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3 BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH: THE SOCIOECONOMIC CONTEXT
Pages 76-89

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From page 76...
... This reexamination is growing increasingly sophisticated in its analysis, but it is based on the simple recognition that the scale and the speed of anthropogenic alteration and depletion of soil, water, atmospheric, and biological resources have disastrous repercussions. These consequences have' in fact, already overtaken many countries.
From page 77...
... Ultimate socioeconomic reasons for this loss include the failure to consider environmental externalities in benefit-cost analyses; misguided government policies; land tenure systems that promote resource depletion; inadequate institutional infrastructure; ineffective communication among local, national, and international institutions; and inequitable distribution of political power and its attendant corruption. Highly destructive global economic forces, including the accumulated $1.2 trillion international debt and, since 1984, the flow of cash away from poor developing nations to wealthy industrialized ones, have reinforced these factors.
From page 78...
... Many developing nations have institutionalized short-term profit taking through resource depletion via these and other economic policy instruments. Tax holidays, inadequate rent taxation, low stumpage charges, and no-interest loans for forest clearing to establish cattle ranches are examples of policies that have led to the loss of biodiversity (McNeely, 1988~.
From page 79...
... are integral parts of development programs and should be analyzed carefully to determine their shortand long-term effects on the rate of natural resource depletion. Both the local and national economic instruments that lead to the depletion of natural resources and the beneficiaries of such exploitation must be determined.
From page 80...
... O Determine the degree to which the lack of property rights affects investment in the development of biological resources by the private sector. · Examine how price instability in the major export crops affects extraction rates for biological resources.
From page 81...
... The results show that even without including environmental externalities, which would decrease the benefit values for both forestry and cattle ranching, the revenue from extractive fruit harvesting was about double that projected at current market prices for the other two land management options. Valuation of environmental goods and services is a challenging task, and methods are continually evolving and developing*
From page 82...
... Recent literature has challenged this formulation, and option value is currently a highly controversial concept. for Evaluating Proposed Federal Water Resources Projects and the compensation provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act)
From page 83...
... Hedonic price analysis uses economic and statistical analyses to estimate implicit values, including environmental values. Local wage rates and housing prices, for example, may reflect local environmental quality.
From page 84...
... Similarly, reporting an existence value of $5 million dollars for a Brazilian rain forest may do little to encourage its conservation unless there is a mechanism or institution to capture that value and distribute it to those who will have to forgo the benefits of other management options. The highest values for many biologically diverse and unique ecosystems are likely to be existence and option values-values for what are essentially public goods.
From page 85...
... · Develop methods, procedures, and guidelines for systematically incorporating biodiversity and other environmental values in routine project evaluations. · Because the public interest in conserving biodiversity extends beyond national boundaries, research should explore the possibility of worldwide "demand" for conservation (e.g., the degree to which Americans, Europeans, and Asians are willing to pay to preserve Amazonian forest or Arctic ecosystems)
From page 86...
... This is illustrated, for example, in the economics of logging and replanting in Indonesia. The present value of dipterocarp tropical hardwood logs harvested from East Kalimantan forests in Indonesia is $100 per cubic meter, yielding on average 40 cubic meters per hectare with a total value of about $4,000.
From page 87...
... It ensures that sufficient resources will be available for rehabilitation should disaster strike, and it encourages the exploiter to conduct research to decrease the degree of uncertainty associated with the occurrence of the worst-case scenario as a justification for a reduction in bond size (Costanza and Perrings, 19911. To date, bonding has been tested sparingly in industrialized countries and remains an untested disincentive system for conservation in developing nations.
From page 88...
... · Examine if and how trade barriers and most-favored nation status impact exploitation of natural resources. · Determine the effects on internal economic stability and national support for conservation through debt-for-nature trades and other financing instruments that link national and international financial organizations.
From page 89...
... For example, what effect do reforms mandated by the International Monetary Fund-including structural and sectoral adjustment programs and other liberalization reformshave on biological resource depletion in debtor nations? · Document how policies and management for macroeconomic objectives can lead to mismanagement of economies based mainly on biological resources, particularly local microeconomies.


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