Biosecurity response decision support framework (CEBRA Project 170820)

The overarching purpose of this two-year project is to improve and strengthen MPI’s decision making in response to new pest or disease incursions that may pose a risk to the economic, environmental, human health and socio-cultural values of New Zealand.
Activities during year one of the project identified non-market valuation (NMV) – valuing the impacts of incursions on environmental goods and services – as a key focus for year two of the project. NMV becomes important in cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of response options when pests and diseases have non-market impacts. Typically these impacts are more challenging to value than market impacts. When non-market impacts are not included, the resulting CBA will be incomplete and may lead to inefficient resource allocation. This issue is seen as particularly important in the context of negotiating Government Industry Agreements.
The economics discipline provides a range of rigorous and credible methods for valuing the non-market impacts of pest and incursions. Unfortunately, MPI staff with these skills are not always available to assist in developing the CBA and business cases for a response. This report recommends ways to improve the capacity of decision makers to incorporate NMV into decisions undertaken in the response context, including the use of a ‘benefit-transfer tool’ that would allow staff to rapidly understand the magnitude of non-market impacts.