23/04/03

Direct payments to conserve biodiversity

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<h1>Direct payments to conserve biodiversity</h1>
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<TD class=tabletext><EM><IMG height=82 src="http://c96265.r65.cf3.rackcdn.com/2002dec_sign_SCIENCE.jpg" width=126><BR></EM><EM>Warning Sign from Costa Rica’s Environmental Service Payment Programme: “Hunting, Forest Fires and Forest Product Collection Prohibited”</EM></TD></TR></TABLE>The conservation community should shift its emphasis from indirect incentives for tropical biodiversity preservation to a system of direct conservation payments, advise Paul Ferraro and Agnes Kiss in this article. <BR><BR>Global efforts to conserve biodiversity in developing countries through indirect methods — such as encouraging sustainable use of resources or tying development of schools, wells or clinics to preservation — have provided few examples of success, they say. <BR><BR>Instead the authors advocate direct incentives such as those now common in the United States, Australia and Europe: land purchases and leases, as well as performance payments and tax relief. They argue that such systems can be simpler to administer, more cost-efficient, and more beneficial to the resource users. <BR><BR><a href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/298/5599/1718?ijkey=NNgvzdmO7ifPg&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to <em>Science</em> article</A><BR><BR><STRONG>Photo credit</STRONG>: Subhrendu K. Pattanayak</p>

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<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/direct-payments-to-conserve-biodiversity/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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Warning Sign from Costa Rica’s Environmental Service Payment Programme: “Hunting, Forest Fires and Forest Product Collection Prohibited”

The conservation community should shift its emphasis from indirect incentives for tropical biodiversity preservation to a system of direct conservation payments, advise Paul Ferraro and Agnes Kiss in this article.

Global efforts to conserve biodiversity in developing countries through indirect methods — such as encouraging sustainable use of resources or tying development of schools, wells or clinics to preservation — have provided few examples of success, they say.

Instead the authors advocate direct incentives such as those now common in the United States, Australia and Europe: land purchases and leases, as well as performance payments and tax relief. They argue that such systems can be simpler to administer, more cost-efficient, and more beneficial to the resource users.

Link to Science article

Photo credit: Subhrendu K. Pattanayak