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Property Rights and Natural Resource Conservation. A Bio-Economic Model with Numerical Illustrations from the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem

Author

Listed:
  • Anne Borge Johannesen

    (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

  • Anders Skonhoft

    (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

This study develops a model for wildlife migrating seasonally between a conservation area and a neighbouring area. When being outside the conservation area, harvesting takes place by a group of small-scale farmers. The local people have two motives for harvesting; to get rid of ‘problem’ animals as roaming wildlife destroys crops and agricultural products, and hunting for meat and trophies. Depending on the specification of the property rights, the harvesting is legal or illegal. It is demonstrated that it is far from clear which of the two property rights regimes that gives the highest wildlife abundance. Hence, contrary to what is argued for in the literature, handing the property rights over to the local people means not automatically more wildlife and a more ‘sustainable’ resource utilization. The reason lies in the nuisance motive for harvesting. The exploitation under the two different property rights regimes are illustrated by numerical calculations with data that fits reasonable well with the exploitation of the wildebeest population in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Borge Johannesen & Anders Skonhoft, 2003. "Property Rights and Natural Resource Conservation. A Bio-Economic Model with Numerical Illustrations from the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem," Working Paper Series 3503, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    • Handle: RePEc:nst:samfok:3503
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    File URL: http://www.svt.ntnu.no/iso/WP/2003/10Serengeti.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Naughton-Treves, Lisa & Sanderson, Steven, 1995. "Property, politics and wildlife conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(8), pages 1265-1275, August.
    2. Christopher B. Barrett & Peter Arcese, 1998. "Wildlife Harvest in Integrated Conservation and Development Projects: Linking Harvest to Household Demand, Agricultural Production, and Environmental Shocks in the Serengeti," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 74(4), pages 449-465.
    3. Homans, Frances R. & Wilen, James E., 1997. "A Model of Regulated Open Access Resource Use," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-21, January.
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    5. Smith, Vernon L, 1975. "The Primitive Hunter Culture, Pleistocene Extinction, and the Rise of Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(4), pages 727-755, August.
    6. Erwin H. Bulte & G. Cornelis van Kooten, 1999. "Economics of Antipoaching Enforcement and the Ivory Trade Ban," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(2), pages 453-466.
    7. Swallow, Stephen K., 1990. "Depletion of the environmental basis for renewable resources: The economics of interdependent renewable and nonrenewable resources," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 281-296, November.
    8. Anders Skonhoft & Jan Tore Solstad, 1998. "The Political Economy of Wildlife Exploitation," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 74(1), pages 16-31.
    9. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Chennat Gopalakrishnan (ed.), Classic Papers in Natural Resource Economics, chapter 9, pages 178-203, Palgrave Macmillan.
    10. Skonhoft, Anders, 1998. "Resource utilization, property rights and welfare--Wildlife and the local people," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 67-80, July.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sébastien Foudi, 2012. "Exploitation of soil biota ecosystem services in agriculture: a bioeconomic approach," Working Papers 2012-02, BC3.
    2. Winkler, Ralph, 2011. "Why do ICDPs fail?: The relationship between agriculture, hunting and ecotourism in wildlife conservation," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 55-78, January.
    3. FOUDI Sebastien, 2006. "Agriculture and Resource Exploitation: A Dynamic Bioeconomic Model of Agricultural Effort and Land Use Determination," LERNA Working Papers 06.25.218, LERNA, University of Toulouse.
    4. Herbert Ntuli & Anne-Sophie Crépin & Caroline Schill & Edwin Muchapondwa, 2023. "Sanctioned Quotas Versus Information Provisioning for Community Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe: A Framed Field Experiment Approach," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(3), pages 775-823, March.
    5. Ropars-Collet, Carole, 2011. "Nuisible ou gibier ? Une analyse économique de la chasse des grands animaux en France," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement (RAEStud), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 92(2).
    6. Damania, Richard & Scandizzo, Pasquale Lucio, 2017. "The Serengeti ecosystem—Burden or bounty?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 185-205.
    7. Ropars-Collet, Carole, 2012. "Nuisible ou gibier? Une analyse économique de la chasse des grands animaux en France," Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, Editions NecPlus, vol. 92(02), pages 161-181, October.
    8. Richard Damania & Pasquale Lucio Scandizzo & Ann Jeannette Glauber, 2014. "Ecosystems - Burden or Bounty?," CEIS Research Paper 324, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 08 Aug 2014.
    9. Mutti, Shadreck Mukanjo & Jourdain, Damien & Karuaihe, Selma Tuemumunu & Lundhede, Thomas Hedemark & Mungatana, Eric Dada, 2023. "Policies to reduce local participation in illegal hunting: The case of Kafue National Park in Zambia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    10. Heidi J. Albers & Katherine D. Lee & Jennifer R. Rushlow & Carlos Zambrana-Torrselio, 2020. "Disease Risk from Human–Environment Interactions: Environment and Development Economics for Joint Conservation-Health Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 929-944, August.
    11. Foudi, Sébastien, 2012. "The role of farmers' property rights in soil ecosystem services conservation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 90-96.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    bio-economics; wildlife; property rights; Serengeti;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q21 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy

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