This paper addresses the potential of in situ crop landrace conservation, employing market-based instruments, which pre-requires that (1) consumers hold positive use-value for the landrace attribute and (2) their willingness to pay covers both the transaction cost of implementing these instruments and the opportunity cost of landrace cultivation. The empirical examination is based on two closely related analyses of eggplant production and consumption sectors of India. At present, the vegetable markets of south India provide the landrace cultivators with a price premium adequate enough to cover the opportunity cost of not opting for high-yielding modern varieties. However, we detect an underutilized consumer demand for landrace products. The wide margin that exists between the price premium farmers currently obtain for the landrace attribute and what consumers are willing to pay for it is indicative of the unexploited potential of labelling and certification schemes as an emerging agrobiodiversity conservation strategy.

This paper measures the impact of climate on Mexican agriculture using a Ricardian analysis. The analysis relies on economic data from 621 individual farms that were collected in 2002. Data on climate, elevation, soils, and distance to nearest city were matched with each farm. The analysis reveals that farmland values in Mexico are sensitive to climate. On average, warmer temperatures reduce land value by 4,000 to 6,000 pesos per degree Celsius. Examining three climate scenarios for 2100, the models predict average losses of between −42% to −54% of land value in Mexico. As a percent of income, rainfed farms will suffer slightly larger damages than irrigated farms but comparisons between small and large farms are mixed.

Migration literature has considered environmental constraints as one of the prime movers of populations, especially from dry regions, where water rather than land is the primary limiting factor. This study examines the impact of degradation of private as well as common pool land resources on migration decisions, based on primary data from over one thousand households in three dry land districts in Gujarat. The study finds that economic assets and natural capital have differential impacts on short-term and long-term migration decisions. Thus, any employment creation in rural dry land regions is likely to help the poorest. Further degradation of common-pool land resources influences short-term but not long-term migration. Therefore, better management of common-pool resources would strengthen the livelihood base of traditional herder communities and limit migration among middle-income households. Overall, in dry areas such as Gujarat, access to irrigation, rather than land ownership per se, is likely to deter migration.

This paper analyzes the causes for regulatory compliance, using traditional deterrence variables and potential moral and social variables. We use self-reported data from 459 Tanzanian artisanal fishers in Lake Victoria. The results indicate that the decision to be either a non-violator or a violator, as well as the violation rate – if the latter – are influenced by changes in deterrence variables like the probability of detection and punishment and also by legitimacy and social variables. We also identify a small group of fishers who react neither to normative aspects nor to traditional deterrence variables but persistently violate the regulation.

Ferraro and Simpson (2002) argue that when markets are competitive, payments for environmental services (PES) are more cost-effective in achieving environmental goals than more indirect approaches such as subsidies to capital. However, when eco-entrepreneurs face non-price rationing in input or output markets, as is typical for credit in developing countries for example, we show that interventions which relax constraints can be more cost-effective than PES. One corollary of this is that such indirect approaches are preferred to PES by interveners (e.g., donors) and eco-entrepreneurs alike. Both of these outcomes are more likely when constraints are severe. This has implications for schemes with dual environment and poverty alleviation objectives.