Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

This is the essay question, and suggested template: You are a member of a team working within an Environmental Protection Agency which has been given the task of producing a briefing paper for the government Minister for the Environment. This paper concerns the design of a suite of policy options to mitigate a number of disparate pollution problems within the catchment of a large river system. These pollution problems originate from point (predominantly waste-water treatment plants) and non-point sources (agriculture) and are causing problems throughout the river system and at the river estuary. Your briefing paper should be written in an academic style (i.e. it should be fully referenced) and should incorporate the following sections: an explanation of the types and sources of that pollution and which also outlines the impacts that pollution is causing (focusing on their potential economic costs) (15% of marks); a summary of the available policy options that could be employed to tackle those specific pollution issues that clearly explains how those options operate (35% of marks); a review which details how effective those options are likely to be and which draws on evidence of the use of those policy options from across the world (35% of marks); a conclusion which sets out an argument for your preferred set of policies (15% of marks).