Economic impacts of conservation area strategies in Alberta, Canada: A CGE model analysis

Establishing conservation areas to protect biodiversity often results in economic trade-offs from reduced market opportunities for natural resource extraction. The purpose of this study was to quantify the economic impacts of two proposed conservation area scenarios in the Lower Peace Region of Alberta to determine the potential magnitude of the economic trade-offs. The first scenario, known as the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP), was proposed by the Government of Alberta under the Alberta Land-use Framework. The second scenario, referred to as the alternative scenario, was developed by the authors using a spatial land-use rationalization process. Economic impacts of each conservation area scenario were estimated using a dynamic, computable general equilibrium model for the province of Alberta. Results indicated that the two scenarios will have very similar impacts and may reduce the present value of GDP by as much as $4.44 billion in Alberta from 2011–2056. These findings highlight the importance of considering the economic impacts of conservation area strategies in order to minimize the trade-offs associated with achieving conservation goals.