Dr Ana Manero

Dr Ana Manero

I am an environmental economist working as a senior research fellow at the University of Western Australia, under an Early Career Industry Fellowship, funded by the Australian Research Council. The project is titeled Valuing Australia’s surfing resources for sustainable coastal management.

I have over 15 years of experience in environmental management, focused on water resources. Over the years working in industry and academia, I have learnt to bring together sound analytical and research capabilities, with a strong passion for sustainability and preservation of natural resources. I am also an avid surfer.

With a unique combination of academic skills and an intimate understanding of surfing, I am now championing ‘surfing economics’ research in Australia.

I am also the president of the non-for-profit community organisation, Surfing Mums.

Publications

Fanaian, S., Manero, A., Nguyen, N.-M., Grafton, R. Q. (2025). Beyond a Decade of Water Justice: Review, Directions, and Pathways to Achieve “Water for All.” WIREs Water 12, e70043. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.70043

Long, C., Williams, J., Manero, A., & Grafton, R. Q. (2025). Effects of long-term meteorological trends on streamflow in the Northern Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia 1981–2020. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 58 102232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102232

Manero, A. (2025). Surfing Economics: Understanding, Managing and Protecting the Value of Surfing Ecosystems. In: Kennedy, D.M. (eds) The Science and Culture of Surfing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-80979-8_9

Manero, A., Leon, J. X., Lazarow, N., Spencer-Cotton, A., Wegener, T., Jarratt, P., & Pearce, T. (2025). Surfing at the Noosa World Surfing Reserve, Australia: Direct Expenditure and Travel Cost Analyses of Recreational Surfing. Coastal Management, 52(6), 449-470.https://doi.org/10.1080/08920753.2025.2443376

Grafton, R. Q., Fanaian, S., Horne, J., Katic, P., Nguyen, N.-M., Ringler, C., Robin, L., Talbot-Jones, J., Wheeler, S. A., Wyrwoll, P. R., Avarado, F., Biswas, A. K., Borgomeo, E., Brouwer, R., Coombes, P., Costanza, R., Hope, R., Kompas, T., Kubiszewski, I., Manero, A., Martins, R., McDonnell, R., Nikolakis, W., Rollason, R., Samnakay, N., Scanlon, B. R., Svensson, J., Thiam, D., Tortajada, C., Wang, Y., & Williams, J. (2025). Rethinking responses to the world’s water crises. Nature Sustainability, 8(1), 11-21. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01470-z

Manero, A., Yusoff, A., Lane, M., & Verreydt, K. (2024). A national assessment of the economic and wellbeing impacts of recreational surfing in Australia. Marine Policy, 167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106267

Manero, A., George, P., Yusoff, A., Olive L., & White, J. (2024). Understanding surfing as a ‘blue space’ activity for its contributions to health and wellbeing. npj Ocean Sustainability 3, 37. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-024-00076-4

Manero, A., Normyle, A., Vardon, M., & Grafton, R. Q. (2024). ‘Two sides of the same coin’? Bridging water accounting and valuation for better decision-making. Environmental Research Letters 19 (9). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad66e7

Manero, A., Adamowicz, W., Akter, S., Spencer-Cotton, A., Coombes, P. J., Wyrwoll, P., Horne, J., Lansbury, N., Creamer, S., Taylor, K. S., Fanaian, S., & Grafton, R. Q. (2024). Benefits, costs and enabling conditions to achieve ‘water for all’ in rural and remote Australia. Nature Water, 2(1), 31-40. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00182-6

Manero, A., Nikolakis, W., Woods, K., & Grafton, R. Q. (2024). Non-market valuation and Indigenous Peoples’ values: researcher constraints and policy impacts. Environmental Science & Policy, 153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103679

Anderson, G., Manero, A., & Bjornlund, H. (2024). Equal Opportunity Sensitive Aggregate Wellbeing Measurement: Food Security and Basic Household Income on Sub-Sahara African Farms. Review of Development Economics. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.13176

Manero A. & Mach, L. (2023) Valuing surfing ecosystems: an environmental economics and natural resources management perspective. Tourism Geographies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2261909

Manero A. (2023). A case for protecting the value of ‘surfing ecosystems’. npj Ocean Sustainability, 2(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-023-00014-w

Grafton, R. Q., Manero, A., Chu, L., & Wyrwoll, P. (2023). The price and value of water: An economic review. Cambridge Prisms: Water, 1, e3, Article e3. https://doi.org/10.1017/wat.2023.2

Bates, W. B., Chu, L., Claire, H., Colloff, M. J., Cotton, R., Davies, R., Larsen, L., Loughrey, G., Manero, A., Marshall, V., Martin, S., Nguyen, N.-M., Nikolakis, W., Poelina, A., Schulz, D., Taylor, K. S., Williams, J., Wyrwoll, P., & Grafton, R. Q. (2023). A tale of two rivers – Baaka and Martuwarra, Australia: Shared voices and art towards water justice. The Anthropocene Review, 0(0), 20530196231186962. https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231186962

