Opt.Dyn.Nat
| Project name: | Opt. Dyn. Nat - Optimal Dynamic Nature Conservation Strategies: Focus on Charismatic Species and Tourism |
| Project leader: | Michael Getzner (total project) |
| Project team: | Brigitte Gebethsroiter |
| Partners: | Micheal Getzner (Department of Economics, University of Klagenfurt, Austria) Doris Behrens (Department of Economics, University of Klagenfurt, Austria) Stefan Lieb (E.C.O. Ecology Institute, Klagenfurt, Austria) |
Sponsor: | Austrian National Bank, Research Fund (Jubiläumsfonds) |
| Duration: | Jan. 2005 - Jan. 2006 |
Abstract:
This project deals with the trade-offs of biodiversity conservation and tourism within a national park, taking stakeholder interests into account in a bioeconomic model. The ecological system is described by a predator/prey system augmented by visitor impacts and constitutes the constraint within a dynamic optimal control model. The decision maker’s objective describes the intertemporal trade-offs between species protection and use- and non-use values for visitors (beautiful landscape, visitor infrastructure, species protection). Three case studies are investigated for the Hohe Tauern national park (Austria), one for the charismatic golden eagle, another for the non-charismatic but endangered rock partridge and a third one for the charismatic alpine ibex. The ecological parameters are estimated by a GIS model, visitor marginal valuation is elicited by a WTP survey. In the optimal control model, different protection measures and tourism programs are tested and optimal dynamic policy strategies and mixes thereof are highlighted. It is shown under which conditions visitor demand can be used to generate conservation budgets necessary for species protection.
Publication(s):
Behrens, D., Friedl B., Optimal balancing of recreation and wildlife conservation: a case of the Golden Eagle, in: A. Kontoleon and T. Swanson, Frontiers in Biodiversity Economics, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2006.
