Conference presentation
Interactive tool integrating economic values for NSW national parks
65th AARES 2021 - Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economic Society (Online, 08/02/2021 - 12/02/2021)
12/02/2021
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Abstract
The Centre for Advanced Analytics and Economics at NSW DPIE has a comprehensive economic analysis program evaluating the contribution of NSW national parks network to the NSW community and the state economy. The analyses produce welfare values as well as measures of economic activity used to support business cases for extending or improving park infrastructure and visitor facilities. Since quantifying the economic values for national parks in 2016, NPWS has been successful in securing more than $600 million in new funding from NSW Treasury. More recently, internal developments in economic impact analysis and NPWS expenditure compilation has extended the reach of evidence available to the agency. The work is also used for engagement and ministerial communications to demonstrate the value of parks either for the whole state, individual regions or single parks. The success of economic analysis in supporting investment in national parks has led to growing demand for economic services within the agency. This is putting pressure on limited resources, leading to delays in information provision and creating a dependency on specialist interpretation. The latest component of the broader economic program seeks to address these problems and consists of an interactive tool integrating the different economic values produced over time. The NPWS Economic Values dashboard provides accessible, timely and strategic economic evidence for non-economists to support policy and investment in protected areas. The dashboard indicates that in 2018 domestic and international visitation to national parks provided $5.2 billion in economic benefit to the NSW community, contributed $17.9 billion to total economic output and supported 74,000 total jobs across the state. The success of the dashboard however extends beyond the provision of monetary values, notably by improving non-specialist understanding of the role economic analysis can play in demonstrating the non-tangible benefits protected areas provide to the community. This paper presents a brief overview of the national parks economic program, describes the role of the NPWS Economic Values dashboard in meeting the needs of the agency, demonstrates the use of the dashboard through a series of use cases and discusses potential future directions for the interactive tool as well as the work underpinning it.
Details
- Title
- Interactive tool integrating economic values for NSW national parks
- Creators
- Marie-Chantale Pelletier - NSW Department of Planning and EnvironmentLiz Heagney - NSW Department of Planning and Environment
- Conference
- 65th AARES 2021 - Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economic Society (Online, 08/02/2021 - 12/02/2021)
- Identifiers
- 991013018034402368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Conference presentation