News
Report by Victorian Auditor-General’s Office reaches same conclusions as Ecolarge
Jun 26th
A report by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has found that food bowl modernisation and north-south pipeline plans were not backed by a strong business case and alternatives were not adequately explored.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/brumby-water-plan-damned-20100609-xwua.html
These findings mirror the findings of Economists at Large for the desalination plant in our submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administrations’s inquiry into the Business Case for Water Infrastructure.
In the submission, Ecolarge concluded that there had been inadequate analysis conducted on water policy in Victoria and that the “Our Water Our Future” plan had not been subjected to any serious public economic analysis. Economists at Large suggested that a levelised cost of water delivery approach should have been used to properly assess alternatives and that with figures and analysis at the time, a desalination plant did not appear to be the most efficient water policy option.
The original report released by the Auditor-General’s office can be found at the link below:
Website for inquiry: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/standing-committee-on-finance-and-public-administration/inquiries/article/594
Ecolarge submission: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/documents/council/SCFPA/water/Submissions/SCFPA_Water_27.pdf
Whale Watching Worldwide – Report Released
Jun 23rd
(Madeira, Portugal — 23 June 2009) -A new report released today by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org) documents massive growth in the global whale watching industry over the past decade. The new report, Whale Watching Worldwide, comes as more than 80 countries debate the future of whaling and whale conservation at the 61st annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Madeira, Portugal.
The new, country-by-country economic analysis shows more than 13 million people took whale watching tours last year in 119 countries worldwide, generating ticket fees and tourism expenditures of more than US$2.1 billion (more than AUD $2.8 billion) during 2008. The report also shows dramatic growth of the whale watching industry in Asia, the Pacific, South America, the Caribbean and Europe significantly outpacing global tourism growth rates over the past decade. More than 3,000 whale watching operations around the world now employ an estimated 13,200 people.
The Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, welcomed the new report and formally introduced it to government delegations attending the Madeira IWC meeting.
I commend IFAW for producing this very timely report. At a time when our global economy, our planet’s great whales and international whale conservation efforts are all under threat, it is encouraging to see coastal communities across Australia, the Asia Pacific region and worldwide reaping massive benefits from the dynamic growth of this form of ecotourism (The Hon Peter Garrett)
“While governments debate what to do about whales, their citizens are pointing the way,” said Patrick Ramage, IFAW Global Whale Program Director. ”Animals, people and the global economy all do better when whales are seen and not hurt. We should be conserving whales in 2009 and shooting them with cameras, not compromising conservation measures and expanding commercial whaling.”
Australia saw more than 1.6 million people go whale watching. This represents an annual growth rate of 8.3% since the last global report was compiled in 1998, generating almost AUD$264 million for our economy.
“Ten years ago the Million Watch Club for whales consisted of the USA, Canada and the Canary Islands-now Australia has pushed past the Canary Islands to join Canada and the United States to be a part of the exclusive club of three,” said IFAW Asia Pacific Director, Erica Martin.
The past decade shows continuing growth and redistribution of whale watching in Australia, with an expansion of activity into new locations as well as some areas seeing a maturing industry where tourist numbers have plateaued or even declined such as in Victoria (mainly due to fluctuations in annual visitation of both whales and tourists).
“A significant increase was seen in Tasmania with a staggering average annual growth rate of 37.6%, followed by New South Wales with 14.7% growth” said Ms Martin.
Port Stephens attracts the largest annual number of boat-based whalewatch tourists anywhere in Australia, receiving just over 270,000 tourists in 2008, more than 80% of whom were there for dolphin watching tours.
International research, data collection and analysis for the IFAW report were conducted over the past 18 months by Economists at Large and Associates of Melbourne, Australia.
