The Southern African policy space faces multiple and competing environmental and resource issues that require input from trained economists. The limited availability of such specialists in Southern Africa has led to the EPRU team becoming involved in a large array of poverty and developmental issues including those relating to wildlife management, fisheries, energy, and water scarcity.
EPRU’s senior researchers specialize in different fields of research, but with strong areas of overlap related to issues of sustainable development, behavioural change, and ecosystems management.
Our overarching priority areas relate to:
- Energy, water, and waste
- Land, living resources, and community wellbeing
- Climate change adaptation
For 15 years we have used a range of econometric and experimental methods to conduct rigorous applied research in these areas. In the process we have generated an extensive repertoire of work and established EPRU as an important Southern African hub for high-quality environmental economics research.
Current Projects
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Impact of Carbon Trading Schemes on Mangrove Forest Ecosystem Services and Household Welfare: Evidence From East African Coastal Communities
Project PI - Edwin Muchapondwa
This study seeks to assess the impact of a unique carbon trading scheme on mangrove ecosystem conservation and household welfare among Kenyan and Tanzanian coastal communities that are dependent on mangrove ecosystem services for their livelihood.
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Burden Sharing and Fairness Principles in Water Management for the Global South
Project PI - Martine Visser
Details to be announced
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International Training Programme Inclusive Green Economy in Practice
Project PI - Amin Karimu
The aim is to collaborate with African centers, furthering our outreach through engagement with policy makers across East Africa. We will be engaging with Government Ministries and Agencies in these East African countries to present economic policy instruments to guide the process in ways that are not only sustainable but also inclusive. We plan to maintain the network between researchers and policy makers with their buy-in and implementation of “Inclusive Green Economy” (IGE). In addition, we will be publishing a National Policy Review document on IGE for East African countries.
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SwAM Marine Spatial Planning from a Gender and Poverty Perspective
Project PI - Jane Turpie
Details to be announced
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IDRC Low Carbon Transition and Gender Equity in the Global South
Project PI - Amin Karimu
The overall objective of the Project is to develop an actionable research agenda that supports an efficient and inclusive low-carbon transition while improving gender equality in low- and middle-income countries.
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Water Conservation and Fairness in Collective Burden Sharing
Project PI - Martine Visser
This study will use experimental techniques to elicit the burden sharing preferences of Cape Town residents. It will investigate how beliefs affect these preferences and how these burden sharing preferences may influence consumption and payment behavior. This study aims to develop a framework which uses experimental techniques to evaluate burden sharing preferences in the context of water which can be implemented in various cities in sub-Saharan Africa facing similar challenges with inequality and water insecurity.
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Welfare Effects and Gender Dimensions of Licit and Illicit Biodiversity Economy
Project PI - Edwin Muchapondwa
Project details to be announced
Past Projects
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Resilience and Mainstreaming Management Program (RAMP) (2022)
Project PI - Edwin Muchapondwa
In its capacity as an EfD Center, EPRU provided overall guidance, coordination, and reporting for this consultancy. We subcontracted to (a) six other EfD Centers in Africa who were responsible for the actual capacity needs assessment in each country, and (b) a small consultancy firm called Change Pathways that helped support the overall process through interview guides, trainings, and managing linkage to ongoing IDRC survey work.
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SANOCEAN Water/Energy conservation and fairness in collective burden sharing (2019 -2022)
Project PI - Martine Visser
This study addresses perceptions of fairness of different income groups about how the burden of collective action in conserving water and energy should be allocated in times of crisis. Using the insights of fairness principles, behavioural interventions were designed that incentivise conservation of scarce resources, as well as, payment for received municipal services. South Africa - Norway Cooperation on Ocean Research including Blue Economy, Climate Change, the Environment and Sustainable Energy (SANOCEAN)
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Collective Action in Transfrontier Conservation (2018 - 2022)
Project PI - Herbert Ntuli
This project aims to identify the main opportunities and challenges facing existing transfrontier conservation areas. Building on previous knowledge in the field of transboundary conservation, we set out to address how differences in legal and organizational characteristics affect conservation outcomes. More than obtaining this knowledge, the project sets out to investigate whether these different rules and regulations – including strategies of enforcing these rules and regulations – have any effect on conservation outcomes.
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Trash for Cash (2021)
Project PIs - Martine Visser & Reza Daniels
This study aims to investigate the potential barriers and enablers to recycling and improved household waste management within low-income communities. We then aim to use this understanding of the barriers to recycle to develop behavioural nudges to increase uptake of beneficial waste management practises by households. Finally, this study will attempt to evaluate the impact that the mobile recycling buyback centres have on the volumes of litter in the surrounding environment, using a combination of street and aerial surveillance.
