Feature

Environmental Conservation through Economics

Economists gathered at the Gleacher Center on October 25 to address the importance of economics in environmental conservation, including how market mechanisms can be used to protect the world's land and water.

Moderated by Don Coursey, the Harris School's Ameritech Professor of Public Policy Studies, the panel discussed the significance of everyday economics in conservation. The panelists were David Brookshire, professor of economics at the University of New Mexico; Gretchen Daily, professor of biological sciences at Stanford University, director of the Center for Conservation Biology, and member of The Nature Conservancy Board of Directors; and V. Kerry Smith, W.P. Carey Professor of Economics at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business.

"Economic growth must count environmental services," said Smith, starting the discussion. "If we fail to count them, growth is not sustainable." Smith highlighted the different economic methods used to measure environmental values and how they help determine environmental damages in accidents and the costs of clean up and conservation programs.

Smith said there are always "trade offs" legislators must make when determining how to use resources effectively in environmental policy, but it is important for policymakers to know that the public is "keeping score" through these economic tools.

"We've all come together around a shared dream of somehow aligning economic forces with conservation," said Daily. "It's a dream that has remain incredibly elusive at some levels .but it's a dream that seems to be coming ever more in reach." She explained that serious effort has been invested to make conservation economics "attractive and commonplace" and to create larger scale, longer term approaches to preservation.

She cited successful conservations programs with government involvement and some using natural ecosystems. These projects include an anti-deforestation effort in Costa Rica and restoring wetlands to prevent river flooding in Napa, California. "People are starting to recognize natural systems as a type of asset," said Daily.

Brookshire discussed the use of new economic models that incorporate the scientific side of conservation. These models-and the resource allocation flexibility they provide-are able to protect entire ecosystems and adapt to population growth of an animal species.

"Habitat conservation and resource allocation flexibility through market development is a wise investment," said Brookshire. "We like the notion of flexibility, we like the notion of societal gain."

This discussion was one of three symposia presented by The Nature Conservancy and the University of Chicago's Graham School of General Studies to address critical conservation issues and solutions. This series is one of many events in 2007 celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Nature Conservancy in Illinois.