Book Summary of Economics for the Wilds by Timothy M. Swanson and Edward B. Barbier, eds.

Economics for the Wilds, Timothy M. Swanson and Edward B. Barbier, (eds),(Washington DC: Island Press, 1992), 226 pp.

Economics for the Wilds attempts to reconcile economic development with conservation of natural resources. That is, the editors assert that if properly constructed, economics can account for the value, and assure the conservation of, natural resources.

Economics for the Wilds will be of interest to those who seek an economic approach to the conservation of wild, natural resources. This work is a collection of work by multiple authors. The first essay addresses some of the difficulties with past and present attempts to maintain the diversity of wildlife and wild lands while continuing economic development. The final part of this essay presents an overview of economics for the wild, the underlying assertion of which is that economics and conservation are inextricably intertwined. The second chapter addresses the main theme of the book which is that the conservation of wildlife and natural habitats has economic value. Toward this end, a brief review of an argument in support of this assertion is presented. The economics of sustainable management, comparative returns and discounting, and economic decision-making about resource use are examined.

Bruce Aylward examines appropriating the value of wildlife and wild lands. He asserts that, "Sustainable management will only occur if the full range of benefits and costs of resource use feed into the decision-making process of the de facto managers of wild resources." This full range of benefits must include: direct uses, genetic resources, ecosystem services and existence values. Swanson examines the role of utilization in biodiversity conservation. He discusses several approaches for conserving biodiversity, one of which is regulation of trade in wildlife, such as The Convention on International Trade in Endangered species (CITES).

Barbier addresses community based development in Africa in chapter five. He discusses: The Communal Area Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe and the Luangwa Integrated Resource Development Project in Zambia. The next chapter focuses upon wildlife tourism with particular focus on programs in Botswana, Kenya, Costa Rica and the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand. Sustainable rain forest utilization is the topic of chapter seven which examines the economic incentives for deforestation.

Methods for maintaining wildlife and wild lands while at the same time deriving the profits to be made from their utilization is addressed in chapter eight. The authors examine a range of methods for wildlife utilization which include captive breeding and wild harvests. The last chapter save one addresses the illegal exploitation of wildlife defined as either the irregular or immoral use of wildlife. They discuss illegal exploitation as an economic activity with a special focus on the structure of the poaching industry. In the final chapter the editors propose that the prediction of an imminent end to wild lands can only be averted, or at least slowed, by the recognition of the role that economics plays in the conservation of wild places. Economics for the Wilds offers support for the assertion that the conservation of wildlife and wild lands has economic worth which must be accounted for in decisions about the utilization of these species and habitats. The justification of this assertion is contained solely in the economic values to humans which conservation protects.