Professor Michael Christie

Professor of Environmental and Ecological Economics
BSc (Hons), PhD. Aberdeen. Photograph of Professor Michael Christie.

Contact

Email: mec@aber.ac.uk
Office: S18, Cledwyn
Phone: +44 (0) 1970 622217
Personal Web Site:

Biography

Biography

Prof Christie was appointed Professor of Environmental and Ecological Economics in the School of Management and Business in 2012. He has a BSc (Hons) degree in Agriculture (1992) and PhD in Environmental Economics (1998): both from Aberdeen University.  In 1996, he was appointed a Lecturer in Environmental Economics at Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Rural Studies. He is Executive Member of the UK Network of Environmental Economics and the Ecosystem Service Partnership, and Associated Editor of the Ecosystem Services journal. He teaches microeconomics and environmental / ecological economics.

His research interests are in Environmental and Ecological Economics, specialising in the economic and social valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Although he utilises a wide range of non-market valuation methods, his speciality is in the use of stated preference method (choice experiments). He is also interested in exploring ways in which these methods might be enhanced by e.g. incorporating participatory and deliberative approaches to improve people’s preference revelation. Other areas of expertise include: outdoor recreation, tourism, agri-environment, and economic impact.

Recent research projects have been funded by NERC’s VNN, BESS and ESPA programmes, as well more applied Defra research on e.g. the ecosystem service value of the UK BAP and SSSIs. Increasingly, his research has focused on examining the human welfare impacts of biodiversity loss in developing countries, with recent studies in Malawi, Nigeria, Ghana, the Solomon Islands and the Caribbean. He also contributed to TEEB and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, and has ran various capacity building courses for UNEP on Ecosystem Assessments in Africa, Asia, Caribbean and South America.

Staff Links

Skype: mike.christie5

Twitter: @MikeChristieUni

Blog: http://drmikechristie.blogspot.co.uk/

 http://users.aber.ac.uk/mec/index.htm

Staff Publications

2012
Christie M, Fazey I, Cooper R, Hyde H and Kenter JO. (2012) An Evaluation of Monetary and Non-monetary Techniques for Assessing the Importance of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to People in countries with developing economies. Ecological Economics, 83, 69-80.
de Groot RS, Brander L, van der Ploeg S, Bernard F, Braat L, Christie M, Costanza R, Crossman N, Ghermandi A, and Hein L (2012). Global estimates of the value of ecosystems and their services in monetary units. Ecosystem Services. 1 (1), 50-61.
Schader C, Lampkin N, Christie M, Nemecek T, Gaillard G, Stolze M (2012) Economic evaluation of organic farming support as an agri-environmental measure at Swiss agricultural sector level. Land Use Policy (In Press)
Christie M and Rayment M (2012) An economic assessment of the ecosystem service benefits derived from the SSSI biodiversity conservation policy in England and Wales. Ecosystem Services 1(1), 70-84

2011
Whitfield, S.; Reed, M.S.; Thomson, K.; Christie, M.; Stringer, L.C.; Quinn, C.H.; Anderson, R.; Moxey, A.; Hubacek, K. (2011). Managing Peatland Ecosystem Services: Current UK policy and future challenges in a changing world. Scottish Geographical Journal. 127, 209-230.
Christie M and Gibbons J. (2011) The effect of individual ‘ability to choose’ (scale heterogeneity) on the valuation of environmental goods. Ecological Economics. 70. 2250-2257.
Conrad, Cassar, Jones, Eiter, Izakovicova, Barankova, Christie and Fazey (2011) Rhetoric and Reporting of Public Participation in Landscape Policy. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. 13(1), 23 – 47.
Conrad L, Cassar LF, Christie M and Fazey I (2011). Hearing but not listening? A participatory assessment of public participation in planning. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy. 29 (5), 761-782. (Paper selected as ‘Editors Choice’)
Conrad L, Fazey I and Christie M (2011) Is research keeping up with changes in landscape policy? A review of the literature. Journal of Environmental Management. 92 (9), 2097-2108.
Kenter J, Hyde T, Christie M and Fazey I (2011).  The importance of deliberation in valuing ecosystem services in developing countries – evidence from the Solomon Islands. Global Environmental Change Human and Policy Dimensions, 21(2), 505-521.   
Conrad, L, Christie, M, and Fazey, I (2011). Understanding public perceptions of landscape: A case study from Gozo Malta. Applied Geography. 31, 159 - 170  

2010
Fazey, I, Kesby, M, Evely, A, Latham, I, Wagatora, D, Hagasua, J-E, Reed, M, S, Christie, M (2010). A three-tiered approach to participatory vulnerability assessment in the Solomon Islands. Global Environmental Change. 20, 713-728., doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.04.011
Fazey, I, Gamarra, JGPJ, Fischer, J, Reed, MS, Stringer, LC, Christie, M (2010) Adaptation strategies to reduce vulnerability to future environmental change. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 8 (8)  414-422.

Older
Christie M and Azevedo C (2009). Testing the Consistency Between Standard Contingent Valuation, Repeated Contingent Valuation, and Choice Experiments. Journal of Agricultural Economics 60(1), 154-170.
Christie M, Hanley, N and Hynes S. (2007). Valuing enhancements to forest recreation using choice experiments and contingent behaviour methods. Journal of Forest Economics. 13(2), 75-102.
Christie M (2007) An examination of the disparity between hypothetical and actual willingness to pay for Red Kite conservation using the contingent valuation method. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 55, 159-169.
Christie M, Hanley, N, Warren, J, Murphy K, Wright R and Hyde T. (2006) Valuing the diversity of biodiversity Ecological Economics. 58(2), 304-317.
Scott A, Christie M, and Midmore P. (2004) Impact of the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain: implications for rural studies.  Journal of Rural Studies 20(1), 1 – 14.
Scott A, Christie M, and Tench H. (2003) Visitor payback: Panacea or Pandora’s box for conservation in the UK? Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 46(4), 583-604.
Christie M (2001). A comparison of alternative contingent valuation elicitation treatments for the evaluation of complex environmental policy.  Journal of Environmental Management. 62(3), 255-269.
Christie M, Crabtree B and Slee B (2000)  An economic assessment of recreation policy in the Scottish countryside.  Scottish Geographical Journal 116(2), 125-142.
Christie M (1999).  Designing strategic recreation policy using contingent valuation.   Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. 42(4), 547-564.