This innovative book identifies socio-economic processes which transform the stock of genetic resources and ecosystems and discusses sustainability issues raised by variations in this stock. It focuses subsequently on the socio-economics of the conservation and change in the stock of human developed germplasm and ecosystems. Particular attention is given to crops, livestock, GMOs, reduced economic value due to biological erosion, alternative agroecosystems, and property rights in germplasm. Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions concludes with an exploration of the economic topics dealing with changes in the stock of wild germplasm and natural ecosystems, and discusses the associated valuation problems.
PART I BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: BASIC ECONOMIC ISSUES
1. An Introduction to the Economic Issues Involved in Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function
2. Classifying the Stock of Genetic Resources and Ecosystems: Their Economic Nature and Patterns of Biodiversity Change
3. Socio-Economic Processes Transforming the Genetic Stock and Altering Ecosystems
4. Sustainable Development and Changes in the Genetic Stock and in Ecosystems
PART II HUMAN DEVELOPED BIOLOGICAL CAPITAL: GERMPLASM AND ECOSYSTEMS
5. Crops and the Socio-Economics of Biodiversity Loss and Change
6. Livestock and the Socio-Economics of Biodiversity Loss
7. Advances in Genetic Engineering and Changes in Biodiversity and Ecosystems: Economic and Ecological Considerations
8. Human Developed and Modified Ecosystems: Their Economic Value
9. Declining Effectiveness of Techniques Designed to Control Pests and Diseases: Economics, Evolution and Human Choices
10. Property Rights in Human-Developed Genetic Material: An Economic Assessment
PART III NATURAL BIOLOGICAL CAPITAL: WILD GENETIC RESOURCES AND NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS
11. The Conservation and Loss of Wild Biodiversity and Natural Ecosystems: Basic Economic Issues
12. Allocating Land Use to Minimize the Opportunity Cost of Conserving Wild Species in Their Natural Habitats
13. Property Rights in Non-Captive Wildlife and Biodiversity Conservation
14. Economic Incentives to Conserve Wildlife on Private Lands: Analysis, Policy and Examples
15. Biodiversity Conservation, Loss of Natural Capital and Interest Rates: The Relationships are Irregular
16. Valuing and Sustaining Natural Ecosystem Services: Assumptions, Estimates and Public Policies
17. Economics and Spatial Aspects of Ecosystem Use: Land Sharing Versus Land Sparing – Wildlife Conservation and Forestry
Index
"A unique and comprehensive book on the value of biodiversity and genetic resources and on the economics of ecosystem services. It is really Tisdells' legacy to future generations studying natural resource economics and management."
– Guido Van Huylenbroeck, Ghent University, Belgium
"With Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions Clem Tisdell has given us a framework to critically explore one of the overarching issues of our time – the unprecedented scale of the destruction of the biological systems upon which we ultimately depend. This book should become the definitive text for the economics of biodiversity and ecosystems."
– John Gowdy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, US