Improving smallholder welfare in the rural sectors of developing countries requires improving access to both input and product markets. Success, however, in developing sustainable and mutually beneficial links between smallholders and agribusiness has been variable. Two recent ACIAR studies...

More and more environmental economists are finding themselves working within the unchartered territory of participatory governance. Yet many have not appreciated that the shift from progressive, or ‘technocentric’, governance to participatory governance signifies a corresponding departure...

Adaptations in environmental management often involve complex problems of collective action. Institutions introduced to reduce the transaction costs of solving these problems often come at considerable cost. An Institutional Cost Effectiveness Analysis Framework (ICEAF) developed to provide a...

Lessons learnt and progress achieved in a project seeking to catalyse establishment of a group, or common property, farming enterprise are reported in this article. The project concept grew from successful experiences of the farmers initiating the project in working together to address shared...

Shrimp production in Thailand has historically been undertaken in the saline and brackish waters of coastal mangroves. In recent years rising demand and prices for shrimp and falling productivity of mangrove areas have motivated an expansion of shrimp production into the fresh-water margins of...

Many environmental policy issues involve conflicts between nature conservation and economic development. The economic rationale behind deciding among alternative options is predicated on some form of benefit-cost analysis (BCA). Key issues to date have been non-market valuation, the...

Much of Australia’s native vegetation has been cleared or altered as a result of agricultural development. The native vegetation that remains on private land is highly fragmented and continues to be degraded and modified due to various land use and environmental pressures. One of the major...