such as nutrient trading proved to be the most cost-effective policy approach to implement and also provided climate change and local water quality benefits.