Conservation information: a market incentive to promote environmental quality

✍ Scribed by J. A. Sinden; David A. King

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 562 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0960-3115
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00054743

✦ Synopsis

The land market in part of New South Wales, Australia, has been shown to conserve the soil and promote sustainable agriculture. The market incentive at work is the availability of information on the erosion status of the land. This paper explores the general possibility that provision of market information on environmental characteristics will lead to improvements in environmental quality. In this way the market would encourage landowners to conserve their land, retain native vegetation, improve biodiversity and pursue sustainable agriculture. They would do all this automatically, without government regulations, bans or moratoria, and without a new government agency or new act to implement the policy. The govemment officers would merely show buyers and sellers in the land market where to obtain, and how to use, the relevant information.