Protected areas, wildlife conservation and local welfare

The establishment and expansion of protected areas in Africa have been motivated by the aspiration of increased wildlife abundance. During the past decades, however, this practise has been subject to a massive debate. While some claim that protected areas have failed in preserving African wildlife, others claim that existing protected areas are successful. This paper adds to this debate by presenting a bio-economic analysis of protected area expansion. The model considers a hunter-agrarian community located on the border of a protected area. An expansion of the protected area means less land for agricultural cultivation and hunting. Depending on the economic conditions in these activities, it is demonstrated that protected area expansion may reduce the degree of wildlife conservation. In addition, it may reduce the welfare of the local people.protected areas; wildlife conservation; hunting; agriculture; local welfare

Protected Area Assessment and Establishment in Vanuatu

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A semiparametric analysis of determinants of protected area.

We use a semiparametric additive model to study the relationship between protected area, income, trade, population, education, and political institutions in a sample of 89 countries. The results show the nonexistence of environmental Kuznets curve in the data sample. The study also points out the existence of nonlinearity in the relationship between protected area and the ratio of net secondary school enrollment.Education; environmental Kuznets curve; protected area; semipara-metric additive models

The Premium of Marine Protected Areas: A Simple Valuation Model

The article addresses the induced cost, the premium, from establishing a marine protected area in a deterministic model of a fishery. Outside the protected area, the fishery is managed optimally through total allowable catch quotas. The premium is found to be increasing and convex along the protection parameter. Biological measures are introduced to increase the understanding of the mechanisms in the bioeconomic system. Time-series solutions show that the net return per unit of fish increases after the protected area is established.Bioeconomics, dynamic programming, fisheries management, marine protected areas, migration, modeling, optimization, renewable resources., International Development, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, C61, Q22, Q57.,

Bioeconomic analysis of protected area use in fisheries management

Protected areas in fishery management have been suggested to hedge management failures and variation in harvests. In this paper, a stochastic bioeconomic model of a two-species fishery in the Manning Bioregion is used to test the performance of protected areas as a management tool in a fishery. The establishment of a protected area is analysed under the assumption of heterogenous environments that are linked via density-dependent or sink-source stock dispersal relationships. The sensitivity of the results to different degrees of management is also explored. The model is applied to the Ocean Prawn Trawl, and Ocean Trap and Line fisheries within Manning Bioregion in New South Wales, Australia. The focus of the study is placed on the biological and institutional characteristics that yield benefits to the fishery. It was found that protected area use in the Manning Bioregion is likely to have differing effects on the two fisheries examined, benefiting Ocean Trap and Line fishers but adversely affecting Ocean Prawn Trawl fishers. Overall, it is unlikely that protected area use will lead to an increase resource rent in the fishery.bioeconomics, fisheries management, marine protected areas, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,