The topics discussed in the Handbook on the Economics of Natural Resources are essential for those looking to understand how best to use and conserve the resources that form the foundation for human well-being. These include nonrenewable resources, modeling of biological resources, conservation...

Coastal and marine ecosystems (CMEs) generate some of the most important services to humankind, but they are endangered from overexploitation and loss. The widespread decline in CME services suggests that it is important to understand what is at stake in terms of the critical benefits and values...

It is now standard in economics to model natural resources as a special form of capital that can be depleted or accumulated. The following review shows how such an approach can be extended to ecosystems, implying that they are a form of natural asset that produces a flow of beneficial goods and...

The importance of ecosystem services to human welfare and economic livelihoods in low-income countries is now well recognized. Poor people in developing regions are particularly vulnerable to the deteriorating ecological values resulting from the loss of tropical forests, coral reefs, mangroves,...

This paper uses panel analyses to estimate relationships for agricultural planted area and beef cattle numbers at the state level in Mexico during the periods 1970-85, in order to determine the main factors affecting forest land conversion. Of the key policy variables, maize and fertilizer...

The global market failure problem of international biodiversity loss can be mitigated through the use of trade interventions or by the creation of new international markets and institutions for the global environmental benefits generated by the biodiversity conserved by host countries. However,...

Introduction -- Natural resources and developing countries: an overview -- Natural resource-based economic development in history -- Does natural resource dependence hinder economic development? -- Frontier expansion and economic development -- Explaining land use change in developing countries...