Cecilia Håkansson

Cecilia Håkansson is an Associate Professor and Lecturer in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics at the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering (SEED), KTH. She holds a PhD in Economics from the Department of Forest Economics, SLU-Umeå (2007). Her main areas of expertise are valuation of ecosystem services and cost-benefit analysis (CBA).

Background

I have an MSc in economics from the Swedish University of Natural Sciences (SLU)- Uppsala (2002). I did my PhD at the Department of Forest Economics, SLU-Umeå, between 2002-2007, and between 2007-2009 I worked as a researcher at the same department. Since late 2009 I have been working as a researcher, assistant professor, and associate professor (2015-) at the Department of Sustainable development, Environmental science and Engineering (SEED). My main research areas are: non-market valuation of ecosystem services (in monetary and non-monetary terms), cost-benefit analysis (CBA), benefit transfer, and distributional issues. In general, my valuation research has focused on a holistic valuation approach connected to actual policy and ecological science. Hence, I have worked interdisciplinary and aimed at presenting results that are directly usable for environmental managers to evaluate policy options, e.g. as part of a CBA.

Project

BBES (Better Decision Support through Valuation of Environmental Intrusions)

The project builds on the previous research project SVING (2022-2024), funded by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), which uses an ecosystem services approach to specify economically relevant consequences of environmental intrusions resulting from railway and road construction. There is a need to clarify the relationship between biodiversity, habitats, ecosystem services, and the valuation of these consequences. New transport infrastructure affects biodiversity by creating barriers for animals and plants, leading to habitat fragmentation. How people value recreation is closely linked to access to and experience of different habitats and biodiversity. The BBES project aims to develop valuation models for recreation that are as generalizable as possible. The use of GIS tools is a central component in developing these models. This is a 3-year project (2025-2028) funded by the Swedish Transport Administration. Project leader.