East African Standard
March 6, 2007
Applying free market ideas to wildlife conservation
By Joseph Magiri
Wildlife
Headwaters NewsJanuary 5, 2005 By Randy T. Simmons
A new series of books for young people offers objective and balanced discussions of controversial issues.
February 2001A Former Fisherman Tackles Restoration and Bureaucracy
Wall Street JournalJanuary 28, 1997
By Holly Lippke Fretwell and Linda Platts
Christian Science MonitorMarch 20, 1996
By Urs P. Kreuter and Linda E. Platts
Rocky Mountain NewsDecember 20, 1995
By Terry L. Anderson and Michael R. Houser
Wall Street JournalSeptember 7, 1995
By Pamela S. Snyder and Jane S. Shaw
On ABC's "20/20" with John Stossel, Terry Anderson sugests eating tigers could be the best way to save them.
To protect the bison in Yellowstoe from slaughter when they leave the park seeking winter forage, some private environmental group with an entrepreneurial plan should reward landovers who providing grazing room.
In Namibia the people own the wildlife. Their system of community-based conservation has providedincome to local people and sharply increased key wildlife populations.
Kenya might make 20 times more money from the Masai Mara Game Reserve, which is just a sixth of Tanzania's Serengeti, but this, reports Special Correspondent WYCLIFFE MUGA, comes at a huge environmental cost .
Jeff Laszlo knew that to keep the family ranch, he needed to chnage his operations. By recognizing the environmental assets on his ranch
and forging partnerships with public and private funders he restored a huge wetland that now flourishes with fish, wilflife and plants. By investing in conservation, he has saved his ranch and increased his income.
Given property rights to the wild animals that often damage their crops or even kill them, Namibian farmers now are profiting from tourism and hunting, while poaching has virtually disappeared.
The impact of bee colony collapse on American agriculture
Maasai are incresaing their incomes by using a portion of their grazing land for wildlife viewing by tourists.
Read the PERC op-ed: Endangered Species Act: On 40th Anniversary, Time to Rethink How We Protect Wildlife
PERC fellows offer "candidate species conservation banking" as a promising development of voluntary exchange through a market-like approach in their San Jose Mercury News op-ed.
Spots versus stripes? Which do you prefer? Our federal government prefers spots and is moving forward with a million-dollar-a-year plan to remove 9,000 striped owls from western forests.
For the first time since the 1800s, wolves are roaming Germany. As packs wander into the suburbs of Berlin, farmers and conservationists are divided. How should modern societies deal with the resurgence of dangerous, but protected, species?
This morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
On the John Batchelor Show, Reed Watson discusses the policies that govern public elk on private land in both Montana and Colorado. His talk focuses on how those policies can affect rancher reactions to elk on their property.
On the John Batchelor Show, Terry Anderson discusses how trade bans hurt the very species the regulations try to protect. He continues to describe how a property rights approach, along with liberalizing trade, could improve outcomes for these species.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the African lion as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. But will it actually help the king of beasts?
Terry Anderson, interviewed by John Batchelor, considers the gray wolves in Yellowstone and the apparent paradox that hunting creates a healthy population of wild species.
By Andrew C. Revkin5:02 p.m. | Updated below |
By the employment of dogs, farmers and conservationists are reducing both livestock lost to predation and cheetahs lost to predator control.
In 1900, the southern white rhinoceros was the most endangered of the five rhinoceros species. Less than 20 rhinos remained in a single reserve in South Africa. By 2010, white rhino numbers had climbed to more than 20,000, making it the most common rhino species on the planet.
Wally Thurman talks bees with John Batchelor. He discusses colony collapse disorder and the state of the bee industry.
Protecting the Aberdares ecosystem required keeping the local people from poaching the wildlife, grazing it with livestock, and cutting the indigenous trees for firewood.
Last year's massive winter bison migration from Yellowstone National Park caused significant damage to
Last Thursday, at a congressional hearing, Assistant U.S.
For an interesting example of how property rights can turn environmental liabilities into profitable assets, check out To Save Wildlife, Namibia's Farmers Ta
African white rhinos have been saved from extinctionby private owners who used property rights and market incentives to restore the South African population of 20 in 1900 to more than 20,000 today.
