Duncan Knowler

Education

• BA, Economics, University of Alberta
• MA, Economics, University of Alberta
• PhD, Environmental Economics and Environmental Management, University of York, U.K.

Biography

Duncan Knowler is an ecological/environmental economist with extensive experience in the environment and development field. His research interests include the economics of natural resource management in developing countries, valuation of environmental resources and applied bioeconomic modeling. His research has included studies of nutrient enrichment and commercial fisheries in the Black Sea, the economics of invading species, the prospects for community wildlife management in Nepal and Mexico, the sustainability of shrimp-mangrove systems in India and valuing the preservation of fish spawning and spotted owl habitat in Western Canada.

He has been involved in a number of overseas research and project preparation studies, including biodiversity-related work for the World Bank in Nepal, tribal development in India, and integrated pest management in Indonesia. He has prepared studies for the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), the Ramsar Convention, and several studies on sustainable agriculture for FAO, including a background paper for FAO’s World Food Summit Five Year Review, held in 2002.

Prior to returning to the academic world, he was employed with FAO in Rome, where he was involved in natural resource management-related project work in developing countries in cooperation with host governments and financing institutions.

Duncan’s recent reports, presentations and publications include:

• Knowler, D., Page, A., Cooper and Araujo, A. “Valuing a Logging Externality: Loss of the Water Purification Service of Temperate Coastal Rainforests”, Water Economics and Policy, 3(2), 2017.
• Yip, W., Knowler, D., Haider, W. and Trenholm, R. “Valuing the Willingness-to-pay for Sustainable Seafood: Integrated Multi-trophic versus Closed Containment Aquaculture”, Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2016.
• Schwoerer, T., Knowler, D. and Garcia-Martinez, S. “The Value of Whale Watching to Local Communities in Baja, Mexico: A Case Study using Applied Economic Rent Theory”, Ecological Economics 127: 90–101, 2016.
• Araujo, A.H., Cooper, A.B., MacIsaac, E.A. and Knowler, D. “Modeling Population Responses of Chinook and Coho Salmon to Suspended Sediment Using a Life History Approach”, Theoretical Population Biology 103: 71–83, 2015.
• Martínez-Espiñeira, R., Chopin, T., Robinson, S., Noce, A., Knowler, D., and Yip W. “Estimating the biomitigation benefits of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture: a contingent behavior analysis”. Aquaculture, 437(1): 182-194, 2015.
• Frid, L., Knowler, D., Myers, J., Scott, L., Murray, C. “A multi-scale framework for evaluating the costs and benefits of alternative management strategies against invasive plants.” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 56(3): 412–434, 2013.
• Barbier, E., Knowler, D., Gwatipedza, J., Reichard, S. and Ransom-Hodges, A. “Implementing policies to control invasive plant species”. BioScience, 63(2):132-138, February 2013.
• Barbier, E., Gwatipedza, J., Knowler, D. and Reichard, S. “A monopolistic competition economic model of the horticultural industry with a risk of harmful plant invasion”. Agricultural Economics, 42:113-129, 2011.
• Philcox, N., Knowler, D. and Haider, W. “Eliciting Stakeholder Preferences: An Application of Qualitative and Quantitative Methods to Shrimp Aquaculture in the Indian Sundarbans”. Ocean & Coastal Management, 53: 123–134, 2010.
• Poudyal, M., Rothley, K. and Knowler, D. “Ecological and Economic Analysis of Poaching of the Greater One Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in Nepal”. Ecological Applications, 19(7): 1693-1707, 2009.
• Knowler,D., Nathan, S., Philcox, N., Delamare, W., Haider, W. and Gupta, K. 2009. “Assessing Prospects for Shrimp Culture in the Indian Sundarbans: A Combined Simulation Modeling and Choice Experiment Approach” Marine Policy, 33: 613-623, 2009.
• Wood, J., Knowler, D. and Gurung, O. “Assessing the Prospects for Community-based Wildlife Management: the Himalayan Musk Deer (Moschos chrysogaster) in Nepal”. Human Dimension of Wildlife, 13: 1-15, 2008.
• Knowler, D. “Estimation of a Stock-recruitment Relationship for Black Sea Anchovy under the Influence of the Invasive Comb-jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi and Nutrient Enrichment”. Fisheries Research, 84: 275-281, 2007.
• Knowler, D. and Bradshaw, B., “Farmer’s adoption of conservation agriculture: A review and synthesis of recent research”. Food Policy, 32: 25-48, 2007.
• Dudgeon, D., Arthington, A.H., Gessner, M., Kawabata, Z-I., Knowler, D., Lévêque, C., Naiman, R.J., Prieur-Richard, A-H., Soto, D., Stiassny, M.L. and Sullivan, C. “Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges”. Biological Reviews, 81:163-182, 2006.
• Knowler, D. “Re-assessing the Costs of Biological Invasion: Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Black Sea”. Ecological Economics, 52: 187-199, 2005.
• Knowler, D. and Barbier, E., “Importing Exotic Plants and the Risk of Invasion: Are Market-Based Instruments Adequate?.” Ecological Economics, 52: 341-354, 2005.
• Knowler, D. and Barbier, B., “Managing the Black Sea Anchovy Fishery with Nutrient Enrichment and a Biological Invader”. Marine Resource Economics, 20(3): 263-285, 2005.
• Knowler, D. “The Economics of Soil Productivity: Local, National and Global Perspectives”, Land Degradation and Development, 15: 543-561, 2004.
• Knowler, D., MacGregor, B., Bradford, M. and Peterman, R., “Valuing Freshwater Salmon Habitat on the West Coast of Canada”. Journal of Environmental Management, 69:261-273, 2003.
• Knowler, D., Barbier, E.B. and Strand, I. “An Open Access Model of Fisheries and Nutrient Enrichment in the Black Sea”. Marine Resource Economics, 16(3):195-21, 2002.