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1. About Us and our Mission
• EPRU is a research unit at the University of Cape
Town (UCT) whose mission is to enhance
environmental policy-making in Southern Africa
through rigorous training, research and policy
extension in order to attain poverty reduction and
sustainable development!
• Established as a programme under UCT’s Southern
African Labour and Development Research Unit
(SALDRU) in 2007 and got accreditation in 2008
2. Our Vision
• EPRU aims to be the Southern African centre of
excellence in environmental and resource economics
where
a) policy makers and practitioners can be exposed to current
thinking and practice on environmental policy making,
b) academics and policy practitioners are encouraged to
interact in the process of rigorous environmental policy
research, and
c) policy makers and practitioners can obtain professional
and well-researched environmental policy advice.
3. Our Research Fellows
• Beatrice Conradie
• Tony Leiman
• Edwin Muchapondwa
• Jane Turpie
• Martine Visser
• Kerri Brick
• Johane Dikgang
• ... and our graduate students
4. Our Facilities
• We are housed in the School of Economics at UCT
• Each fulltime research fellow has a fully furnished
office with access to internet, sizable online journals,
printing, photocopying, coffee, etc.
• An additional shared office for use by our graduate
students; the School arranges offices for our guests
• We are participating in the space allocation
discussions in a new School of Economics building
expected to be up by 2011
5. Our Activities for 2008
• Training
– Teaching environmental and resource economics courses
– Postgraduate thesis supervision
– In-service training for policy makers and technocrats
• Research
– Research in critical environmental policy issues in Southern Africa
– Collaboration with sister centres world-wide
• Policy Outreach
– Interaction with relevant departments, agencies and municipalities
– Dissemination of research outputs
6. Stock-taking: Training 2008
• Third Year Natural Resource Economics (UCT) 35
• Honours Environmental Economics (UCT) 25
• Masters Natural Resource Economics (UCT) 10
• Masters Environmental Economics (AERC JFE) 27
• Honours/Masters Social Impact Analysis (UCT) 12
7. Stock-taking: Training 2008
• EPRU fellows supervising M and P dissertations on:
– “tourism in Tanzania”
– “the role of institutions in transfrontier conservation areas”
– “mitigation and adaptation in a public goods framework”
– “the efficiency of national parks in Southern Africa”.
– “valuation of degraded and restored sub-tropical thickets”
– “risk-aversity, discounting and pre-commitment”
– “the role of the Greater Addo Elephant National Park in the
regional economy of the Eastern Cape province”
8. – “implications for mine rents and extraction rents of recent
SA mineral tax and mineral rights”
– “use of modelling to identify inefficiencies in energy use
and energy policy”
9. Stock-taking: Training 2008
• Whelan, B. and E. Muchapondwa. “Assessing the
viability of small-scale wind turbines in SA in
different policy scenarios”. Paper presented at the
AERC conference on NRM and climate change
• Heyns, J. “Exploring a Possible Regulatory
Environment for the Private Production of Electricity
from Renewable Sources in South Africa: Lessons
from European Case Studies”. Paper presented at the
AERC conference on NRM and climate change
10. Stock-taking: Training 2008
• Snyman, S. “Policy options to provide incentives to
landowners to restore land for CDM and to promote
sustainable development”. Paper presented at the
AERC conference on NRM and climate change
11. Stock-taking: Research Outputs 2008
• Turpie, J.K., Marais, C. and J. Blignaut (2008).
“Evolution of a payments for ecosystem services
mechanism addressing both poverty and ecosystem
service delivery in South Africa”. Ecological
Economics.
• Muchapondwa, E., Carlsson, F. and G. Kohlin
(2008). Wildlife management in Zimbabwe: Evidence
from a contingent valuation study. South African
Journal of Economics
12. Stock-taking: Research Outputs 2008
• Leiman, A., Pauw, K. and T. Harris (2008). Macro-
Economic Evaluation of the South African Fishing
Industry. World Bank.
• Leiman, A. “Trading off the economy and ecology:
can we afford to protect biodiversity?” Forthcoming
National Research Foundation?
• Leiman, A. and H. Van Zyl. “Rehabilitation of an
urban estuary”. Forthcoming African Journal of
Marine Science.
13. Stock-taking: Research Outputs 2008
• Kocher, M.G., Martinsson, P. and M. Visser (2008).
“Does Stake Size Matter for Cooperation and
Punishment?” Forthcoming Economics Letters.
• Akpalu, W., Muchapondwa, E. and P. Zikhali. "Can
the restrictive harvest period policy conserve mopane
worms in Southern Africa? A bio-economic modeling
approach". Forthcoming Environment and
Development Economics.
14. Stock-taking: Research Outputs 2008
• Muchapondwa, E. (2008). “Estimating aggregate
agricultural supply response in Zimbabwe". ERSA
Working Paper No. 90.
• Musuna, S. and E. Muchapondwa (2008). "Will
availing credit incentives to Zimbabwean farmers
trigger a maize output response?". ERSA Working
Paper No. 100.
16. Stock-taking: Policy Outreach 2008
• Turpie, J.K. In-service training for the Department of
Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF)
• Muchapondwa, E. “Cost-effectiveness Analysis of
PM10 reduction Interventions in the KAPS Project”.
Project report for the City of Cape Town.
17. Stock-taking: Policy Outreach
• 2008 Biodiversity Planning Forum, 4-7 March,
Mpekweni Beach Lodge, East London, South Africa
• AERC Senior Policy Seminar X: Climate Change and
Economic Development in Sub-saharan Africa, 7-9
April 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• EPRU, SANParks and SANBI Workshop on use of
economic incentives in bioregions, 22-23 October
2008, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town
18. The current policy processes
• Response to climate change
• Environmental fiscal reform
• Bioregional conservation vs. land restitution
• Land use conversion from agriculture to conservation
• Fishing industry policy
• Agriculture and water
19. The way forward with the research process
• Conradie, B. “Farm labour and water policies”
• Turpie, J.K. “Assessment of the social value of small-
scale fisheries in the Zambezi River Basin”
• Turpie, J.K. “An ecological-economic model for
management of and water allocation in an estuary”
• Turpie, J.K. “Quantification and Valuation of the
Water Treatment Services of Wetlands at a
Landscape Scale”
20. The way forward with the research process
• Muchapondwa, E. et al. “Using economic incentives
in conservation-oriented regional management in
Southern Africa”
• Muchapondwa, E. “Optimal park pricing with price
discrimination and substitution”
• Bezabih, M., Muchapondwa, E. and M. Visser
“Conservation and information asymmetries”
• Brick, K and M. Visser “Risk experiment with local
fishing communities”.
21. The way forward with the research process
• Visser, M. et al. “Climate change deals with firm
behaviour and psychological motives in tradable
permits
• Visser, M. et al. “Gender and poverty amongst
farmers and fishers”
• Visser, M. et al. “Measuring the impact of changes in
access to basic services on individual well-being
amongst poor urban settlements in South Africa”
• Dikgang, J., Leiman, A. and M. Visser “The national
plastic legislation: a cross-country study”
22. The way forward with the research process
• Leiman, A. Research on mining policy and taxation,
water policy and treatment of grey water, etc.
• Leiman, A. Implicit costs involved in land use
conversion from extensive ranching to game farming
• Leiman, A. Determinants of adoption rates of GE
maize seed in Zimbabwe
23. Our Contact Details
• The Coordinator
Environmental Policy Research Unit (EPRU)
School of Economics
University of Cape Town
Private Bag
Rondebosch 7701
South Africa
URLs : www.efdinitiative.org/centers/south-africa
: www.saldru.uct.ac.za/evironment&poverty.html
