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Evaluating policy options for managing diffuse source water quality in Lake Taupo, New Zealand

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Abstract

Environmental policy makers are interested in ways to prevent environmental degradation without significantly limiting economic and social development. Increasingly, market-based instruments are being incorporated into the suite of policy tools to accomplish these aims. However, the lack of information on market-based instruments accessible to non-economists limits understanding of how and when a market-based instrument can be integrated into a traditional policy regime. This paper aims to address the lack of accessible information using a generic screening process for policy instruments demonstrated through application to a non-point source pollution problem in Lake Taupo, New Zealand.

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  1. See www.agresearch.co.nz/overseerweb/.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the collegial contribution made through reviewing drafts by Melissa Bright, John Ward, Geoff Kerr and Ian Wills. Research Assistance of Tim Buckland, David Kaczan, Marcia Sanderson and Sharon Rochow are also gratefully acknowledged. The initial research was supported by the NZ Ministry for the Environment. The work has evolved since the research project and the opinions expressed in this paper represent the opinions of the authors and not a government agency or department. Errors and omissions are the responsibility of the authors.

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Correspondence to Darla Hatton MacDonald.

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Connor, J.D., Hatton MacDonald, D., Morrison, M. et al. Evaluating policy options for managing diffuse source water quality in Lake Taupo, New Zealand. Environmentalist 29, 348–359 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-008-9197-x

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