Protecting endangered species is hard when you view nature as static. James L. Huffman in the Wall Street Journal:
Editor's Note: Summers are an exciting time at PERC as we welcome dozens of visiting scholars to our summer fellowships programs. Throughout the summer, The PERColator will be bringing you a new Q&A series with many of our outstanding visiting fellows. Michael 't Sas-RolfesMichael ‘t Sas-Rolfes is an environmental economist with a focus on the role of markets for biodiversity conservation. He has been actively involved in various private conservation initiatives for 25 years, starting as a financial manager of a private game reserve in South Africa and later conducting research on the role of private markets for wildlife conservation in Africa.Michael worked with Francis Vorhies to set up Eco Plus, an innovative consultancy on business, economics, and the environment. His consulting experience includes work on trans-frontier conservation areas, wildlife trade policy, and institutional reform in protected area management. He has written extensively on various conservation issues, especially relating to trade in endangered species.Michael is a 2011 PERC Lone Mountain Fellow researching international wildlife trade policy. Thanks to Michael for taking time to answer our questions.Q: In 1998, you authored a PERC Policy Series called “Who Will Save the Wild Tiger?” What has changed in the world of tigers since you wrote the paper?A: A lot has been done. There have been many conservation initiatives, much money spent, and many, many meetings. A wide range of conservation NGOs and even the World Bank established initiatives, culminating in last year’s grand “Tiger Summit” in St. Petersburg in Russia. Unfortunately, however, wild tiger numbers have continued to decline. When I wrote the PERC Policy Series paper, the most recent estimate of wild tiger numbers was between 4,800 and 7,300. Last year the official World Wildlife Fund estimate was 3,200. So in another sense, not much has changed at all – the wild tiger remains in trouble.Interestingly, during this time the Chinese government also announced plans to investigate the feasibility of using farmed tigers to provide a legal supply of tiger bone medicines to their domestic market, citing my PERC Policy Series as a partial justification for this. Conservation NGOs (and the World Bank) reacted in a very hostile way to these proposals and the Chinese have not pursued them any further.Q: In your paper you wrote, “Tiger conservation is, ultimately, an issue of incentives.” What are the incentives and who faces them?A: Conservation NGOs benefit from the tiger’s charismatic high profile as a means to raise funds, and conservation scientists like to study tigers, so one could argue that they have an incentive to prevent them from becoming extinct. By contrast, rural people living near tigers have to deal with threats to their livestock and children, and human-tiger conflict is a serious problem over most of the wild tiger’s range. Rural people have less of an incentive to conserve tigers, especially when offered large sums of money for tiger carcasses.I believe that the main challenge for tiger conservation is that people living next to wild tigers are the ones who actually control their destiny, and right now those people typically don’t benefit much from the presence of wild tigers. The people who do benefit are mostly far away and don’t have much real control over what happens to tigers. There is a mismatch between who pays the costs and who gets to benefit from tiger conservation.Q: How can tigers become assets instead of liabilities?A: For something to be an asset, it has to be owned by someone. Right now most wild tigers are typically ‘owned’ by governments, but that is a weak and dispersed form of ownership, which does not benefit or incentivize specific people who control the wild tiger’s destiny. Those people are typically rural subsistence farmers and poorly paid government employees. By creating stronger property rights – i.e. more direct ownership of tigers – one could create ways for more specific groups, communities or agencies to control and benefit directly from tigers. Ways to benefit could include genuine “adopt-a-tiger” schemes, contractual agreements with local people, tourist viewing, and possibly trophy hunting (although this is currently banned). This would give tigers much greater asset value.Q: Should conservationists look toward tiger farming as a viable solution to the decline in wild tiger populations? A: Tiger farming is one of a range of options to consider. It has the potential to satisfy some of the persisting demand for products such as tiger bone, thereby competing with the black market, which currently provides the only channel of supply. It is not a panacea, but it is also not the threat that some conservation groups claim it to be. The Chinese captive tiger population already exceeds the world’s wild tiger population, and conservation groups worry that some products are ‘leaking’ illegally into the marketplace. However, if market demand for these products persists, it would be a bad idea to try to stop this leakage, because it will simply drive up the value of poached tiger products and stimulate poaching even further.Q: You have also done similar work on protecting wild rhino populations in Africa. You recently launched a website called Rhino Economics. What is the purpose of the website?A: Rhino Economics provides an information source to a wide audience on all of the economic issues relating to rhino conservation, especially the rhino horn trade. The public tends to be poorly informed on this issue. Most people still think that rhino horn is used as an aphrodisiac and that the rhino horn trade ban is a good idea. My research over the past 22 years shows that the smartest way to protect rhinos is to create strong property rights and market incentives, and the example of the southern white rhino success story provides concrete proof. My research also suggests that the greatest threat to rhinos today is in fact the ban on rhino horn trade. The ban is causing an artificial supply shortage that is driving the price up to outrageous levels and thereby attracting highly-sophisticated organized crime syndicates into the trade.The website aims to provide information at three different levels: 1) a quick overview of the issues for the general public, 2) a more detailed explanation of the issues for those who are more interested or involved in rhino conservation and 3) a comprehensive listing of past academic and policy work I have done for students and practitioners of wildlife policy.
