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| Submission |
| ID |
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43999 |
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| Main Information |
| Title |
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Paraguay: Mapping the Economic Costs and Benefits of Conservation |
| Description |
|
Five ecosystem services were considered for a spatial evaluation of the costs and benefits of conservation for a landscape in the Atlantic forests of Paraguay (i.e., sustainable bushmeat harvest, sustainable timber harvest, bioprospecting for pharmaceutical products, existence value, and carbon storage in aboveground biomass) and compared them to estimates of the opportunity costs of conservation. A high degree of spatial
variability in both costs and benefits over this relatively small (;3,000 km2) landscape has been found. Benefits exceeded costs in some areas, with carbon storage dominating the ecosystem service values and swamping opportunity costs. Other benefits associated with conservation were more modest and exceeded costs only in protected areas and indigenous
reserves. This cost-benefit information was used to show that one potential corridor between two large forest patches had net benefits that were three times greater than two otherwise similar alternatives. Spatial cost-benefit analysis can powerfully inform conservation planning, even though the availability of relevant data may be limited, as was the case in this study area. It can help us understand the synergies between biodiversity conservation and economic development when the two are indeed aligned and to clearly understand the trade-offs when they are not. |
| Web Link |
|
/doc/case-studies/inc/cs-inc-paraguay.pdf |
|
| Additional Information |
| Source |
|
Robin Naidoo, Taylor H. Ricketts
Conservation Science Program, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America |
| Countries |
|
Paraguay |
| Ecosystems |
|
Forest Biodiversity |
| Regions |
|
Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Incentive Measures |
|
Economic Valuation |
| Keywords |
|
Change in productivity
Contingent valuation
Contingent ranking
Cost-based valuation |
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