One of the obstacles many conservation strategies face is the amount of time and money it actually costs for people t o be involved in their implementation - in other words, their "transaction costs" (TCs) . A new study from China has looked at how these costs have affected an innovative...

Over the last decade the global movement toward involvement of the private sector in the provision of municipal water supply and sanitation services has been rapidly gaining momentum--and so has the political opposition. Is it true that poor households in developing countries oppose private...

Wetlands provide rich environments for wildlife as well as agriculture. This frequently results in a conflict between wetland conservation and agricultural development. This, in turn, means that research into the interplay between development decision making, agricultural productivity and...

This study provides an assessment of whether residents in Metro Manila would be willing to pay a fee for the protection and conservation of the four main watershed areas that provide them with water. It also investigates how such a 'water user fee' would best be organized and implemented and...

This study assesses the different water supply options available to people in Vietnam's Mekong Delta (VMD). It ascertains which source is the cleanest and most sustainable, and then sees whether people can be encouraged to switch to this source. The study finds that there are three main sources...

This study investigates the impact of proposals to reduce the height of dykes in Vietnam's Mekong River Delta. The proposals are designed to reduce wetland water levels to an environmentally sustainable level, however it has not been clear how this will affect farmers in the region. High dykes...

Providing a high-quality water supply to all sectors of society is one of the most pressing and difficult challenge facing cities across Southeast Asia. Water supply is an expensive proposition in low income countries and often tradeoffs have to be made among such attributes as purity,...

Water supply is an on-going challenge for many countries across Southeast Asia. One of the key issues relating to this challenge is the protection of watersheds. Many of these vital areas are heavily deforested with a large area converted to apiculture and other land uses. Their capacity to...

This study assesses the transaction cost related to the Water Use Rights (WUR) system that is in operation in Zhangye City, Gansu Province, Northwest China. The study was carried out to see whether these costs were a significant barrier to a properly functioning system, and, if this was the...

This study assesses the water use rights (WUR) system in Zhangye City, Gansu Province, Northwest China. The research was carried out to see how well the system performs, in terms of its impact on water conservation and redistribution, and to see what barriers stand in the way of its successful...