BIOLOG - Analysis of the Conditions for a Rational Biodiversity Policy for an EU Integrated Germany
Dipl. Biol. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann, Dipl. Kfm. Sönke Hoffmann*, Dipl. Kfm. Marco Ehlebe, Dipl. Vw. Stefanie Richter
Duration: 2001 - 2003
The worldwide loss of biodiversity is essentially due to the anthropogenic use of the biosphere. Although mankind's economic activities lead on the one hand to welfare gains, on the other hand the costs arising from the loss of species are only very incompletely included in the cost-benefit analysis of human activities. The project aims to find a measure for biodiversity that can provide a suitable basis for the necessary assessment of yields and costs of biodiversity conservation measures. Building on this operationalisation of biodiversity measures, one of the main objectives is to identify the socially beneficial biodiversity and to identify suitable instruments for achieving this goal. Standard methods of economic theory will be used to assess the instruments, focusing on the questions of the design of property rights and the utilization of markets as allocation instruments, in order to ultimately take species diversity into account as a scarce resource in the national accounts.
Starting from the characterisation of a rational national biodiversity policy, the project will also focus on international aspects. The aim is to examine how the biodiversity policy of the European Community is in line with the national concept developed, which perspectives are opened up by the eastern enlargement of the EU, which instruments are available in negotiations with third countries and how these are to be evaluated.
In the realisation of the individual sub-objectives of the project, standard economic theory will have to be applied in many places, which will be taken essentially from the areas of allocation theory, environmental economics and economic federalism theory, supplemented by game theory approaches, for example to describe international negotiations.
* Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
Funding: BMBF
Focus: Global Change: Biosphere Research, Subarea "Terrestrial Biodiversity Research" (BIOLOG)