Read more
In America's arid southwest, climate change will occur in the context of already-keen competition for water for agriculture, urban growth, electricity generation, water-based recreation, and environmental protections. This book explores the challenges that climate change and variability pose for water and energy managers and users, communities, and policy makers in the arid Southwest and demonstrates the application of economic methods to address these challenges. It provides valuable tools for both those interested in resource management and climate change, and those seeking to understand how economic methods can be used to analyze contemporary social problems and craft appropriate responses. The book considers both adaptation to long-term climate change and more immediate issues of water and electricity management in the face of inter-annual climate variability and drought. Thus, no matter what one's perspective on long-run climate change projections, the book provides useful lessons for some of the region's most pressing resource management problems.
List of contents
Foreword
1. The Climate-Water-Energy Nexus in the Arid Southwest
PART I: VOLUNTARY WATER TRANSFERS AS ADAPTATION MECHANISMS
2. Negotiated Water Transactions and Climate Change Adaptation
3. Applying Bargaining Theory to Western Water Transfers
4.Economic Tools For Climate Adaptation: Water Transaction Price Negotiations
PART II: SECTOR IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
5. Water Shortages in the Southern Mountain States: Economic Impacts on Agriculture
6. Climate, Water Availability, Energy Costs and National Park Visitation
7. Climate, Changing Snowpack and the Future of Winter Recreation
PART III: INFORMATION, TECHNOLOGY AND ADAPTATION
8. Irrigator Demand for Information, Management Practices, and Water Conservation Program Participation: The Role of Farm Size
9. Irrigation Technology Choice: The Role of Climate, Farm Size, Energy Costs, and Soils
10. Using Climate Information to Improve Electric Utility Load Forecasting
11. Use of Weather Information in Agricultural Decision-Making
CONCLUSION
12. Modes of Adaptation and Regional Resilience to Climate Change
About the author
Bonnie G. Colby and George B. Frisvold are professors of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Arizona
