Market-Based Instruments and Conservation Practices on Private Land

Abstract

The rise of market-based instruments (MBIs) as a conservation tool presents an important context in which to extend our understanding of how conservation practices interact with policy. This chapter centres on a reverse-auction MBI called ‘EcoTender’ in Victoria, Australia. We examine the types of conservation actions that emerge through landholders’ participation in EcoTender and explore the way EcoTender is adopted, co-opted and resisted in different ways. This includes how landholders approach the costing of their own labour as part of the bidding process, the ways in which local ecologies may resist program prescriptions and the desire for social interaction amongst participants in a program that requires competition for cost efficiency. We conclude by reflecting on the future of MBIs for facilitating conservation practice.