Climate change and the cost-effective governance mode for biodiversity conservation

Schöttker, Oliver and Wätzold, Frank (2020): Climate change and the cost-effective governance mode for biodiversity conservation.

Abstract

Optimal planning of biodiversity conservation and habitat location is paramount for the cost-effective implementation of nature and biodiversity conservation measures. Established approaches for land use planning and conservation site selection however might not be optimal in a world with changing climatic conditions. Generally, conservation organizations can choose one of two main governance modes: (1) buy land to implement conservation measures themselves on their land, or (2) compensate landowners for their voluntary provision of conservation measures on their land. We analyse in a conceptual ecological-economic simulation four different conservation site selection strategies in either of the two governance modes. Afterwards, we investigate the ecological and economic effectiveness of each governance-mode-strategy combination in a climatically changing environment, and in particular the influence of climate change characteristics. We show that the choice of the two governance modes and four patch selection strategies influences the cost-effectiveness of the implementation, generally suggesting that buying land, combined with the a species targeting patch selection strategy generates the highest cost-effectiveness.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: agri-environment scheme; biodiversity; conservation payments; cost-effectiveness; land acquisition; make-or-buy decision; payments for environmental services; modes of governance
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q19 - Other; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q54 - Climate ; Natural Disasters and Their Management ; Global Warming; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q57 - Ecological Economics: Ecosystem Services ; Biodiversity Conservation ; Bioeconomics ; Industrial Ecology; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q58 - Government Policy

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