Cost Sharing for Biodiversity Conservation: A Conceptual Framework

59 Pages Posted: 23 May 2001

See all articles by Barbara Aretino

Barbara Aretino

Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Productivity Commission

Paula Holland

Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Productivity Commission

Anna Matysek

Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Productivity Commission

Deborah C. Peterson

Australian Productivity Commission

Date Written: November 5, 2001

Abstract

Many resource users undertake actions that conserve biodiversity. If, however, there were public demand for more conservation than would be provided voluntarily by the private sector alone, there are two broad principles for determining who should bear the costs: 'impacter pays' or 'beneficiary pays.' The two principles have different efficiency and distributional effects.

A fundamental step in determining which cost sharing principle to apply is the clarification of the rights and responsibilities implied by existing property rights. This is an important issue that requires further work.

If property rights effectively require resource users to meet an environmental standard, resource users who fail to achieve this may be considered to generate external costs. In these circumstances, on efficiency grounds, the impacter pays principle should generally be adopted to internalise external costs. This effectively amounts to enforcement of an individual's existing legal responsibilities. However, if the costs of implementing the impacter pays principle were to outweigh its efficiency advantages, the beneficiary pays principle may be considered.

Keywords: environment, biodiversity, conservation

Suggested Citation

Aretino, Barbara and Holland, Paula and Matysek, Anna and Peterson, Deborah C., Cost Sharing for Biodiversity Conservation: A Conceptual Framework (November 5, 2001). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=269563 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.269563

Barbara Aretino

Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Productivity Commission ( email )

Level 28, 35 Collins St
Melbourne, Victoria
Australia
+64 3 9653 2201 (Phone)
+64 3 9653 2302 (Fax)

Paula Holland

Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Productivity Commission ( email )

Level 28, 35 Collins St.
Melbourne, Victoria, 3000
Australia
+64 3 9653 2226 (Phone)
+64 3 9653 2305 (Fax)

Anna Matysek

Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Productivity Commission ( email )

Level 28
35 Collins St.
Melbourne, Victoria, Victoria 3000
Australia

Deborah C. Peterson (Contact Author)

Australian Productivity Commission ( email )

Level 28
35 Collins St.
Melbourne, Victoria, Victoria 3000
Australia
+64 3 9653 2284 (Phone)
+64 3 9653 2305 (Fax)

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