Cost-effective policy instruments for biodiversity conservation under climate change – The need for flexibility

IF 6.6 2区经济学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Ecological Economics Pub Date : 2024-10-07 DOI:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108414

Charlotte Gerling , M. Drechsler , Johannes A. Leins , Astrid Sturm , Frank Wätzold

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Climate change is one of the main threats for biodiversity. As it affects the ecological and economic system, conservation costs and impacts may change in a heterogeneous manner. This implies that cost-effective conservation sites and measures may no longer be so in the future. We investigate spatial flexibility (to adapt the location of conservation sites) and management flexibility (to adapt the conservation measures on those sites) as novel criteria for analysing the cost-effectiveness of policy instruments to conserve biodiversity under climate change. We develop a generic climate-ecological-economic modelling approach that captures the role of spatial and management flexibility to assess the cost-effectiveness of policy instruments. We apply the modelling approach to the conservation of an indicator species in agricultural grasslands in a case study area in Northern Germany, and compare the cost-effectiveness of the policy instruments of land purchase (low spatial flexibility, high management flexibility) and long-term individual conservation contracts (medium spatial and management flexibility) considering a period from 2020 to 2079. We find that both spatial and management flexibility matter in the case study and discuss their broader relevance for conservation in a changing climate.

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气候变化下保护生物多样性的成本效益政策工具--需要灵活性

气候变化是生物多样性面临的主要威胁之一。由于气候变化会影响生态和经济系统，保护成本和影响可能会发生不同程度的变化。这意味着具有成本效益的保护地点和措施在未来可能不再具有成本效益。我们研究了空间灵活性（调整保护地点的位置）和管理灵活性（调整这些地点的保护措施），将其作为分析气候变化下生物多样性保护政策工具成本效益的新标准。我们开发了一种通用的气候-生态-经济建模方法，该方法可捕捉空间和管理灵活性在评估政策工具成本效益方面的作用。我们将该建模方法应用于德国北部一个案例研究地区的农用草地指标物种保护，并比较了从 2020 年到 2079 年期间土地购买（低空间灵活性、高管理灵活性）和长期个人保护合同（中等空间和管理灵活性）这两种政策工具的成本效益。我们发现，在案例研究中，空间和管理灵活性都很重要，并讨论了它们在不断变化的气候中与保护的广泛相关性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Ecological Economics 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

12.00

自引率

5.70%

发文量

313

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the understanding of the interfaces and interplay between "nature''s household" (ecosystems) and "humanity''s household" (the economy). Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary field defined by a set of concrete problems or challenges related to governing economic activity in a way that promotes human well-being, sustainability, and justice. The journal thus emphasizes critical work that draws on and integrates elements of ecological science, economics, and the analysis of values, behaviors, cultural practices, institutional structures, and societal dynamics. The journal is transdisciplinary in spirit and methodologically open, drawing on the insights offered by a variety of intellectual traditions, and appealing to a diverse readership. Specific research areas covered include: valuation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales from local to regional to global, implications of thermodynamics for economics and ecology, renewable resource management and conservation, critical assessments of the basic assumptions underlying current economic and ecological paradigms and the implications of alternative assumptions, economic and ecological consequences of genetically engineered organisms, and gene pool inventory and management, alternative principles for valuing natural wealth, integrating natural resources and environmental services into national income and wealth accounts, methods of implementing efficient environmental policies, case studies of economic-ecologic conflict or harmony, etc. New issues in this area are rapidly emerging and will find a ready forum in Ecological Economics.