Sustainable Forest Management and Direct Incentives for Biodiversity Conservation

Current strategies for conservation are generally based on indirect incentives through which the habitat protection is an ancillary benefit from another activity. Sustainable forest management is typical of such a strategy. However it is neither financially feasible nor ecologically satisfactory. Only direct incentive strategies based on remunerating conservation efforts can be efficient. Such are the mechanisms of the market for environmental services. Several instruments exist in form of indemnities for environmental servitudes or transferable development rights, although conservation concessions based on the repurchasing of use rights appear to be better adapted to the developing countries.