Wageningen University teaches a course on economic valuation in the design of environmental policies at INTEC
SANTO DOMINGO. - The Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) hosted the course "Use of Economic Valuation in the Design of Environmental Policies”, taught by Dr. Francisco Alpízar, president and professor of the School of Environmental Economics and Natural Resources at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, and one of the most influential environmental economists on the international academic scene.
The training that took place from August 1 to 4, 2023 was aimed at students of the INTEC Environmental Sciences doctorate and in it the most relevant methodological approaches to the economic valuation of ecosystems were addressed, such as the cost of travel, contingent valuation and the selection experiment.
To end the course, the doctor gave a lecture on "Economic valuation as an input for decision-making in ecosystem management: the use of focused scenarios."
The activity was carried out within the framework of the project "Promoting the valuation of ecosystem services in the Dominican Republic: a hybrid valuation approach in the Bay of Samaná and its surroundings" financed by the Dominican Fund for Innovation and Scientific and Technological Development (FONDOCYT ), from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCYT), whose main researcher is Dr. Víctor Gómez-Valenzuela, economist and social scientist, past vice-rector for Research and Liaison at INTEC, whose work in economic valuation of the environment and public policies has been a pioneer in the Dominican Republic.
Doctors Alpízar and Gómez-Valenzuela have carried out joint scientific publications in international scientific journals. In the aforementioned FONDOCYT project, doctors Solhanlle Bonilla-Duarte and Katerin Ramírez, from INTEC, also collaborate and develop their doctoral theses in Environmental Sciences from INTEC Ramón Roque Paulino, Ana Pou and Claudia Caballero.
Officials from the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD), the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, as well as representatives of civil society organizations participated in the course.
Wageningen University is a research and higher education organization in the Netherlands ranked number 1 in the world for Agriculture, Forestry and Environment, according to QS university ranking.
"From this first experience, it is expected to deepen the collaboration between the INTEC doctoral program and the University of Wageningen, as well as the ties of scientific and academic cooperation, contributing to the construction of high-level capacities for sustainable development, a INTEC's fundamental commitment to Dominican society," said Gómez-Valenzuela.