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This is a utility site to download documents related to the Mandelbrot Development Project Case Study.
The Mandelbrot Project: A Case Study in Applied Decision-Making in Environmental Economics. Ruitenbeek J. 2000 [November]. Prepared for IDRC/EEPSEA (Economy and Environment Program for South East Asia), Singapore (www.eepsea.org)
Introduction
The Mandelbrot
Development Project is a hypothetical development project in a developing
country. The project design is based on typical circumstances in a hypothetical
low-middle income country (Mañanaland), and draws on actual conditions from a
cross-section of real-life projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Ocean
island states, the Indian sub-continent, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. The
case study site features a coastal region (Deli Province) with typical
bio-geographic and socio-economic conditions of high poverty levels,
environmental degradation from deforestation and marginal agriculture, and an
artisanal fishery industry. The area also features a recently established
terrestrial biosphere reserve (Deli National Park) of international importance,
and ecotourism around a marine park area (Deli Archipelago) is slowly being
developed close to the sea-side provincial capital of Fort Brot. The Mandelbrot
Project is composed of a number of regional development activities that
include: (i) a mining project to extract ilmenite; (ii) a port
expansion component required for the mining development; and,
(iii) associated infrastructure.
The case study
exercise provides a role-playing context (“game”) for students of environmental
economics. The purpose of the exercise is not so much to have students
undertake an environmental economics study, as it is for students to gain an
understanding of the decision-making and policy formulation dynamics that often
surround such studies.
Students are divided
into groups of 10-15 people, with each person representing a “player” in the
game. The players are invited to a half-day meeting to consider the development
options for the province, and to determine whether the Mandelbrot project
should (i) proceed immediately; (ii) proceed in some modified form;
(iii) be abandoned; or (iv) be deferred until further research is
done. The Project itself will be funded through the following formula: 25%
private sector; 25% government contribution; 50% international assistance. All
players in the game are given the same background information, which consists
of an invitation to participate, a list of participants, and an economic
consultant’s report. The meeting is chaired by a representative of Central Government
who, in tandem with a representative from an international development agency,
is tasked with garnering input from various stakeholders in the province.
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