Economics of Environmental Conservation

About this book

This fully updated and revised edition concentrates on the economics of conserving the living environment. Updated techniques of economic analyses are introduced, explained simply, and applied as appropriate. It begins by covering the ethical foundations and basic economic paradigms essential for understanding and assessing ecological economics. General strategies for global environmental conservation, policies for government intervention, developing countries, preserving wildlife and biodiversity, open-access to and common property in natural resources, conservation of natural areas, forestry, agriculture and the environment, tourism, sustainable development and demographic change are also all covered.

Contents

Preface. List of Tables. List of Figures. 1. Economics and the Living Environment. Introduction. Welfare economics, environment and the Biosphere. Ethics, values and environmental economics: alternative views. Economic growth, dynamics, uncertainty and the environment: differing views. Environmental quality and resource availability trends: broad estimates and projections. Conclusion. 2. Strategies for World Conservation: an Economic Assessment. Introduction. A classification of conservation policies. The World Conservation Strategy: its origins, aims and basic principles. Ecological processes and life-support systems: agriculture, forests, coastal and freshwater systems. Preservation of genetic diversity. Sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystems. International conservation concerns and priorities. Organisational and social aspects of conservation. Concluding comments. 3. Government Intervention in Environmental Conservation: Rationale and Methods. Introduction. Externalities or spillovers. Government policies 'to correct' for externalities. Public or collective good characteristics associated with the conservation of nature. Option demands, transaction costs, more on existence values, bequest, irreversibility and uncertainty. Discount rates as grounds for government intervention. Monopolies and conservation. Common property and intervention. Failure of political and administrative mechanisms in relation to conservation. Concluding comment. 4. Environmental Conservation in Developing Countries. Introduction. Basic conservation problems in the Third World: origin. Population growth and income aspirations. Expansion of the market system. New technology. Problems illustrated by some cases. High effective rates of discount. Difficulties in enforcing conservation measures and questions of social structure. Policies for influencing and improving conservation practices in the Third World. Provision of information and education. Appropriating greater gains nationally from conservation. Tourism as a means of appropriating gains from conservation. Improving distribution of gains from conservation within LDCs. International aid and assistance, loans and trade. Global public good/externality considerations. 5. Preservation of Wildlife and Genetic Diversity. Introduction. Managing wildlife as a mixed good: simple analytics. Some economic consequences of interdependence between species. Criteria for deciding on species to save from extinction. Concluding comments. 6. Common Property and Natural Resource Management. Types of property and general consequences. Common access: economic failures and their consequences. Policies for managing common-access resources. Ranching and farming as means to overcome common-access problems and conserve species. Concluding comment. 7. Economics of Conserving Natural Areas: National Parks and Protected Areas. Introduction: nature and availability of natural areas. Benefits and uses of natural protected areas.

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