Hello folks,
Just thought I'd drop in to see what's happening. Glad to see so many
regulars!
Obviously I am not up to snuff but would like to comment anyway :-).
Jim wrote quoting David Simpson:
(first part cut)
>strategies for biodiversity conservation may be perceived to be
> that it is in the interest of the people who control threatened ecosystems
> to preserve them. This view might prove to be counterproductive. Why
should
> individuals or organizations in wealthy countries contribute anything to
> maintain threatened habitats if drug companies, natural products
> collectors, or tour companies can be counted on to do the job?
>
> " The reality is that these entities cannot be counted on
> to finance widespread conservation. Only well-to-do people in the
> industrial world can afford to care more about preserving biodiversity in
> the developing world than the residents there. Perhaps in some cases local
> economic activities will help reduce the rate of biodiversity loss. But to
> stem that loss globally, we must, in the short run at least, pay people in
> the developing tropics to prevent their habitats from being destroyed. In
> the long run, they will be able to act as strong stewards only when they
> too earn enough money to care about conservation."
>
>
> Jim again: Somewhere in the not-too-distant past on this list, I made the
> statement, "Global conservation programs are paid for by countries with
> money," a claim that raised at least one or two eyebrows here. :-) But
I
> think Simpson is making a similar argument. Conservation programs don't
> pay for themselves . . . . Nor is it clear how programs of "castigating
> the rich" and other such anti-wealth policies (as discussed here on the
> list last month) will actually pay for such things as biodiversity
> protection.
>
> Thoughts, comments, reactions? (I just thought I'd ask--it's been rather
> quiet lately.) :-)
Why *should* conservation pay for itself? Why *shouldn't* those who benefit
most from degradation of ecosystems pay to correct/prevent that degradation?
Including compensation for those less wealthy for any income forgone by
conservation acts?
Respectfully,
Ray
Jim T.
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