The report can be downloaded at www.ifaw.org/whalewatchingworldwide
Executive summary is available at www.ifaw.org/wwwsummary
::CONTACTS::
Patrick Ramage (IFAW) at the IWC meeting
+1 508-776-0027, pramage@ifaw.org
Erica Martin (IFAW Asia Pacific – Sydney)
+61 2 9288 4999, emartin@ifaw.org
Simon O’Connor (Economists at Large – Melbourne)
+61 (0)401 360 500, simon@ecolarge.com
::PRESS::
[ENGLISH]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8114353.stm
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/whales-worth-more-alive-than-dead-20090624-cvmb.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/24/2607050.htm?section=australia http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/whale-watching-trumps-whaling/?hp
[PORTUGUESE]
http://www.acorianooriental.pt/noticias/view/187183
A decade of whale watching – the global industry in 2008, new report by EcoLarge
Apr 22nd
For over a year, EcoLarge have been gathering data from whale, dolphin and porpoise watching tourism operators all over the world, in an effort to quantify the size of the industry globally.
The work was commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and will be the most comprehensive report of its kind since the 2001 report entitled: “Whale Watching 2001: Worldwide Tourism Numbers, Expenditures, and Expanding Socioeconomic Benefits“.
Now in it’s final stages, the report is due for release in the next two months, watch this space!
Economists at Large – economists without borders
Mar 2nd
In late 2008 and early 2009, Economists at Large consultants have been involved in projects in Indonesia and Laos, working on projects in forestry, urban development, ecosystem services and sustainable development. For these projects, EcoLarge has worked with international and local NGOs, Government departments, local communities and international institutions.
As well as this, an international team of eleven associates across four contintents, speaking ten languages is currently in the final stages of preparing the Worldwide Whale Watching report, commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and due for release in the coming months. This report will be the most comprehensive global review of whale, dolphin and porpoise watching tourism since 2000.
We look forward to continuing our internationally focused work as we continue to build our expertise.
Parliamentary Enquiry into channel deepening supports EcoLarge findings
Sep 11th
The Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration’s final report on the Port of Melbourne’s channel deepening project was handed down recently. Findings of this report correlate closely with the findings of earlier work by EcoLarge, in particular that the benefits to the state of Victoria have been laregly overstated in the economic modelling. We believe that the channel deepening project continues to display an ever weaker business case, with largely under estimated costs, and inflated benefits – Victoria’s own concorde project.
More details at:
http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council/SCFPA/PtPhillip/default.html
http://www.ecolarge.com/reports
EcoLarge appear as expert witness
Jul 30th
Economists at Large was called by the local community group, Save Bastion Point, to present as an expert witness in the inquiry into the open access boat ramp at Mallacoota in eastern Victoria. Economists at Large presented their findings as contained in the expert witness report on our reports page.
More info at:
http://www.ecolarge.com/reports
Tongan Whale Watching Report released today
Jun 16th
A report on the economic valuation of the Tongan whale watching industry was released today in the South Pacific country.
The EcoLarge report for IFAW found that the industry provides an annual boost of just under US$2 million to the small island nation, and has grown at an average of 20% per year since 1998.
The final report can be found in our Reports section.
Press coverage can be seen at the following links:
http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/06/14/study-urges-protection-for-whales-in-tonga
http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=130/focusContentID=12510/tableName=mediaRelease/overideSkinName=newsArticle-full.tpl
Victorian Auditor General to audit Channel Deepening Project.
Jun 9th
In June 2008, the Victorian Auditor Generals office commenced a report on the channel deepening project. The report will assess the key aspects of the project’s development, including the economic and business case and the accountability and management of the project. The analysis of the project carried out by Economists at Large (see our reports page) will be provided to assistant this process.
A final report is due out in June, 2009.
Details can be found at:
http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/audits_in_progress/audits_in_progress.aspx
Inquiry into Channel Deepening begins
Jun 3rd
The Australian Financial Review quoted from an EcoLarge submission in today’s paper, reporting that the net present value of the project is certainly lower than presented in the supplementary environmental effects statement and is likley to be negative.
See our analysis and submission to this inquiry on the Reports page.
Pacific Whale Watching Report Launched in New Zealand
Apr 3rd
A report conducted for IFAW in was launched in Auckland by a former NZ Minister. The report finds strong growth in whale watching across the Pacific Islands region, with an estimated economic value of US$ 21 million.
You can view the report on our Reports page.
See an article in the New Zealand Herald via this link:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10501706