Tables

2.1Production of combinations of ‘natural’ (environmental) output and wheat on two grades of land for two alternative

allocations of land: an example of comparative advantage

37

3.1Four di erent situations involving excludability (private property rights) and rivalry in use of a commodity. Combinations of these factors influence whether markets can exist and whether they can satisfy human wants

e ciently

54

5.1Main sources of value of conserving wildlife with examples

and explanations

111

5.2Components of total economic value of wildlife along the

lines suggested by Pearce et al. (1989)

112

5.3Ciriacy-Wantrup/Bishop type of matrix for determining the

desirability of saving a species from extinction	124
11.1 A list of di erent sustainability objectives	263

xv

Preface to the second edition

Over the years, I have not lost my enthusiasm for ecological economics and the conservation of nature. Therefore, I was delighted when Edward Elgar told me that he would be interested in publishing a second edition of

Economics of Environmental Conservation and suggested a practical method for producing the new manuscript. The first edition of the Economics of Environmental Conservation was published in 1991 by Elsevier Science Publishers. Even though fundamental environmental issues have not changed since then, there have been many developments in ecological economics and in policies a ecting biological conservation and environmental management.

Every chapter in the first edition has been revised, updated and in most cases, slightly lengthened to accommodate new concepts and issues that have evolved since the completion of the previous edition. For example, coverage now includes a more comprehensive and integrated overview of property rights as an element in conservation; more attention to the total economic value concept; consideration of the implications of environmental Kuznets curves (the term had not been introduced in 1991); recently highlighted limitations of economic techniques for environmental valuation are included as well as some coverage of new valuation techniques, such as choice modelling; there is more discussion of relationships between tourism, conservation and economic environmental valuation; and in view of growing globalisation, influences of globalisation on environmental conservation and sustainability are explored. The multidisciplinary nature of the work has been retained and presentation of ideas has been kept as simple as possible in order to maintain accessibility.

The importance of studying relationships between economics and our ecological and environmental circumstances has increased since the first edition of this book was published. The volume of global production and the level of the world’s population have risen considerably and have placed growing demands on the Earth’s natural and environmental resources. This upward trend is likely to continue for a few decades yet. Humankind is exerting more influence than ever on existing patterns of biodiversity and the evolution of life forms. Humans are doing this both indirectly by altering habitats, and directly by genetic selection and the development of genetically modified organisms. The latter aspects are given greater attention in this edition.

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Preface to the second edition

xvii

Revised and new material in this edition benefited indirectly from a number of new, and sometimes not so new, contacts over the years that have helped to retain my interest in this area. These include Ed Barbier, Je Bennett, Andrew Dragun, Darwin and Jane Hall, Ulrich Hampicke, John Hatch, Andreas Hohl, Kristin Jacobsson, Dale Squires, Irmi Seidl, Timothy Swanson and Dayuan Xue. I also thank Dr Clevo Wilson for encouraging me to work on this new edition and Hemanath Swarna Nantha for suggesting and supplying some useful source materials for this revision. Indirectly, the revision benefited as a result of an Australian Research Council Grant for studying the economics of conserving Australia’s tropical wildlife, joint investigations on the economics of conserving Asian elephants with Dr Ranjith Bandara of The University of Colombo, and research with other doctoral students, joint research with Dr Clevo Wilson and my lectures in ecological and environmental economics to postgraduate and undergraduate students at The University of Queensland.

I am especially grateful to Edward Elgar for supporting the publication of my work and to the sta of Edward Elgar Publishing Limited for their friendly and e cient approach to publishing my work and making it widely available.

Typing required for the second edition has been done by Sue Hickey and I am grateful for her help as well as the support by the School of Economics at the University of Queensland. Once, again I thank my wife, Mariel, for her support. She has almost become used to my habit of writing at home in the early morning, even though she finds it a problem when she really wants to chat.

