Economic Tools for Conservation - USAID Peru

A 5-day course in Economic Tools for Conservation for USAID staff in Peru.

Introduction to Economics

• Economic fundamentals and the Super Six
• Supply, demand, market equilibrium, and competition
• Market and institutional failures related to public goods, open access and property rights

Environmental Policy

• Public policy tools to address market failures 
• Policy overview, incentives, command and control legislation 
• Economic instruments for conservation such as taxes, subsidies, and tradable permit systems

Environmental Valuation

• How economists measure the benefits people derive from ecosystems
• Environmental values, methods used to calculate them, and guidance on best practices

Cost-Benefit Analysis

• Overview of CBA framework, financial analysis and time value of money
• Economic CBA and incorporation of externalities, indicators of project feasibility, sensitivity and risk analysis
• CBA examples from the field, case study exercise 

Incentives

• Economics of incentivizing conservation: opportunity cost curves, ecosystem services, distribution of benefits and costs, definition of payment for ecosystem services, effectiveness evaluations
• Designing incentive programs: chocolate game, behavioral economics, case studies