title: Trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and economic development in five tropical forest landscapes.
abstract: This study explores how conservation and development are interlinked and quantifies their reciprocal trade-offs. It identifies interventions which hold a promise to improve both conservation and development outcomes. The study finds that development trajectories can either be at the cost of conservation or can benefit conservation, but in all cases sustained poverty negatively affects conservation in the long term. Most scenarios with better outcomes for conservation come at a cost for development and the financial benefits of payments for environmental services (PES) are not sufficient to compensate for lost opportunities to earn cash. However, implementation of strategies for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in locations with low population densities come close to overcoming opportunity costs. Environmental services and subsistence income enhance the attractiveness of conservation scenarios to local people and in situations where these benefits are obvious, PES may provide the extra cash incentive to tip the balance in favor of such a scenario. The paper stresses the importance of external factors (such as industrial investments and the development of the national economy) in determining landscape scale outcomes, and suggests a negotiating and visioning role for conservation agencies.
authors: Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), Ecología, Módulo C/Despacho 208 Campus de Cantoblanco C/Darwin 2, Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain. MariekeSandker@hotmail.com
authors: Marieke
authors: M
authors: Sandker
authors: Manuel
authors: M
authors: Ruiz-Perez
authors: Bruce M
authors: BM
authors: Campbell
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control; D009042:Motivation; D011203:Poverty; D014197:Trees; D014329:Tropical Climate