Economics and the Conservation of Global Biological Diversity

Global Environment Facility Working Paper 2. Seeks to target support for conservation projects by measuring the costs and benefits of preserving biodiversity. A concise review of extinction rates and species loss explains why biodiversity continues to erode and identifies the chief economic causes of the decline. Policy reforms to reverse this trend suggest ways to reduce the economic returns on land conversion while increasing those for biodiversity conservation. This plan would include eliminating land subsidies, granting property rights more selectively, and capturing the global benefits of sustainable land use through international transfers and other schemes. Also examined are ways in which the Global Environment Facility could spur investment in biodiversity.