Bronwen Crowe

The design of biodiversity conservation contracts under uncertainty

Conservation efforts are changing the physical and economic landscape of broad-acre agriculture. Conservation has primarily occurred through voluntary work until recently when the focus has shifted to agreements and formal contracts. The initial role of these conservation contracts was to encourage investment in actions and resources, such as fencing and tree planting, on the assumption this will lead to beneficial environmental outcomes for society and grain growers.

The next phase of conservation contracts are expected to pay grain growers for the provision of environmental services directly, such as biodiversity or carbon sequestration. These contracts would require greater clarity about the contract requirements, monitoring of output and the penalties for non-compliance than current conservation contracts. Bronwen’s PhD will study these design issues of conservation contracts.

Her research fall into the CRC’s Program 5 research area.

Objectives:

• Conduct case-study analyses of private landholders, government and non-government conservation agencies and broader stakeholders who have participated in the BushTender and Auctions for Landscape Recovery trials to estimate the benefits and costs for each stage of a conservation contracts for each party
• Assess the costs and benefits of entering into, complying with, monitoring and enforcing conservation contracts for private landholders and government and non-government conservation agencies based on the ecological transitions defined using Partially Observed Markvo-chain Decision Process analysis
• Determine the preferred conservation contract design to optimise the costs and benefits of entering into, complying with, monitoring, enforcing and renegotiating the contract for private landholders and government and non-government conservation agencies, using multiple-agent modelling.

For more information, email Bronwen