Indirect Incentive Measures (Market Creation)

Economics, Trade and Incentive Measures


Indirect Incentive Measures (Market Creation)


Introduction



Indirect incentive measures change the relative costs and benefits of specific activities in an indirect way. Trading mechanisms and other institutional arrangements create or improve markets for biological resources, thus encouraging the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Examples include, inter alia, individual transferable fishing quotas, property right mechanisms, species commercialization, biodiversity prospecting, emissions trading schemes or certification and eco-labeling initiatives.

Overview of CBD Activities



Several decisions of the Conference of the Parties pertain to the implementation or improvement of markets for biodiversity resources as indirect incentive measures for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. At its forth meeting, the Conference of the Parties encouraged Parties, Governments and international organizations to undertake value addition and enhancement of naturally occurring genetic resources, based on the participatory approach. The programme of work on incentive measures, adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its fifth meeting, also includes the development of methods to promote information on biodiversity in consumer decisions, for instance through ecolabelling, if appropriate.

The proposals for the design and implementation of incentive measures, endorsed by the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting, recognize market creation to be an instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity (see decision VI/15, Annex I, table).