As we get deeper into our discussion of non-market valuation, I'm going to continue my efforts to convince you that economic analysis has a indispensable place at the conservation policy table. This argument is fairly easy to make when I'm talking to economists or economics students, but for those that have never really studied econ before, it's a bit tougher. This is because people who have only studied natural sciences may have a tendency to view all things dealing with markets as the causes of environmental problems rather than the solutions. I hope you're starting to see that it's both.
Please read:
Why Economics Matters for Endangered Species Protection (Shogren et al., 1998)
The Role of Economic Valuation in the Conservation of Tropical Nature (Naidoo, 2008)
Conservation Pays (Yuskavitch, 2007, Defenders of Wildlife)
Marine Conservation: How Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services Can Help (Environment Matters, 2008)
Can Environmental Economic Valuation Techniques Aid Ecological Economics and Wildlife Conservation? (Loomis, 2000, Wildlife Society Bulletin)
Of additional interest:
Economic Incentives and Wildlife Conservation (Bulte et al., 2003)
Tons of references and links here:
Economic Valuation References WRI
Reefs here and here and here
Wetlands here
This is a tiny fraction of what's out there. Thoughts?
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3 comments:
I haven't read through everything yet, but I'd be interested in hearing from EVS majors what they think of econ analysis of environmental issues (or what they thought of it coming into the class). I'm doing a double major in poli sci and econ, so even before starting the econ side of it, it was pretty easy to see how economics informed pretty much every other decision people make. It'd be interesting to hear from some majors where that may not be the case.
Also, are there any good example of times when markets made conservation happen naturally, versus incentives being "forced" on markets to conserve? I know there are examples of organizations like Duck Unlimited, which seem paradoxical to a lot of people at first (duck hunters worried about preservation throws some people off at first, until you realize it's in every party's interest to preserve wetlands, populations, etc).
Are there any good examples of similar seemingly paradoxical examples in industry? Where conservation became the natural point of equilibrium?
I have not read everything yet, however as an EVS major, I feel like it is very important to use valuation in order to come up with a sense on how much our natural resources are worth. I also know realistically we are not going to be able to save everything in the environment. As an avid angler, I feel like we need to know what our stocks are worth,so we can develop plans to conserve them. Fish stocks are rapidly being depleted; if we loose them, not only will we lose a major food source but we will also lose a multimillion dollar industry in tackle sales i.e. rods, reels, and etc.
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