Policies for Habitat Fragmentation: Combining Econometrics with GIS-Based Landscape Simulations

Habitat fragmentation is widely considered a primary threat to biodiversity. In this paper, we analyze incentive-based policies designed to reduce forest fragmentation in the coastal plain region of South Carolina. Our approach integrates an econometric model of land use with simulations that predic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land economics 2007-05, Vol.83 (2), p.109-127
Main Authors: Lewis, D.J, Plantinga, A.J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
afforestation
Biodiversity
Coastal plains
Econometric models
Econometrics
Environment
Environmental policy
Forest conservation
Forest cover
Forest fragmentation
Forest habitats
Forests
geographic information systems
Geographical information systems
Habitat conservation
habitat fragmentation
Habitats
Land economics
Land use
land use change
Landscape
Landscapes
Marginal costs
policy analysis
simulation models
South Carolina
Studies
subsidies
temperate forests
U.S.A
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Summary:Habitat fragmentation is widely considered a primary threat to biodiversity. In this paper, we analyze incentive-based policies designed to reduce forest fragmentation in the coastal plain region of South Carolina. Our approach integrates an econometric model of land use with simulations that predict the spatial pattern of land-use change. We analyze how subsidies for afforestation affect distributions defined over fragmentation metrics and derive the marginal costs of altering landscape patterns. We find the costs of reducing fragmentation vary greatly with initial landscape conditions and that a simple uniform subsidy performs well relative to a more complicated spatially targeted policy. (JEL R14, R52)
ISSN:0023-7639
1543-8325
DOI:10.3368/le.83.2.109