Economic valuation of wildlife conservation

Area of Science:

• Environmental Economics
• Conservation Science
• Ecological Economics

Background:

• Economic valuation is widely used in wildlife conservation for priority setting, cost-benefit analysis, and incentive schemes.
• Mainstream economic valuation relies on assumptions about values, markets, and human behavior.
• Critiques highlight limitations in scope, institutional concerns, power dynamics, and equity issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and critique conventional economic valuation methods in wildlife conservation.
• To introduce and explore deliberative valuation as an alternative or complementary approach.
• To assess the potential of deliberative valuation to bridge intrinsic and instrumental values of nature.

Main Methods:

• Review of economic valuation concepts, methods, and studies in wildlife conservation.
• Analysis of critiques concerning the narrow conception of values and equity concerns.
• Exploration of deliberated preferences and deliberative democratic monetary valuation.

Main Results:

• Economic valuation offers tools for conservation decision-making but faces significant critiques.
• Deliberative valuation approaches present potential solutions to the limitations of mainstream economics.
• These methods can better align conservation goals with human well-being and intrinsic nature values.

Conclusions:

• Conventional economic valuation has limitations in addressing complex conservation issues.
• Deliberative valuation offers a promising avenue for more inclusive and equitable conservation policy.
• Integrating deliberative approaches can enhance the linkage between nature conservation and human well-being.