Conservation of animals like rhinos and elephants may eventually be conducted most successfully by markets where these animals have monetary value rather than just emotional value. It may sound cold, but it could well keep them from becoming extinct
When people who live near wild elephants understand how they can benefit economically, they have an incentive to protect the wildlife.
In a new deal with environmentalists, the Obama administration has agreed to work through a backlog list of species that require additional study to determine if they should be given protection under the Endangered Species Act.
In the fall edition of PERC Reports out this week, James Salzman, professor of law and environmental policy at Duke University, provides an overview of ecosys
In 1962, Congressman Wayne Aspinall wrote to President Kennedy asking him to establish a commission to review public land laws.
Most environmental issues involve resource conflicts. One person wants to use a river to carry away her waste products, while another one wants to swim and fish in the same stream. Often these uses conflict and collide.
Features
It isn't easy being green...unless it means more green for the pocketbook
China and India are moving in opposite directions in their efforts to keep the wild tiger from disappearing.
By Andrew Morriss
The first chapter of the Cayman Turtle Farm story did not end happily. But a new phase in this fabled effort to protect wild sea turtles has begun.
Wisconsin leads the way in deconstructing dams that obstruct its many rivers.
The director of the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) in Nairobi discusses the problems with government control of wildlife in Kenya
Entrepreneurs are capitalizing on ecotourism and environmental amenities to transform an agricultural economy into a nature-based economy.
Why some ranchers see wildlife as a nuisance while others see it as an asset
Web Exclusives
By Shawn Regan | That there are moose in Yellowstone today tells us something about nature and our role in it.
Columns
Just as the market brought the bison to near extinction, so too has it brought them back from the brink.
Perspectives
Typically in the past, rural and suburban landowners had no trouble taking care of their seasonal accumulations of brush, branches, dead leaves, and other organic debris. They piled it in the backyard and set it alight.
The South Texas Wildlife Shootout is helping preserve wildlife habitat on private land and educating the public about the unique wildlife in the region.
In Tanzania, the Nile crocodile is probably best known for its threat to human life. Not only does it snatch villagers from the river banks, but it has even made forays onto the lawns of tourist lodges in search of a tasty meal.
Slash-and-burn agriculture has long been a way of life for farmers living in forested areas of the Dominican Republic.
The world's largest fish has found a safe haven in the waters surrounding a tiny Caribbean island.
Could the political conflict over wolf recovery efforts be resolved via economics? Let the bidding begin.
Founded 30 years ago in Bozeman, Montana, PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—is the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through property rights and markets.
PERC’s publications, each designed to resonate with specific groups, move ideas generated at PERC to broader audiences.
Research is at the heart of PERC's work, with a focus on the question: What is the link between economic growth and environmental quality?
The goal of PERC’s programs is to fully realize the vision of establishing “PERC University,” where scholars, students, policy makers, and others convene to expand the applications of free market environmentalism.
PERC's fellowships share a common goal of exposing new scholars, students, journalists, and policy makers to free market environmentalism, as well as enable scholars already familiar with FME to explore new applications.
PERC continues to publish and present a broad range of research and discussion through podcasts, videos, and other multimedia channels.