Our 17th annual International Economic Tools for Conservation course is underway at Stanford University! We have an amazing group of people from every corner of the globe sharing ideas about how to protect the ecosystems and human livelihoods of the world.

Last month, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and CSF presented the second annual Economic Tools for Conservation in Mexico and the Mesoamerican Reef. Twenty participants from different regions of Mexico and the Mesoamerican Reef came together to learn what economic drivers cause environmental problems and the potential solutions to them. The two-week course was held June 15th-26th at UNAM’s Chamela Biological Station in Jalisco, Mexico.

On June 16th, twenty-two members of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) staff gathered in Washington, D.C. for a three-day training entitled Economic Tools for Integrating Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services into Development Investments. This course came about as part of our multi-year Biodiversity Understanding in Infrastructure and Landscape Development (BUILD) program, which is part of an agreement with USAID, funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The outdoor pavilion in the center of Mimpi Resort Menjangan rang with shouts of “Potatoes! Very Cheap!” “$6 a bag! Who will sell for 6?” “Cheapest in town! Come see my potatoes!” “Who wants to make a deal?” And our course on Economic Tools for Marine Conservation in Indonesia was underway. Twenty-two participants from institutions around the country were engaged in their first economic game, experiencing the principles of microeconomics by participating in a market, and working towards an equilibrium price for a sack of potatoes.

CSF International Course graduate Prakash Mani Sharma, Executive Director and Senior Advocate for Pro Public, wrote to us last month with some stunning news. On April 16th, 2015, the Supreme Court of Nepal set a precedent in the area of environment protection by ordering the closure of the mining company, Godawari Marble Industries. This decision is the result of over a decade of litigation by Pro Public to protect the 330 species of butterflies, 254 birds, 80 tree varieties, and 571 types of fruits in Godawari and the Phulchowki hills near the mine.

Photo credit: Fernanda Preto There’s no Wikipedia page so you can be forgiven for suspecting that I’m making it up. But Conservation Economics is actually being practiced by a bunch of serious people engaged in one of the most profound challenges of our time - averting massive losses in the diversity of Earth's life forms. So if it doesn’t exist, it’s time we brought it into being. Here goes:

Por: Claudia Ochoa, colaboradora La tercera semana de enero visitamos la Amazonía peruana para avanzar con los preparativos del curso Herramientas Económicas para la Conservación en la Amazonía Andina: Manejo de Recursos Naturales y Sostenibilidad Financiera en Áreas Protegidas que se llevará a cabo en la ciudad de Iquitos entre el 9 y 20 de marzo del presente año.