Identifying the incentives that graziers in central-western Queensland need to manage land for conservation outcomes
John Rolfe A D , Juliana McCosker B and Jill Windle CA Faculty of Business and Informatics, CQUniversity, Bruce Highway, Rockhampton, Qld 4702, Australia.
B Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, PO Box 906, Emerald, Qld 4720, Australia.
C Centre for Environmental Management, CQUniversity, Bruce Highway, Rockhampton, Qld 4702, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: j.rolfe@cqu.edu.au
The Rangeland Journal 30(3) 297-303 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ07002
Submitted: 19 January 2007 Accepted: 19 September 2007 Published: 5 September 2008
Abstract
Opportunities exist in rangeland areas for changed grazing management practices to have positive environmental outcomes. It is important to understand what productivity tradeoffs may be involved with these changes, so as to build trust with landholders, understand how incentives for different management systems might be structured, and predict (and ameliorate) potential socio-economic impacts on regional communities. However, the complexity of agricultural and natural systems and gaps in understanding and data mean that it is very difficult to predict accurately the economic impacts of changing management actions.
In this paper, the use of experimental auctions is reported as an alternative mechanism for predicting economic impacts. The methodology used was a series of field experiments, where landholders from the Desert Uplands region participated in conservation auction workshops, using ‘dummy’ properties to design proposals. Using their knowledge of the region, participants had to design a conservation area or corridor across their dummy property, and then identify what annual payment would be needed before they would enter into a five year conservation agreement. An evaluation of the bids shows that the bid values may be influenced by several socio-economic and attitudinal factors as well as the opportunity costs involved in changed production. The mechanism provides a promising way of evaluating the opportunity costs of changing management practices and trialling conservation auction approaches.
Additional keywords: conservation auctions, market-based instruments, rangelands management.
Acknowledgements
The research reported in this paper is based on a research project funded by a partnership of the Commonwealth and State Governments through the national Market Based Instruments program. The contribution of Stuart Whitten and members of the Desert Uplands Buildup and Development Committee to the project and the results presented in this paper are gratefully acknowledged.
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