An economic assessment of an irrigation project affecting a Greek wetland

✍ Scribed by A. Psychoudakis; S. Papoutsi-Psychoudaki; A. M. M. McFarquhar

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 625 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0923-4861
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00179838

✦ Synopsis

The marshes and wet meadows surrounding Lake Mikri Prespa, Greece, are internationally significant wetlands scheduled in the Ramsar Convention. This environment was adversely affected in the 1960s by an irrigation project and the associated drainage and roads intended to increase agricultural production and income. The anticipated project construction phase was scheduled to take two years, but took two decades. The public cost of the project was 4.4 times the initial estimate, while the irrigated area is only 41.3 percent of that planned. The adverse environmental impacts included a reduction in wetland area and the negative effects of intensive farming. An ex-post cost-benefit analysis shows that the social value of the project is negative, so that the economic losses would have been avoided by conserving the area in its natural state, quite apart from its intrinsic environmental value. However, the benefits to farmers, although less than that expected, were substantial, thus explaining the local support for the further expansion of irrigation.