Assessing the cost-effectiveness of a biodiversity conservation policy: A bio-econometric analysis of Natura 2000 contracts in forest

Serge Garcia, Emeline Hily (), Anne Stenger-Letheux () and Gengyang Tu
Additional contact information
Emeline Hily: LEF - Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - AgroParisTech
Anne Stenger-Letheux: LEF - Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - AgroParisTech, BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: In France, the implementation of the EU biodiversity conservation policy within the Natura 2000 network combines regulatory tools and voluntary contracting. In this article, we empirically assess the cost-effectiveness of Natura 2000 contracts in forest areas. We simultaneously estimate a cost function for biodiversity conservation and the production set of biodiversity output and timber, while controlling for conservation measures. We show strong substitutability between biodiversity conservation and timber production. Estimate results on the cost-elasticity of biodiversity conservation also suggest the possibility of more ecologically ambitious contracts with lower average costs. Results also show that public owners are able to bear higher opportunity costs than private owners. Our findings may help to formulate policy recommendations in terms of contracts' targeting, likely to enhance the cost-effectiveness of the incentive scheme.

Keywords: Payment for ecosystem services; Cost of biodiversity conservation; Biodiversity index; Forest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published in Ecological Economics, 2015, 119, pp.197-208. ⟨10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.08.008⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: Assessing the cost-effectiveness of a biodiversity conservation policy: A bio-econometric analysis of Natura 2000 contracts in forest (2015)
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:hal:journl:hal-01215313

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.08.008

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().