Biodiversity Loss Economic and Ecological Issues

This volume reports key findings of the Biodiversity Program of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' Beijer Institute. The program brought together a number of eminent ecologists and economists to consider the nature and significance of the biodiversity problem. In encouraging collaborative work between these closely related disciplines it sought to shed new light on the concept of diversity; the implications of biological diversity for the functioning of ecosystems; the driving forces behind biodiversity loss; and the options for promoting biodiversity conservation. The results of the program are surprising. It is shown that the core of the biodiversity problem is a loss of ecosystem resilience and the insurance it provides against the uncertain environmental effects of economic and population growth. This is as much a local as a global problem, implying that biodiversity conservation offers benefits that are as much local as global. The solutions as well as the causes of biodiversity loss lie in incentives to local users.

Introduction: Framing the problem of biodiversity loss C. Perrings, K.-G. Maler, C. Folke, C. S. Holling and B. O. Jansson; Part I. Conceptualising Diversity and Ecosystem Functions: 1.1. Diversity functions M.Weitzman; 1.2. Biodiversity in the functioning of ecosystems C. S. Holling, D. W. Schindler, B. W. Walker and J. Roughgarden; 1.3. Scale and biodiversity in coastal and estuarine ecosystems R. Constanza, M. Kemp and W. Boynton; Part II. Integrating Ecology and Economics in the Analysis of Biodiversity Loss: 2.1. Wetland valuation: three case studies R. K. Turner, C. Folke, I. M. Gren and I. Bateman; 2.2. An ecological economy: notes on harvest and growth G. Brown and J. Roughgarden; 2.3. Biodiversity loss and the economics of discontinuous change in semi-arid rangelands C. Perrings and B. W. Walker; Part III. The Economic Issues: 3.1. Economic growth and the environment K.-G. Maler; 3.2. The international regulation of biodiversity decline T. Swanson; 3.3. Policies to control tropical deforestation E. B. Barbier and M. Rauscher; 3.4. On biodiversity conservation S. Barrett; Part IV. Conclusions: 4.1. Unanswered questions C. Perrings, K.-G. Maler, C. Folke, C. S. Holling and B. O. Jansson; References.

The book reports key findings of a research program in which economists and ecologists considered the consequences of biodiversity loss. While immediate causes of biodiversity loss lie in habitat destruction and harvesting, the underlying causes are incentives which encourage resource users to ignore the effects of their actions.