The Cost-Effectiveness of Conservation Payments

作者：Paul J. Ferraro, R. David Simpson · 发表于：Land Economics · 年份：2002 · DOI：10.2307/3146894 · 被引用次数：400 · 研究领域：Economic and Environmental Valuation、Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management、Environmental Conservation and Management

International donors invest billions of dollars to conserve ecosystems in low-income nations. The most common investments aim to encourage commercial activities, such as ecotourism, that indirectly generate ecosystem protection as a joint product. We demonstrate that paying for ecosystem protection directly can be far more cost-effective. Although direct-payment initiatives have imposing institutional requirements, we argue that all conservation initiatives face similar challenges. Thus conservation practitioners would be well advised to implement the first-best direct-payment approach, rather than a second-best policy option. An empirical example illustrates the spectacular cost savings that can be realized by direct-payment initiatives. (JEL H21, Q28)