6533b7cefe1ef96bd125701d
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Optimal contract length for biodiversity conservation under conservation budget constraint
Artti JuutinenArtti JuutinenMikko MönkkönenMarkku OllikainenOlli-pekka TikkanenJari KoukiPekka Reunanensubject
0106 biological sciencesTransaction costEconomics and EconometricsChoice setGovernment010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciencesSociology and Political SciencePublic economicsNatural resource economicsmedia_common.quotation_subjectBiodiversityForestry15. Life on landManagement Monitoring Policy and LawPayment010603 evolutionary biology01 natural sciencesEcosystem servicesEconomicsta1181Quality (business)Budget constraint0105 earth and related environmental sciencesmedia_commondescription
We examine the optimal length of a contract period in a conservation program with payments for ecosystem services aiming at protecting biodiversity on privately owned forests. The government chooses the number of stands and the length of contracts so as to maximize biodiversity benefits under a binding conservation budget. We examine the implication of two alternative budgets: a separate budget for each period (periodic budget) or one budget that to be used in all periods (intertemporal budget). The impact of the budget type shows up in the fact that with intertemporal budget choice set is larger and more high quality stands are available for contracting. Based on theoretical characterization we conduct a numerical landscape-level analysis. We find that both short and long conservation contracts are used to protect privately owned forest land. Transactions costs tend to reduce the number of short contracts. A budget increase results in a use of longer contracts.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-10-01 | Forest Policy and Economics |