agricultural commodity production, such as coffee-producing regions under
conditions of low coffee prices (Sanchez 2002). In such situations, the driver
of continued habitat loss is not so much market incentives as a lack of viable
exit options for farmers, as many farmers living at tropical forest margins have
no choice but to rely on destructive agricultural practices for their survival.
Increasing international willingness to pay for global biodiversity conservation
creates another land use option that does not rely on physical extraction;
instead, local stakeholders can be financially rewarded for reduced dependence
on physical product flows from irreplaceable reservoirs of biodiversity, thereby
advancing both conservation and alternative income opportunities.
One promising land use alternative that provides direct remuneration for
conservation services may be found in the conservation concession approach
developed by the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS) at Conser-
vation International (CI), in collaboration with Hardner and Gullison Associ-
ates, LLC (Hardner and Rice 2002). Conservation concessions may be appli-
cable in a variety of resource-based land use contexts (such as timber
extraction, perennial crop production, and livestock grazing), but this chapter
focuses on its potential uses as a complement to agroforestry efforts. After a
generalized overview of the conservation concession model, this chapter pre-
sents two scenarios for applying the model. The first relates to coffee produc-
tion in Colombia, describing how conservation concessions may be used to
retire aging coffee farms challenged by adverse economic conditions. The sec-
ond suggests ways in which the conservation concession approach can fortify
agroforestry efforts, targeting cocoa production in Bahia, Brazil. Although
these two scenarios do not address all the potential intricacies and variations
of conservation concessions or agroforestry, they do suggest that these two
tools together can generate substantial biodiversity benefits. The final section
explores various considerations that may complicate practical implementation
of the conservation concession approach.
Agroforestry and Conservation Concessions
Several contributors to this volume discuss ways in which agroforestry can be
an improvement over other land uses from ecological, agricultural, and eco-
nomic perspectives. Where habitat conversion already has occurred, the
ecological benefits of agroforestry systems relative to land used for annual
crops, cattle pasture, or monoculture plantations justify efforts to promote
agroforestry. Insofar as habitat conversion is inevitable (or already has taken
place), agroforestry systems can serve as corridors or buffer zones, with bene-
fits including lower use of agrochemicals, reduced soil erosion, less nutrient
leaching and watershed degradation, and, depending on selection of species
included in the system, enhanced nitrogen fixation and carbon sequestration.
Perhaps the greatest biodiversity benefit of certain agroforestry practices,
136 II. The Ecological Economics of Agroforestry