Kurzbeschreibung
(Englisch)
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Ambrosia artemisiifolia (ragweed) is one of the most prominent invasive alien species in Europe.This project proposes to develop an economic evaluation of the costs of Ambrosia a. invasion in Europe. Despite the fact that ragweed has been spreading in Europe for more than a century, and despite the magnitude of its likely impacts on human health and agricultural production, current knowledge on the impact and management alternatives of the invasive species is limited. We propose to improve this information using two complementary approaches which we detail below. The first one is an econometric estimation that relates historical data on the geographical presence of ragweed to historical data on human health and economic/agronomic indicators of agricultural activity. The second approach is an explicit microeconomic modelling of the economic behavior of crop growers and the aggregate response of markets to yield reductions due to the weed invasion. This project will be developped as an important element of the efforts of Working group 4 of the COST Action and will benefit from and contribute to the European network of experts on Ambriosia a., its health and agricultural impacts.
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Abstract
(Englisch)
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This research project aims at evaluating the economic damages caused by common ragweed (Ambrosla aflemlsilfolla) in Europe. Common ragweed is an invasive allen species Hiat has spread wldely aoross Europe In the last decades. Desplte the magnitude ot its likely impact on human health, the current knowledge on the lmpact and management 01 thls Invasive species is llmlted. We propose to till this research gap by estimating the relatlonship between the geographical distribution of pollen and plants of common ragweed and human health. This project is based on an lnterdlsclpllnaiy approach, being crudal to the efforts 01 worklng group 4 ot the Sustainable management 01 Ambmsla a,?emisiffolla In Europe (SMARTER) COST Action. A major result of the first project reporting period was that variation In plant distribution and health data can be used to economeffically Inter the health damages caused by common ragweed. For this purpose, we conducted a case study wlth data from Sweden, where common ragweed has only recenfly esffiblished flowenng populations. We use thls wall documented case to study the early impacts of an invasive species on human health. Our identification strategy relied on spatlal and temporal variation in common ragweed population and health data tor 1998-2012, applylng panel-data estimatlon techniques. Our estimates show that common ragweed — even lt Hie Invasion Is still In the lag phase — has adverse impacts on human health. We compare dlfferent scenarios and calculate Hie current and future damages to human health for Sweden. Our calculations provide evidence that common ragweed may become an important economic Issues lt not deatt wlth in a sound manner. We expanded on this analysis in the second reporting perlod by exploitlng more detailed health data from Sweden. Our resuits confirm the findings dlscussed above, and allow Hie lncorporatlon of a plant spread model to evaluate future costs of,the common ragweed Invasion in Sweden. The second reporting perlod was used to expand Hie scope of our analysis In two dlmenslons. Flrst, we are working on a pollcy paper that alms at summarizing national and European policies to deal wfth the common ragweed invasion. We analyze both Hie cost and benefit of current and future pollcles in terma of he&Hi and agriculture. Second, we initlated a new case study In France. For the Rhone-AIp area, where common ragweed is Hie majOr public health concem in late summer, we plan tu conduct a study Uiat explolts variation in indMdual heatth care data. We will make use of a dispersion model to measure patlent-level common ragweed pollen exposure. This study ls dlfferent to the one conducted In Sweden because common ragweed is already weil established in Hie Rhone vailey. Hence, our findings will provide lnslghts into a different dimension ot Hie relatlonship between common ragweed and human health For Hie upcoming reporting period, we plan to complete Hie work done in reporting perlod 1 and 2. Moreover, we will also study Hie relationshlp between common ragweed pollen and human heafth care demand for Swltzedand. We plan tu rely on a chemical distribution model tu predlct Hie histurical distribution ot common ragweed pollen. This information will be matched wlth heafth outcome varlabiss (e.g., admlsslons to hospital, dwg sales) to inter the damages related tu common ragweed pollen. ThIs case study will be conducted with data from Swilzertand and will provlde a bettet understandlng 01 pollen allergy causes.
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