Dr. Luke Brander

Luke co-authored five studies on the economic value of coastal and marine resources in the South Pacific as part of the Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Management in Pacific Island Countries (MACBIO) project. The studies are for Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu; and assess the economic value of subsistence fishing, commercial fisheries, mineral and […]

Luke recently completed a study on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for the forestry sector of Adjara Autonomous Republic, Georgia. The study was commissioned by the WWF-Caucasus Programme Office. It assesses the economic value of forest ecosystem services under alternative scenarios for future forest management, focusing on ecosystem services that are of high importance […]

Luke co-authored a paper published in Nature Climate Change on the vulnerability of US shellfisheries to ocean acidification. The paper assesses multiple economic and social risk factors associated with ocean acidification, focusing on the reliance of US coastal regions on shelled mollusc harvests and the capacity of these communities to adapt to reductions in harvests. […]

Luke authored a “Perspective Paper” for the Copenhagen Consensus Center on the benefits and costs of the biodiversity targets for the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The “Assessment” and “Perspective” papers on this issue by Anil Markandya, Alistair McVittie and Luke Brander can be found here: http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/post-2015-consensus/biodiversity.

Luke is a co-author of the Convention on Biological Diversity report “An updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification”. The report provides a summary of likely impacts of ocean acidification and concludes that it is now near-inevitable that it will worsen, causing widespread impacts, mostly deleterious, on marine organisms and ecosystems, and on the […]

Luke is a co-author of the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) new guidebook, Coastal Capital: Ecosystem Valuation for Decision Making in the Caribbean. The guidebook details the steps in conducting a coastal ecosystem valuation to inform decision making in the Caribbean. It guides valuation practitioners — both economists and non-economists — through the three phases of […]

Luke authored a guidance manual on value transfer methods for ecosystem services for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The manual was launched on 3 December 2013 by Sir Partha Dasgupta at the Valuation and Accounting of Natural Capital for Green Economy (VANTAGE) conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of this guidance manual is to […]

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Southeast Asia (ASEAN TEEB) scoping study, coordinated by the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the German Development Assistance Agency (GIZ), was completed in November 2012. The overall objective of the ASEAN TEEB scoping study was to pursue the […]

Luke is participating in the Socio-Environmental Synthesis Centre (SESYNC) funded initiative on Using Spatial Data and Analysis to Understand Human Vulnerability to Ocean Acidification. This initiative uses ocean bio-geochemistry data, taxon distribution data, community and economic data, and existing marine management frameworks to identify hot spots where ocean acidification impacts will be most acute. Luke […]