Land-use activities that affect the global balance of greenhouse gases have been a topic of intense discussion during ongoing climate change treaty negotiations. Policy mechanisms that reward countries for implementing climatically beneficial land-use practices have been included in the Bonn and Marrakech agreements on implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. However some still fear that land-use projects focused narrowly on carbon gain will result in socioeconomic and environmental harm, and thus conflict with the explicit sustainable development objectives of the agreement. We propose a policy tool, in the form of a multi-attribute decision matrix, which can be used to evaluate potential and completed land-use projects for their climate, environmental and socioeconomic impacts simultaneously. Project evaluation using this tool makes tradeoffs explicit and allows identification of projects with multiple co-benefits for promotion ahead of others. Combined with appropriate public participation, accounting, and verification policies, a land-use activity decision matrix can help ensure that progressive land management practices are an effective part of the solution to global climate change.

This article analyzes adoption and impacts of Bt cotton in Argentina against the background of monopoly pricing. Based on survey data, it is shown that the technology significantly reduces insecticide applications and increases yields; however, these advantages are curbed by the high price charged for genetically modified seeds. Using the contingent valuation method, it is shown that farmers' average willingness to pay is less than half the actual technology price. A lower price would not only increase benefits for growers, but could also multiply company profits, thus, resulting in a Pareto improvement. Implications of the sub-optimal pricing strategy are discussed.

Bt cotton was among the first transgenic crops to be used in commercial agriculture. A gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been transferred to the cotton genome. This gene codes for production of a protein that is toxic to the cotton bollworm, a severe insect pest in most cotton-growing regions of the world. In the United States and China, Bt cotton was commercialized in the mid-1990s, and today, the technology covers around 30-40% of the cotton area in both countries. Recent studies demonstrate that US and Chinese Bt adopters realize significant pesticide and cost savings (Carpenter et al., 2002; Pray, Huang, Hu, & Rozelle, 2002). Benefits of Bt cotton have also been reported for South Africa (Shankar & Thirtle, 2003) and Mexico (Traxler, Godoy-Avila, Falck-Zepeda, & Espinoza-Arellan, 2001). Nonetheless, there is still uncertainty related to the technologyís impacts and sustainability under different agroecological and socioeconomic conditions. This article analyzes the implications of Bt cotton in Argentina, where the technology was commercialized by Monsanto in 1998. Unlike other Bt-growing countries, where cotton is a heavily subsidized crop, Argentina is producing under free-trade conditions, with comparatively low input intensities and production costs. This might influence the technologyís agronomic outcome. Apart from a comparative analysis of pesticide use and yields with and without Bt, productivity effects are modeled econometrically using a damage control specification. This analysis is based on a comprehensive survey of Argentine cotton farmers in 2001 done jointly with Argentinaís National Institute for Farming and Livestock Technology (INTA). Although short-run gains of the technology are increasingly recognized (Qaim & Zilberman, 2003), long-run effects associated with pest resistance remain in doubt. We address this issue by using biological models to simulate possible resistance development in bollworm populations. Although resistance buildup has not been observed in the field so far, biochemical studies indicate a high risk of rapid insect adaptation to the Bt toxin (Gould, 1998). Resistance development is one of the main concerns of environmentalists with respect to Bt crops. It would not only challenge the technologyís sustainability, but would also imply loss of Bt as an ecologically friendly microbial insecticide that is widely used in organic agriculture.

The mental health workforce has changed dramatically since the mid-1970s. Nonphysician providers, particularly psychologists and clinical social workers, have become a much larger share of the workforce. While the supply of psychiatrists has been relatively stable, there has been a dramatic increase in the supply of psychologists and social workers. Changes in clinical practice, combined with the continued expansion of managed care into mental health, will largely determine the future composition and supply of the mental health workforce.