Integrating Quantitative Macroeconomic and Ecosystem Service Modeling Methods to Assess Conservation Programs in Mexico

Onil Banerjee (), Martín Cicowiez (), Juan Manuel Torres-Rojo (), Kenneth J. Bagstad (), Renato Vargas (), Bram Edens (), Jacob Salcone (), Elsa Marcela Begne de Larrea (), Mónica Lopez-Conlon (), César Rodríguez-Ortega (), José Eduardo de la Torre-Bárcena (), Vicente Díaz-Núñez () and Francisco Guillen-Martin ()
Additional contact information
Onil Banerjee: RMGEO Consultants Inc.
Martín Cicowiez: National University of La Plata
Juan Manuel Torres-Rojo: Iberoamerican University, University Transdisciplinary Center for Sustainability
Kenneth J. Bagstad: Geosciences and Environmental Change Science, Center United States Geological Survey
Renato Vargas: CHW Research
Bram Edens: OECD Statistics and Data Directorate
Jacob Salcone: United Nations Environment Program, The Economics of Nature Unit, Ecosystems Division
Elsa Marcela Begne de Larrea: United Nations Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Mónica Lopez-Conlon: United Nations Environment Program, The Economics of Nature Unit, Ecosystems Division
César Rodríguez-Ortega: Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
José Eduardo de la Torre-Bárcena: National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI-Mexico)
Vicente Díaz-Núñez: National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI-Mexico)
Francisco Guillen-Martin: National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI-Mexico)

Environmental & Resource Economics, 2025, vol. 88, issue 7, No 8, 1995-2021

Abstract: Abstract Conveying the importance of public conservation programs to Government decision makers is challenging given the long-term nature of investments in conservation and competition for scarce public resources. The effectiveness of conservation programs in terms of their impact on ecological and socioeconomic outcomes has been evaluated in the literature though not typically in an integrated way that enables the assessment of trade-offs across environmental, economic and social objectives. Through a novel approach that uses macroeconomic tools that incorporate land use-land cover change and ecosystem services, we conduct policy scenario analysis to investigate the economic, natural capital and ecosystem service impacts of three conservation programs in Mexico. We show their combined impact on Gross Domestic Product and wealth in 2035 to be US$856.9 and US$492.3 million, respectively and that the programs reduce poverty by 1,800 individuals. In addition to macroeconomic effects, our approach illustrates that by accounting for changes in regulating ecosystem service flows, cumulative Gross Domestic Product would be 1.34 times higher. Our results build a business case for ongoing investment and expansion of these conservation programs by demonstrating the benefits to biodiversity, natural capital and the economic well-being of Mexican society. The case study allows for replication in other countries as the tools and data employed are openly available for much of Latin America and the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and increasingly worldwide.

Keywords: Conservation financing; Integrated economic-environmental modeling (IEEM); Computable general equilibrium model (CGE); Natural capital; Ecosystem services modeling and valuation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10640-025-00998-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:enreec:v:88:y:2025:i:7:d:10.1007_s10640-025-00998-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... al/journal/10640/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10640-025-00998-8

Access Statistics for this article

Environmental & Resource Economics is currently edited by Ian J. Bateman

More articles in Environmental & Resource Economics from Springer, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().