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Valentin Abe is spawning fish farmers in Haiti, lack of formal property rights be damned

“Everything here in Haiti,” says Dr. Valentin Abe, “takes time.” Which is a comment as insightful as it is tautological. Abe (pronounced AH-bay), originally from Côte d’Ivoire, first came to Haiti in 1997 on a six month contract to assess potential aquaculture sites. He’d recently earned a PhD in aquaculture from Auburn University, and beforeContinue reading “Valentin Abe is spawning fish farmers in Haiti, lack of formal property rights be damned”

Between a rock and a hard place: The Mining Law of 1872

by Brennan Jorgensen In the New York Times, Robert M. Hughes and Carol Ann Woody call for the end of the Mining Law of 1872 as a means to protect fragile ecosystems from invasive mining practices. They cite the Environmental Protection Agency’s estimates that headwater streams in 40 percent of Western watersheds are polluted by mining.Continue reading “Between a rock and a hard place: The Mining Law of 1872”

Can New Mexico turn blue into green?

By Chris Corbin Tomorrow morning, I will board a plane for the 2011 American Water Resources Association Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At this event, I will present my vision for turning blue into green through water marketing to both the conference and the local Business Water Task Force. An example of this vision was highlighted in anContinue reading “Can New Mexico turn blue into green?”

Catch Share Fisheries at Work in the World’s Poorest Countries

By Jingjie Chu Fencing Fisheries in Namibia and Beyond strengthens the case that rights-based fishery management works and a well-designed catch share system customized to the local culture and history will work even in underdeveloped countries. The development stage should not be a hindrance. On the contrary, there is an urgent need to use rights-based fishery managementContinue reading “Catch Share Fisheries at Work in the World’s Poorest Countries”

Reflections on World Rhino Day

Last year, WWF declared September 22nd as World Rhino Day to raise awareness of the plight of the world’s rhino species, which continue to be seriously threatened by poaching. This year, WWF and the California-based organization, Saving Rhinos LLC, aims to continue that tradition along with various other smaller rhino-oriented organizations. Given that tomorrow is theContinue reading “Reflections on World Rhino Day”

The costs and benefits of the word ‘externality’: what I learned at PERC

by Andrew Balthrop, a PhD student in economics at Georgia State University and 2011 PERC Graduate Fellow. Until this summer, the way I thought about externalities was pretty abstract: an externality was where one agent affected another agent’s utility without compensation. The solution was to get a social planner to tell each agent what to do,Continue reading “The costs and benefits of the word ‘externality’: what I learned at PERC”