Market Based Incentives (MBIs) are
increasingly discussed in the political debate over future
strategies for biodiversity conservation. The reasons for this are
twofold. Firstly, MBIs offer policy-makers new ways to reach
conservation objectives more cheaply, as MBIs use market forces to
pass on incentives. Secondly, MBIs can complement traditional
regulatory measures, for example, by generating revenue to fund
public conservation management.
The objective of this scoping study
was to research how MBIs are currently used for biodiversity
conservation and to assess the success or failure of these
instruments and their potential for further use. The specific aims
were to examine:
- which MBIs are in use;
- in which conservation areas are they
applied most often and where are they especially
- useful;
- what challenges are associated with
the use of MBIs in the field of biodiversity
- conservation.
It does this by reviewing the
current literature and databases as well by using expert
judgements about MBIs in use in the
Member States of the EU and other countries with
particular emphasis on successful
and promising examples.