TY - JOUR

T1 - Uncertainty and sustainability in the management of rangelands

AU - Quaas, M.

AU - Baumgärtner, Stefan

AU - Becker, C.

AU - Frank, K.

AU - Müller, B.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Hans-Peter Weikard, Ralph Winkler, Christian Wissel, participants of the 8th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics (Montreal, June 2004) as well as the ESF-Workshop Ecological–economic modelling for biodiversity conservation (Leipzig, September 2004), and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful discussion and suggestions. Maximilian Mihm has helped improve language and style. Financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation under grant II/79 628 and from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is gratefully acknowledged.

PY - 2007/4/20

Y1 - 2007/4/20

N2 - We analyze a dynamic and stochastic ecological-economic model of grazing management in semi-arid rangelands. The ecosystem is driven by stochastic precipitation. A risk averse farmer chooses a grazing management strategy under uncertainty such as to maximize expected utility from farming income. Grazing management strategies are rules about which share of the rangeland is given rest depending on the actual rainfall in that year. In a first step we determine a myopic farmer's optimal grazing management strategy and show that a risk averse farmer chooses a strategy such as to obtain insurance from the ecosystem: the optimal strategy reduces income variability, but yields less mean income than possible. In a second step we analyze the long-run ecological and economic impact of different strategies. We conclude that a myopic farmer, if he is sufficiently risk averse, will choose a sustainable grazing management strategy, even if he does not take into account long-term ecological and economic benefits of conservative strategies. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AB - We analyze a dynamic and stochastic ecological-economic model of grazing management in semi-arid rangelands. The ecosystem is driven by stochastic precipitation. A risk averse farmer chooses a grazing management strategy under uncertainty such as to maximize expected utility from farming income. Grazing management strategies are rules about which share of the rangeland is given rest depending on the actual rainfall in that year. In a first step we determine a myopic farmer's optimal grazing management strategy and show that a risk averse farmer chooses a strategy such as to obtain insurance from the ecosystem: the optimal strategy reduces income variability, but yields less mean income than possible. In a second step we analyze the long-run ecological and economic impact of different strategies. We conclude that a myopic farmer, if he is sufficiently risk averse, will choose a sustainable grazing management strategy, even if he does not take into account long-term ecological and economic benefits of conservative strategies. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

KW - Ecological-economic model

KW - Grazing management

KW - Risk aversion

KW - Semi-arid rangeland

KW - Sustainability

KW - Uncertainty

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34247126915&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/875f88c3-ed16-3a06-8ff8-ec1f5ead1931/

U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.03.028

DO - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.03.028

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 62

SP - 251

EP - 266

JO - Ecological Economics

JF - Ecological Economics

SN - 0921-8009

IS - 2

ER -