Economics in biological conservation
生物保护的经济学

Research in biological conservation has developed from conservation biology into conservation ecology. As the influence of societal and economic factors on biological conservation become more and more broad and profound, it is time now to further develop the field of conservation economics. Establishing na-ture reserves is one of the most important approaches for in situ biodiversity conservation. Unfortunately, present nature reserve management is mainly focused on biological and ecological aspects, economic consid-erations are badly lacking, which has led to some unsuccessful conservation practices and threats to sustain-ability. On the basis of reviewing relevant progress in economic studies on biological conservation, a concept and framework of conservation economics is proposed to provide a new approach for biological conservation from economic perspectives. Conservation economics is a more active approach to preserving biodiversity and managing nature reserves, and it will help conservation management authorities with investment deci-sion-making.