Wyrwoll, P., Manero, A., Taylor, K., Rose, E., Grafton, Q. (2022). Drinking water quality in regional and remote Australia: Measuring the gaps. npj Clean Water 5, 32. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-022-00174-1

Manero, A., Taylor, K., Nikolakis, W., Adamowicz, W., Marshall, V., Spencer-Cotton, A., Nguyen, M., & Grafton, R. Q. (2022). A systematic literature review of non-market valuation of Indigenous peoples’ values: Current knowledge, best-practice and framing questions for future research. Ecosystem Services, 54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101417

Manero, A. (2021a). Identifying industry practice, barriers, and opportunities for mine rehabilitation completion criteria in western Australia. Journal of Environmental Management, 287, 112258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112258

Kragt, M., & Manero, A. (2021b). A survey dataset to identify industry practices and challenges for mine rehabilitation completion criteria in Western Australia. Data in Brief, 36. doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2021.106973

Manero, A., Standish, R., & Young, R. (2021). Mine completion criteria defined by best-practice: A global meta-analysis and Western Australian case studies. Journal of Environmental Management, 282, 111912. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111912

Manero, A., & Wheeler, S. A. (2021). Perceptions of Tanzanian smallholder irrigators on impact pathways between water equity and socioeconomic inequalities. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2020.1866506

Thompson, S. E., Shanafield, M., Manero, A., & Claydon, G. (2021a). When Urban Stormwater Meets High Groundwater. Managing the challenge by shifting to a minimal fill development – Part 1. Water e-Journal, 6(1). DOI 10.21139/wej.2021.006

Thompson, S. E., Shanafield, M., Manero, A., & Claydon, G. (2021b). When Urban Stormwater Meets High Groundwater. Managing the challenge by shifting to a minimal fill development – Part 2. Water e-Journal, 6(1). DOI 10.21139/wej.2021.007

Claydon, G., Thompson, S., Shanafield, M., & Manero, A. (2020). Guiding urban water management in areas that experience high seasonal groundwater: Expert Panel report. Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC). Melbourne, Victoria. https://watersensitivecities.org.au/content/guiding-urban-water-management-in-areas-that-experience-high-seasonal-groundwater-expert-panel-report/

Kragt, M., Manero, A., Hawkins, J., & Lison, C. (2020). A review of mine rehabilitation condition setting in Western Australia. The Western Australian Biodiversity Science Institute, Perth, Western Australia.   https://wabsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Review-of-Mine-Rehab-Condition-Setting-WA-Project-Report.pdf

Manero, A., Kragt, M., Standish, R., Miller, B., Jasper, D., Boggs, G., & Young, R. (2020). A framework for developing completion criteria for mine closure and rehabilitation. Journal of Environmental Management, 273, 111078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111078

Manero, A., Bjornlund, H., Wheeler, S., Zuo, A., Mdemu, M., Van Rooyen, A., & Chilundo, M. (2020). Growth and inequality at the micro scale: an empirical analysis of farm incomes within smallholder irrigation systems in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Mozambique. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 36(sup1), S224-S245. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2020.1811959

Grafton, R. Q., Garrick, D., Manero, A., & Do, T. N. (2019). The Water Governance Reform Framework: Overview and Applications to Australia, Mexico, Tanzania, USA and Vietnam. Water, 11(1), 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11010137

Manero, A., Wheeler, S. A., Zuo, A., & Mdemu, M. (2019). Exploring the Head Versus Tail‐End Dichotomy on Yield and Farm Incomes in Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in Tanzania. Water Resources Research, 55(5), 4322-4342. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR023483

Young, R., Manero, A., Miller, B., Kragt, M., Standish, R. J., Jasper, D., & Boggs, G. (2019). A framework for developing mine-site completion criteria in Western Australia. Project Report. The Western Australian Biodiversity Science Institute. https://wabsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Completion-Criteria-Project-Report_updated-24.9.2019.pdf

Manero, A. (2018). Water distribution within smallholder irrigation schemes in Tanzania and its implications for economic inequality. Doctoral thesis. Australian National University. Canberra, Australia. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/142347

Manero, A. (2017a). Income inequality within smallholder irrigation schemes in Sub-Saharan Africa. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 33(5), 770-787. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2016.1152461

Manero, A. (2017b). The limitations of negative incomes in the Gini coefficient decomposition by source. Applied Economics Letters, 24(14), 977-981. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2016.1245828

Manero, A. (2008). Comparative water management practices in California and Spain UPC-BarcelonaTech. Master’s thesis. Barcelona, Spain. Master’s thesis. https://upcommons.upc.edu/handle/2099.1/6053