Stakeholder preferences towards the sustainable development of CDM projects: Lessons from biomass (rice husk)
CDM project in Thailand
Piya Parnphumeesup , Sandy A.Kerr
International CentreforIslandTechnology (ICIT),InstituteofPetroleumEngineering,Heriot-Watt
University,OldAcademy,BackRoad,Stromness, Orkney KW163 AW, Scotland,
United Kingdom
a b s t r a c t
This research applies both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate stakeholder preferences towards sustainable development(SD) prioritiesin Clean Development Mechanism(CDM) projects.The CDM’s contribution to SD isexplored in the contex to fabiomass(ricehusk) case study conducted in Thailand. Quantitative analysis ranks increasing the usage of renewable energy as the highes tpriority, followed by employment and technology transfer. Airpollution(dust) is rankedas the most important problem. Preference weight sexpressed by experts and local resident are statistically different in the cases of: employmentgeneration; emission reductions; dust; waste disposal;and noise. Qualitative results, suggest that rice husk CDM projectsc on tribute significantly to SD interms of employment generation,an increase inusage of renewable energy,and transfer of knowledge. However,rice husk biomass projects create apot ential negative impac to nair quality. In order to ensure the environmental sustainability of CDM projects, stakeholder ssuggest that Thailand should cancel an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)exemption for CDM projects with an installed capacity below 10MW and apply it toall CDM projects.
Keywords:
Clean DevelopmentMechanism
Stakeholder preferences
Sustainable development
a r t i c l e info
Article history:
Received 14September2010
Accepted 24March2011
Available online14April2011