Clement A. Tisdell,

Brisbane, Australia

Preface to the first edition

Study of the relationship between economic systems and ecological and environmental ones is important for managing and conserving the Biosphere on which all life, including that of humans, ultimately depends. Fortunately, the importance of combining economic, ecological and environmental studies is now increasingly recognised in policy circles worldwide as, for example, is evident from the report of the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, New York, 1987, and from subsequent international fora dealing with these matters. One might expect these relationships to be a central focus at the Second United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

But the more relationships between economics, ecology and the environment are studied, the more acutely one becomes aware of the fact that our knowledge is imperfect, that many gaps remain to be filled and that we need to convince more people to join in exploration and discovery in this area because of the magnitude and importance of the task.

Of course, recognition is only the first step in dealing practically with an issue or problem. The second step is to study, observe and analyse it and develop relevant principles and from these, formulate an appropriate plan of action. The final step, from a practical point of view, is to put the plan of action or strategy into e ect. In large, complex societies, such as modern ones, in which individuals are highly specialised in their social functions and activities, this requires co-operation or co-ordination between all groups in society, and given the global nature of many environmental and ecological e ects of economic activity, it calls for international co-operation.

This book on environmental economics concentrates on the ecological dimensions of the subject. It concentrates on living or biological resources and their life-support systems. It considers the way in which economic development and change a ects these and the way in which these resources can be better managed, or conserved to meet human objectives or aspirations. But it does not ignore the possibility of non-anthropocentric objectives. It also considers, in an economic context, the likelihood of Mankind being able to respond e ectively to ecological and environmental crises and problems.

I hope that this book will be of interest, not just to economists, but to all

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Preface to the first edition

xix

those interested in ecological and environmental issues. To that end, I have written the book in a non-technical manner, preferring to concentrate on basic issues, some of which raise awkward philosophical questions. A deliberate attempt has been made to keep ‘economic jargon’ to a minimum and to explain economic terms used so as to make this material available to a wider audience.

Most of the material in this book has been exposed in one form or another to a wide range of audiences as part of lectures or seminars given in Australia, China, Hungary, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States. I am grateful for the opportunities which have been available to me in all these countries to develop and express my ideas. Presentations have been given to both graduate and postgraduate students, to government bodies, in academic seminars and at international conferences. The number of individuals and organisations who should be mentioned is large so I shall not catalogue them here. My thanks to all who have helped in some way, no matter how small. However, I am especially grateful to David Pearce and Peter Jackson for their encouragement when I first floated with them the idea of a book along these lines (with an ecological focus) during a visit to the United Kingdom several years ago, and to Dr John Gowdy of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York State for regularly urging me to complete the manuscript. Nicholas Polunin has encouraged my interest in environmental conservation in many ways and I value the support which has given me through his journal, Environmental Conservation. I am grateful to Brian Wilson, ViceChancellor of the University of Queensland, for thoughtfully supplying me on his return from Helsinki with a copy of the WIDER paper mentioned in Chapter 12. I also benefited greatly from the comments of anonymous reviewers (appointed by the publishers) on my introductory chapters. It has also been valuable to be able to ‘try out’ some of the material used in this book in lectures to environmental economics students at the Universities of Newcastle and Queensland, as well as elsewhere. Some of the material in Chapter 10, for example, was covered in lectures to tourism management students at the Nankai University, China, and MBA students at Queensland University.

While some of the research for this book was completed at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, with the financial assistance of a small grant under the Australian Research Grants Scheme, practically the whole of the manuscript was completed at the University of Queensland. I am grateful to both institutions for their support. I wish to thank Jenny Hargrave from the University of Newcastle for typing the first draft of the initial chapters, and Deborah Ford of the University of Queensland for typing the entire final manuscript, in the format required by Elsevier

xx	Economics of environmental conservation

Science Publishers. I would like to acknowledge the kind and e cient assistance of the sta of Elsevier in Amsterdam. Finally, but not least, I thank my wife Mariel, and children, Anne-Marie and Christopher, for being supportive once again.

Clement A. Tisdell,

Brisbane, Australia