TY - JOUR
T1 - Controlling Rhododendron ponticum in British Isles
T2 - An economic analysis
AU - Dehnen-Schmutz, Katharina
AU - Perrings, Charles
AU - Williamson, Mark
N1 - Funding Information:
We are very grateful to all participants of the inquiry, too many to name here. We thank particularly John Everitt (Wildlife Trusts UK), John Harvey (National Trust), Scottish Natural Heritage, National Trust for Scotland, Colin Edwards (Forestry Commission), John Cross (Duchas), the Country Land and Business Association and the Scottish Landowner Federation who helped to improve and distribute the questionnaire. Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz had been supported by a fellowship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
PY - 2004/4
Y1 - 2004/4
N2 - What resources should be committed to the control of invasive species? This study is based on a survey of nature conservation and forestry authorities, wildlife trusts and private landowners which investigated the extent of the ecological and economic impacts of the invasive non-native plant Rhododendron ponticum in the British Isles. There are data on 52,000 ha of land affected by R. ponticum, more than 30,000 ha of it in nature reserves. For nearly all nature reserves, displacement of native species and habitat changes were both reported. In 2001, respondents controlled 1275 ha of R. ponticum at a cost of £670,924. To test the optimality of this, we apply a model of social expenditure. The external costs of R. ponticum control are estimated from the probability that it will spread to contiguous sites and the damage done on invaded sites. These are then used to calculate the socially optimal level of expenditure on R. ponticum control, and the funding gap it identified by comparing the result with current levels of expenditure. The results suggest that a socially optimal level of control effort requires a significant increase in social funding for R. ponticum control, although the size of the increase varies between landholders.
AB - What resources should be committed to the control of invasive species? This study is based on a survey of nature conservation and forestry authorities, wildlife trusts and private landowners which investigated the extent of the ecological and economic impacts of the invasive non-native plant Rhododendron ponticum in the British Isles. There are data on 52,000 ha of land affected by R. ponticum, more than 30,000 ha of it in nature reserves. For nearly all nature reserves, displacement of native species and habitat changes were both reported. In 2001, respondents controlled 1275 ha of R. ponticum at a cost of £670,924. To test the optimality of this, we apply a model of social expenditure. The external costs of R. ponticum control are estimated from the probability that it will spread to contiguous sites and the damage done on invaded sites. These are then used to calculate the socially optimal level of expenditure on R. ponticum control, and the funding gap it identified by comparing the result with current levels of expenditure. The results suggest that a socially optimal level of control effort requires a significant increase in social funding for R. ponticum control, although the size of the increase varies between landholders.
KW - Control costs
KW - External costs
KW - Invasive species
KW - Rhododendron ponticum
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2003.12.009
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2003.12.009
M3 - Article
C2 - 15016441
AN - SCOPUS:1842504009
SN - 0301-4797
VL - 70
SP - 323
EP - 332
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
IS - 4
ER -