Cost-benefit analysis of nitrate abatement in the Souffel catchment (France): Sensitivity study of the damage and spatialization of the abatement effort

François Destandau and Youssef Zaiter
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François Destandau: UMR GESTE - Gestion Territoriale de l'Eau et de l'environnement - ENGEES - École Nationale du Génie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement de Strasbourg - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Youssef Zaiter: UMR GESTE - Gestion Territoriale de l'Eau et de l'environnement - ENGEES - École Nationale du Génie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement de Strasbourg - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

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Abstract: Nitrate transfer from agricultural sources via river networks remains a serious unresolved and complex issue. This article proposes an economic analysis of the optimal reduction of this nitrate. A linear transformation and transport model of nitrogen inputs from agricultural sources in the form of nitrate from five agricultural areas towards a hydrographic network in France is used to calculate the optimal effort to reduce nitrogen inputs on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis (CBA). A sensitivity study is implemented with different damage scenarios. In addition, efforts to reduce uniform and spatialized inputs are compared. In particular, our results show the determining role of the magnitude of the damage. The ratio of 1 to 3 between the low and high range of its estimation would make it possible to attain good status, as specified by the Water Framework Directive (WFD), without having to resort to the exemption procedure, decreasing the average optimal nitrate concentration from 47 mg/l to 42 mg/l. Moreover, this would increase the absolute and relative benefits of spatialization by a factor of 9 and 2, respectively.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis; nitrogen pollution; sensitivity analysis; environmental damage; abatement effort spatialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
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Published in Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 2022, 95, pp.106791. ⟨10.1016/j.eiar.2022.106791⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03658461

DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2022.106791

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