Environmental Economics Colloquium

Kollokvio   
Ohjelma  

Private Sector Conservation Enterprises
Prof. Jeff Bennett, Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University

Time: Monday 13th September, 15.15 pm

Place: Finnish Forest Research Institute, 1. floor, seminar room
Street address: Unioninkatu 40 A

If markets for nature protection services are to ensure an efficient supply, property rights need to be well defined, readily defended and tradeable. However, some of these services have ill defined property rights that are costly, if at all possible to defend. This limits the incentives for profit maximising entities to deliver nature protection benefits. The question addressed in this paper is whether or not 'Private Sector Conservation Enterprises' (PSCEs) are active in Australia to fill this supply gap. First, a definition of PSCEs is outlined. Then, details of a survey of Australian PSCEs are provided. The results of the survey show that there is an active and substantial PSCE sector operating across all states and territories. These organisations focus on managing nature protection areas and administering devolved grant schemes. Ownership of natural areas and the administration of nature protection covenants also feature strongly. Despite their private sector roots, most PSCEs in Australia receive a proportion of their revenue from government grants. Their actions involve local people in nature protection activities and leverage private sector funds.

Welcome!

Anni Huhtala (Agrifood Research Finland)
Markku Ollikainen (University of Helsinki)
Jari Kuuluvainen (University of Helsinki)
Olli Tahvonen (Finnish Forest Research Institute)
Lauri Valsta (University of Helsinki)
Esa-Jussi Viitala (Finnish Forest Research Institute), esa-jussi.viitala@metla.fi