Conservación de la naturaleza: una reflexión desde la economía

This article applies some economic principles to reflect on the problem of nature conservancy. After pointing out that nature conservancy is not only a problem of landscape or of the use of land but also corresponds to an environmental option, there is a discussion of the concept of Natural Space and its economic aspects, the set of services envisaged for a conserved Natural Space, the criteria which must guide its use and the difficulties for applying those criteria in practice, and some management problems relating to a protected Natural Space. In order to illustrase the possibilities for assessing the benefits and costs of the different altematives, the article concludes with an example of the application of the travelling costs method to assess the recreational services planned in a conserved Natural Space.