Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Do we really care about biodiversity?
- Part I Causes of biodiversity loss
- 2 The economics of land conversion, open access and biodiversity loss
- 3 Estimating spatial interactions in deforestation decisions
- 4 Resource exploitation, biodiversity loss and ecological events
- 5 Pests, pathogens and poverty: biological invasions and agricultural dependence
- 6 Prevention versus control in invasive species management
- 7 Trade and renewable resources in a second-best world: an overview
- 8 International trade and its impact on biological diversity
- Part II The value of biodiversity
- Part III Policies for biodiversity conservation
- Part IV Managing agro-biodiversity: causes, values and policies
- Index
- References
4 - Resource exploitation, biodiversity loss and ecological events
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Do we really care about biodiversity?
- Part I Causes of biodiversity loss
- 2 The economics of land conversion, open access and biodiversity loss
- 3 Estimating spatial interactions in deforestation decisions
- 4 Resource exploitation, biodiversity loss and ecological events
- 5 Pests, pathogens and poverty: biological invasions and agricultural dependence
- 6 Prevention versus control in invasive species management
- 7 Trade and renewable resources in a second-best world: an overview
- 8 International trade and its impact on biological diversity
- Part II The value of biodiversity
- Part III Policies for biodiversity conservation
- Part IV Managing agro-biodiversity: causes, values and policies
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
We study the management of a natural resource that serves a dual purpose. First, it supplies inputs for human production activities and is therefore being exploited for beneficial use, however defined. Second, it supports the existence of other species. Large-scale exploitation competes with the needs of the wildlife populations and, unless controlled, can severely degrade the ecological conditions and lead to species extinction and biodiversity loss. Examples for such conflicts abound, including: (i) water diversions for irrigation, industrial or domestic use reduce in-stream flows that support the existence of various fish populations; (ii) reclamation of swamps and wetlands that serve as habitat for local plant, bird and animal populations and as a ‘rest area’ for migrating birds; (iii) deforestation reduces the living territory of a large number of species; (iv) intensive pest control may lead to the extinction of the pests' natural predators and eventually to the invasion of an immune pest species which is harder to control; (v) overgrazing reduces soil fertility and entails the destruction of natural vegetation over vast semi-arid areas in central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to the process of desertification; and (vi) airborne industrial pollution falls as acid rain on lakes and rivers and interferes with freshwater ecosystems.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Biodiversity EconomicsPrinciples, Methods and Applications, pp. 115 - 130Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007