Modeling tool improves watershed analysis

Abstract

SANREM CRSP researchers have developed an economic model that provides policy makers with a tool to measure potential successes and failures of proposed economic reforms. Using this tool, researchers and policy makers can anticipate a reform's impacts on a region's economy and natural resources, leading to the implementation of more effective reforms and improved natural resource management. This model was developed and tested using data collected in the Manupali watershed in the Bukidnon province in the Philippines. The Manupali watershed is an effective location to test such a model because economic and environmental linkages between lowland and upland farms provide an optimum test platform. On a more general scale, a model that predicts the impacts of reforms on their regions of interest provides policy makers with a more informed basis for decision-making by indicating potential levels of economic and environmental impact for households, zones, and watersheds. (Excerpt from research brief)