Luke Brander is an environmental economist with over 20 years experience in applied research. He obtained his Masters degree in Environmental and Resource Economics at University College London (1997-98) and his doctoral degree from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2011.
Luke is currently working as a freelance environmental economist based in Amsterdam. He holds a part-time position at the Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as a Senior Researcher.
Luke’s main research interests are in the design of economic instruments to control environmental problems and the valuation of natural resources and environmental impacts. He has worked on the valuation of wetlands, forests, grasslands, mangroves, coral reefs and urban open space using primary valuation methods and through meta-analyses of the ecosystem valuation literature.
On-going and recent projects include the valuation of ecosystem services provided by marine turtles in Asia-Pacific for WWF-Australia; the valuation of terrestrial protected areas in Peninsular Malaysia for UNDP; the development of a global ecosystem service valuation database (ESVD); Cost-Benefit Analysis of sustainable land management in Georgia for The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB); valuation of ecosystem services provided by urban wetlands in Lao PDR for UNEP; valuation of ecosystem services provided by coastal ecosystems in the Gulf of Mottama in Myanmar for IUCN; and the valuation of recreation and aesthetic enjoyment in Sai Kung country park Hong Kong for AFCD.
Luke is an experienced teacher of environmental economics and has given university courses at Masters level, tailored workshops to policy makers and practitioners, and supervises PhD research.