Biodiversity Finance Preferences Require a Strong State

About the seminar

In this presentation I will present findings from two surveys on biodiversity financing with i) forest owners and ii) general population in Sweden. We asked owners whether it matters who pays them and citizens what payment channel they would prefer.

Contrasting to our expectations we find that i) owners prefer to be paid by the state rather than the market and ii) citizens prefer a tax over product certification or voluntary donations (albeit this is preliminary at this stage).

Taken together these two findings indicate welfare gains if the state collects taxes and pays forest owners to protect biodiversity. I discuss this through a political economy perspective on feasibility and acceptability.

Without having definite answers, I ask why there is general tendency towards private solutions when preferences on the ground seem to point towards public solutions for public good provision

How to participate

The seminar is open to all.
The seminar will take place online via Zoom