Conservation : economics, science, and policy / Charles Perrings and Ann Kinzig.
"The book is, first, a study of how people decide to conserve or convert resources. Without worrying about the characteristics of particular resources, we ask when and for how long it may be optimal to conserve resources. In other words, we consider the general principles involved in making con...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Ebook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Oxford University Press,
[2021]
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Oxford Scholarship Online |
| Summary: | "The book is, first, a study of how people decide to conserve or convert resources. Without worrying about the characteristics of particular resources, we ask when and for how long it may be optimal to conserve resources. In other words, we consider the general principles involved in making conservation decisions. The book is, second, a study of the conservation of resources of the natural environment. This includes both directly exploited resources such as agricultural soils, minerals, forests, fish stocks and the like, and the species and ecosystems put at risk when people choose to convert natural habitat, or to discharge waste products to water, land, or air. Conservation is as much about the problem of how much or how little to extract from the environment as it is about how much to leave intact. The book is, third, a study of the context in which people make conservation decisions. Just as the decisions people make about investment in financial assets are influenced by the tax rules established in different countries so, too, decisions about the conservation of natural resources are influenced by property rights, laws, and customs. This includes environmental regulations within countries, and environmental agreements between countries. We consider how conservation relates to environmental governance, and how governance structures have evolved over time. We have aimed the book at three audiences. The first is graduate students in any of the disciplines bearing on conservation. While the arguments may be most familiar to those studying environmental, resource, or ecological economics, it is intended to be accessible to geographers, ecologists, conservation biologists, political scientists, those studying environmental law, and to those in the comparatively new field of sustainability science. The second audience we have in mind is conservation practitioners, and professionals whose remit includes the management of the natural environment and the use of natural resources. We hope that the book will help those charged with the conservation of the natural environment to think about the trade-offs involved, the better to balance the protection of endangered species and other societal goals, like economic development or poverty alleviation. The third audience we have in mind is the substantial environmentally informed and aware general public who are interested in digging beneath the superficial treatment of conservation often encountered in the media. For people who want to understand the balance that should be struck between preservation and exploitation, between the protection of beneficial species and the control of harmful species, the book offers a set of principles that can be applied in most circumstances"-- |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xxiv, 421 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |