Routledge Economic Incentives for Marine and Coastal Conservation: Prospects, Challenges and Policy Implications (Earthscan Oceans)

Product Description Marine and coastal resources provide millions of people with their livelihoods, such as fishing and tourism, and a range of critical additional ‘ecosystem services’, from biodiversity and culture to carbon storage and flood protection. Yet across the world, these resources are fast-diminishing under the weight of pollution, land clearance, coastal development, overfishing, natural disasters and climate change.  This book shows how economic instruments can be used to incentivize the conservation of marine and coastal resources. It is shown that traditional approaches to halt the decline focus on regulating against destructive practices, but to little effect. A more successful strategy could be to establish schemes such as payments for ecosystem services (PES), or incorporate an element of financial incentives into existing regulatory mechanisms. Examples, both terrestrial and marine, from across the world suggest that PES can work to protect both livelihoods and environments.  But to succeed, it is shown that these schemes must be underpinned by robust research, clear property rights, sound governance structures, equitable benefit sharing, and sustainable finance. Case studies are included from south and east Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australia. The book explores the prospects and challenges, and draws lessons from PES and PES-like programmes from across the globe. Review "This book helpfully illuminates the question: do market-based systems which reward particular patterns of behaviour make more sense than establishing the institutions and rules for collective management systems? ...[The book] offers further evidence for the need to see resource management issues within this broader socio-institutional sphere, and the specificity of people and place in setting boundaries for what can be achieved in practice." – from the foreword by Camilla Toulmin, Director, International Institute for Environment and Development  "The publication of this book should give scholars and practitioners alike a solid reference material on how payments for ecosystem services can be used to provide actors the economic incentives to use marine and coastal resources in a manner that conserves them well into the future." – from the foreword by U. Rashid Sumaila, Professor and Director, Fisheries Centre & Fisheries Economics Research Unit, The University of British Columbia "Readers will find good material on how to assess both social and ecological conditions, and use this information to develop tailored payment schemes to complement traditional institutional (and publicly financed) management." – Tundi Agardy, MPA News contributing editor About the Author Essam Yassin Mohammed is an Environmental Economist at the International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK.