News Release Distributed 02/05/13
BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter’s Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy will hold its fourth national forum on Mar. 24-26 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans. The conference is titled, "Challenges of Natural Resource Economics and Policy (CNREP 2013): the 4th National Forum on Socioeconomic Research in Coastal Systems.”
The Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy is a network of social scientists engaged in research and extension programs that contribute to the management and sustainability of natural resources.
Projects are maintained in a variety of areas related to energy, coastal and inland wetlands, fisheries, forests, wildlife, land, and water resources, said Rex Caffey, CNREP director and a resource economist with the LSU AgCenter and the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program.
This year’s meeting will focus heavily on the economic valuation of natural resources in coastal systems.
“Future funding and support for environmental restoration programs requires the assessment of both market and non-market benefits,” said Caffey. “The conference will highlight methods for generating specific ecosystem values and case studies for the application of these estimates in the policy process.”
Conference organizers expect a combination of technical and nontechnical presentations dealing with coastal issues from around the United States and the world.
“We currently have 27 active members from eight institutions across the Southeast,” Caffey said. “The center’s activities have been funded at $10.1 million over the past six years by 43 public and private sources outside the university. This has led to the emergence of CNREP as a primary source of socioeconomic expertise for state and federal agencies in the Gulf Coast.”
Session topics for the CNREP 2013 conference include:
– Ecosystem services: valuation methods and applications for coastal restoration.
– Assessing and prioritizing coastal restoration projects.
– Access and use of coastal land and waters for commercial and recreational uses.
– Legal mechanisms to ensure sustainable development in coastal areas.
– Economic recovery in the wake of natural and man-made disasters.
The deadline for early registration is Feb. 25, 2013 and is available on the Internet at www.cnrep.lsu.edu/Registration%202013.html.
Johnny Morgan