How Much of Brazil’s Amazon Highway Budget Should Go to Maintenance? Traditional studies typically evaluate the economic feasibility of individual projects either analyzing a specific maintenance plan or assessing the economic feasibility of a new road expansion in the Amazon. While these project-level evaluations are vital, my approach here shifts…

Why is every conservation choice an optimization problem? Being an environmental economist, I am biased in advocating for development paths that prioritize social and financial returns alongside rigorous environmental conservation. However, the question I have been asking myself nowadays is not whether we should protect a natural resource, but rather:…

The multiple effects of protected area tourism Protected areas are often viewed solely as conservation units. However, when they allow visitors, they can generate important additional benefits for local economies.   When a tourist visits a protected area, they do more than pay an entrance fee. They also spend money…

Natural capital accounting: correcting the structural flaw in GDP measurement There are many debates surrounding the use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the primary measure of a country’s economic health. Here, we will focus on how GDP fails to account for environmental depreciation and how Natural Capital Accounting (NCA)…

Why are some farmers still reluctant to adopt climate change adaptation measures? As COP30 approaches (November 2025, Belém, Brazil), global attention turns again to the challenge of financing climate adaptation. Agriculture sits at the center of this discussion as it is both highly vulnerable to climate change and essential for…

The Economics of Pollination Services Recently, I came across a program describing farmers in southern Brazil renting beehives to pollinate their orchards. The topic caught my attention, as it illustrates a case of how ecosystem services—specifically pollination—are being internalized through market mechanisms. Although this practice is relatively new in Brazil,…

Why should the private sector invest in nature? From an economic perspective, conservation has the characteristics of a public good. Its benefits—such as climate regulation, biodiversity protection, and water security—are shared broadly, while the costs fall on those who take action. This creates a free-rider problem: each firm can avoid…

Paths to Reducing Plastic Pollution: Current Debate and What is Missing A lot has been said about plastic pollution and how to address it. There is broad consensus among researchers and policymakers that plastic pollution harms both the environment and society and must be reduced. The cost of inaction is…

Resource Competition: Old Challenge, New Solutions Resource competition—over land, water, forests, minerals, and more—has always been at the heart of both ecological systems and human societies. While this challenge is not new, it remains as fundamental as ever to conservation and sustainable development. Global demand for critical resources is intensifying,…