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Development and implementation of capacity building in measurement and valuation of ecosystem services for African countries (2021)
Project PI - Jane Turpie
The scope of work was to deliver a course on Measuring and valuing ecosystem services in the context of NCA, that could eventually be integrated into environmental and economic curricula in African universities. The course was designed for professionals who work within public sector institutions.
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In connection with Just Water - Exploring the behavioural impacts of households' perceptions of fairness in relation to water services in Cape Town (2020 - 2021)
Project PI - Martine Visser
The study consists of two stages; an initial data gathering stage in which data about incomes of a sample of Cape Town municipal account holders are collected, and a second stage in which this data is leveraged to elicit beliefs about how water is consumed and paid for in Cape Town using state of the art incentivized elicitation methods, and to collect data on the perceptions of fairness around how the burden of managing water resources is shared in Cape Town. The design of the study and the richness of the data collected will allow us to link the responses to our surveys to actual consumption data given by municipal account records, and use these linkages to making inferences about how beliefs, perceptions of fairness, and income relate to actual consumption of, and payment for, water in the City of Cape Town.
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Sustainable Oceans, Livelihoods and food security through increased capacity in Ecosystem research in the Indian Ocean (SOLSTICE) (2017 - 2021)
Project PI - Tony Leiman
The squid industry is a major employer in the coastal zone between Port Elizabeth and Jeffrey’s Bay. Unfortunately the resource is unstable, with catches fluctuating between 2000 tons and 10 0000 tons per annum. The only control is an effort restriction (two closed seasons, one short and one slightly longer, totally about three months a year). These are required as the harvesting system involves fishing with handlines into breeding aggregations. The question is, how to mitigate the economically destabilizing effects of closed seasons and volatile catches. There is little background information available, so the project has begun with a set of interviews of fishers, local business and of fishing companies in the area. One aim is to develop a local social accounting matrix for use by other researchers, but more immediately, to help inform policy makers.
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SEBEI (2019 - 2020)
Project PI - Jane Turpie in collaboration with the African Climate and Development Initiative
The overall objective of this innovative, transdisciplinary research project is to develop an evidence-based integrated framework and prototype “investment case” for strengthening water-related Ecological Infrastructure (EI) while: i) supporting well-functioning livelihood strategies/value chains; ii) creating new livelihood opportunities and value chains; and iii) reducing hydroclimatic risks.
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Collaborative Research Program on Policy Instruments for Sustainable Management of Oceans and Marine Resources (2018 - 2020)
Project PIs - Martine Visser & Reza Daniels
The two focus areas of the program are effective management of fisheries and the combat of marine pollution with a specific focus on plastic waste.
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Ecosystem Services Accounting for Development (ESAfD) (2018 - 2019)
Project PI - Jane Turpie
This project started with a study on the demand for outdoor recreation in Kampala, which was presented to the Kampala city authorities, and worked on the valuation of water quality amelioration by natural system and the amenity value of urban green open space. This project grew to a seven-country ecosystem service valuation project that has been developed in collaboration with a number of EfD centres around the world. The key objective of the project was to contribute to the development of ecosystem service accounting by enhancing the knowledge and empirical evidence of valuing ecosystem services.
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(IFAD) - International Fund for Agricultural Development-led project: Provision of Climate Vulnerability Services for eight African countries (2018 - 2019)
Project PI - Jane Turpie
International Fund for Agricultural Development-led project: Provision of Climate Vulnerability Services for eight African countries
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CoCT Impact of behavioural messaging on water consumption and technology uptake: Evidence from a randomized experiment in South Africa (2016 -2019)
Project PI - Martine Visser
This study formed part of a larger body of work on behavioural nudges that was conducted within the City of Cape Town around water conservation.
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ASSAR Collaborative - The role of behavioural interventions in climate-change adaptation and mitigation: The case of local communities in South Africa (2018)
Project PI - Martine Visser
This project examines the role of early forecasting on adaptation and technology uptake where information diminishes the uncertainty or ambiguity associated with climate variability. The extent to which poor people in rural contexts value such information is also considered. We combine experimental games with cross-sectional survey data to investigate there issues in depth. The project forms part of a large collaboration as part of an ACDI (“Adaptation and Saclae in Semi-Arid Regions”/ ASSAR) and in additional working with researchers in the EFD network to extend the research to Tanzania.
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RAMP - Female microenterprise creation and business models for private sector distribution of low-cost renewable off-grid LED lighting: Proposed randomised tests impact evaluation and lab experiments in rural villages (2018)
Project PI - Martine Visser
This study focuses on understanding how social preferences such as risk aversion, prosocial behaviour and competitiveness determines performance and household decision making of female entrepreneurs involved in the rolling out of LED lighting in rural Rwanda and the extent to which empowering females have positive spillovers for the rest of their households. Linked to this the researchers study how both pricing and behavioural incentives impact the take-up of lights and also the recharge frequency of lights.