Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: private provision of conservation
- 2 The conservation market
- 3 Collective action
- 4 Protection mechanisms and incentives
- 5 Fee-hunting
- 6 Watchable wildlife
- 7 Turning development into conservation
- 8 Conservation partners
- 9 Towards a more holistic approach
- References
- Index
3 - Collective action
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: private provision of conservation
- 2 The conservation market
- 3 Collective action
- 4 Protection mechanisms and incentives
- 5 Fee-hunting
- 6 Watchable wildlife
- 7 Turning development into conservation
- 8 Conservation partners
- 9 Towards a more holistic approach
- References
- Index
Summary
The Nature Conservancy, like any organization, is simply a group of people working together to do something they cannot do individually.
The Nature Conservancy, 1955Introduction
People often combine as a group to purchase goods that they find difficult to obtain as individuals. By combining effort, the group is able to reduce the transaction costs commonly associated with the purchase of ‘conservation’, such as the collection of funds, the collection of information, the design of protection mechanisms and the monitoring and enforcement of the protection mechanisms.
The organizational development of the conservation movement in America began in the latter part of the nineteenth century. At first, organizations were made up of small numbers of individuals, often from academic backgrounds. (For further reading of the development of the conservation movement in America, see Fox, 1981; Trefethen, 1975; Dunlap, 1988.) The conservation movement has since grown into a large collection of organizations, national and local, with vast memberships. It is estimated that the revenues of the dozen largest environmental groups in the USA currently amount to around $250 million per annum (Wall Street Journal, 1990). The success of each organization lies in the unique style with which it approaches conservation. Several of the larger conservation organizations have focussed on the direct private provision of wildlife habitat, while others have concentrated on lobbying government for increased public provision. This chapter looks at ways in which the former work with private landowners to encourage and enable habitat protection on private land.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Dealing in DiversityAmerica's Market for Nature Conservation, pp. 38 - 57Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995