This chapter aims to provide an overview of research into quantifying the economic impacts of marine litter. From an environmental economics perspective it introduces the difficulties in measuring the economic costs of marine litter; reviews those sectors where these costs are notable; and considers policy instruments, which can reduce these costs. Marine litter is underpinned by dynamic and complex processes, the drivers and impacts of which are multi-scalar, transboundary, and play out in both marine and terrestrial environments. These impacts include economic costs to expenditure, welfare and lost revenue. In most cases, these are not borne by the producers or the polluters. In industries such as fisheries and tourism the costs of marine litter are beginning to be quantified and are considerable. In other areas such as impacts on human health, or more intangible costs related to reduced ecosystem services, more research is evidently needed. As the costs of marine litter are most often used to cover removing debris or recovering from the damage which they have caused, this expenditure represents treatment rather than cure, and although probably cheaper than inaction do not present a strategy for cost reduction. Economic instruments, such as taxes and charges addressing the drivers of waste, for instance those being developed for plastic bags, could be used to reduce the production of marine litter and minimise its impacts. In any case, there remain big gaps in our understanding of the harm caused by marine litter, which presents difficulties when attempting to both quantify its economic costs, and develop effective and efficient instruments to reduce them.
Agriculture dominates the planet. Yet it has many environmental costs that are unsustainable, especially as global food demand rises. Here, we evaluate ways in which different parts of the world are succeeding in their attempts to resolve conflict between agriculture and wild nature. We envision that coordinated global action in conserving land most sensitive to agricultural activities and policies that internalise the environmental costs of agriculture are needed to deliver a more sustainable future.
SUMMARYRainfall, throughfall and stemflow chemistry, bark chemistry and gaseous air pollutant levels were monitored for one year within three Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl. woodlands in north west Britain. Tissue chemistry of the epiphytic lichen Lobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm, and the moss hothecium myosuroides Brid. were also studied at the sites in which they were abundant. The sites were found to difFer in the levels of acidic and nutrient inputs, bark chemistry and levels of gaseous pollutants, although the latter were low at all the sites. The epiphyte tissue chemistry responded to changes in stemflow chemistry across the season. At Borrowdale. Cumbria, where acid sensitive lichens have declined, stemflow was always of a low pH (3-5-4-5) and lou nutrient content. The tissues of /. myosuroides at this site had low concentrations of nutrient cations, but a high nitrogen content, possibly due to a high nitrate input in the rainfall. It is concluded that acid precipitation will affect epiphytes by reducing the bark's buffering capacity and increasing its acidity. The extent to which this occurs will depend on tree species, soil chemistry and the nature of the atmospheric inputs. This is discussed in the context of the concept of critical loads for acidifying deposition.
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