Overview

Watershed protection is an important economic and environmental policy concern throughout Southeast Asia (APO, 1995; Doolette and Magrath, 1990). This research work plan is predicated on the belief that an integrated economy-environment model can be a useful supplemental tool for policy planning directed at watershed planning. The model used for this activity is described in Shively (2000) and was demonstrated in seminars during February 1999 conducted at PCARRD, DA-BAR, GOLD, and the municipality of Lantapan. In February 2000 the model was disseminated to work plan partners in Los Banos. The model is intended to facilitate the integration of natural resources research in several disciplines in a consistent manner. By necessity the model relies on a simplified view of a watershed economy and is designed as a heuristic tool. To maintain tractability the model focuses on a narrowly defined set of linkages that connect economic signals (such as commodity and input prices) to cropping decisions made by representative farmers, and the economic and environmental outcomes (such as erosion, sedimentation, nutrient and pesticide loadings) implied by these land use patterns.