Land for biodiversity conservation — To buy or borrow?

Oliver Schöttker, Karin Johst, Martin Drechsler () and Frank Wätzold

Ecological Economics, 2016, vol. 129, issue C, 94-103

Abstract: The conservation of endangered species and habitats frequently requires a certain type of land use which, however, leads to opportunity costs compared to profit-maximising land-use. In such a setting biodiversity conservation organisations have two main options: (1) The ‘buy alternative’ where they buy the area of interest and either carry out the necessary land-use measures themselves or hire firms to do so, or (2) the ‘borrow alternative’ where they ‘borrow’ the land for conservation from private landowners who agree to carry out biodiversity-enhancing land-use measures over a certain period while the conservation organisation compensates them for their opportunity costs. Comparing both alternatives raises the question of budget efficiency, i.e. which alternative will lead to a higher level of biodiversity conservation for a given financial resources? In this paper we present a conceptual ecological–economic model, and then apply the model to analyse how changes in ecological and economic parameters influence the relative efficiency performance of the two alternatives.

Keywords: Agri-environment scheme; Conservation investment; Cost-effectiveness; Ecological–economic modelling; Make-or-buy decision; Payments for environmental services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:129:y:2016:i:c:p:94-103

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.06.011

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