Swiss Federal Research Station for Agricultural Economics and Engineering, Tänikon

Structure and costs of different protected areas

The Swiss National Park, Biosphere Reserve Entlebuch and Wetland Preserve Glaubenberg in the cantons Obwalden and Luzern are compared with regard to their administrative structure and their costs. It becomes clear that the National Park is administered with more staff than the other areas, as informational services are offered to a large extent. That implies that the National Park is more cost intensive than the other protected area types. In the biosphere reserve, however, ecological goods are delivered in addition to the existing degree of protection, as some already protected wetland preserves are part of the biosphere reserve. The comparison poses the question, by which degree of protection nature conservation can be delivered efficiently.

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