Habitat conservation, wildlife extraction and agricultural expansion

We develop a model of open access wildlife exploitation, habitat conservation and agricultural expansion, which is consistent with rural communities at the fringe of natural habitats in areas such as subSaharan Africa. Farmers have the option of either hunting for wildlife or growing crops. The opportunity cost of each activity is the return to the other (economic interdependence), and habitat conversion affects the returns to both activities (ecological interdependence). We show how different patterns of conservation and agricultural expansion may emerge, and that greater conservation may be consistent with higher incomes. We also show that wildlife stocks under open access may be greater than wildlife stocks under a common property (or social planner's) regime. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.