Conservation and the private sector

The Wollemi Pine (Wollemi nobilis)
that was discovered by parks officer David Noble in the Wollami
National Park in 1994, and for which there are only 100 adult species in
existence, can be privately purchased from 1 April 2006. A 15 cm high
plant costs around $55 from Kuranga Nursery in Melbourne or from other sources. The extremely rare tree has been brought back from the brink by Wollemi Australia a joint public-private venture between the Queensland Government Department of Primary Industries (Forestry) and Birkdale Nursery. This has been licensed to market the Wollemi Pine in Australia and internationally to conserve it.

I am generally a skeptic of trying to privatise the conservation of biodiversity (subscription required) but the Wollemi case seems a good outcome. I was a small shareholder in Dr John Warmsley's failed Earth Sanctuaries
and probably have lost my investment. I regard Warmsley as one of the
visionaries of the Australian conservation movement and believe his
conservation ideas are sound. He did lack diplomatic and business skills
in dealing with the public sector.

Earth Sanctuaries
failed because it could not provide a commercially viable conservation
product. In terms of conserving individual mammal species it had an
impressive record but the strong conservation outcomes mainly involved
the production of public goods.
People will pay to have a Wollemi pine in their garden but will
underprovide offerings to secure good conservation outcomes generally.
In addition, there is no level-playing field in the conservation area -
despite some public support, Warmsley had always to compete against
public firms whose costs were largely met by government, not from those
paying for admission.

I am a strong supporter of sustaining
public sector dominance of the biodiversity conservation area for these
reasons. But I believe the private sector can have a role in conserving
particular endangered habitats and species. The issue is basically one
of contract design.
If a clear output objective can be defined (e.g. build up a population
of a particular species) without evoking costly byproduct distortions
(e.g. ecotourism that damages conservation outcomes) then private sector
involvement can be usefully sought. This activity will not dominate the
conservation area but can be a useful input in providing a source of
innovation and cost-effectiveness.

I will post more on my conservation economics views shortly.