New methods for cost-benefit analyses for Regional Pest Management Plans: Towards implementation of the National Policy Direction

Abstract

The Biosecurity Act requires that Regional Councils carry out reviews of their Regional Pest Management Plans, which include an assessment of whether the benefits of each pest management programme outweigh the costs (i.e. cost-benefit analyses). In 2009, we developed a modified version of the Harris model for carrying out cost-benefit analyses for a review of the proposed Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Strategy. We have not changed the underlying economic assumptions of the model (we are ecologists, not economists); instead we have added additional features to the model which build on the standard equation, and provide greater flexibility to the model. Some of the major changes include quantification of pest impacts on non-productive land uses, more realistic prediction of pest spread rates, and incorporation of a range of values around many of the parameters (to allow for uncertainty in the data). Here we briefly present our methods, and explain some of the advantages of this new approach for carrying out Regional Pest Management Plan reviews.