Conservation and concealment in SpeciesBanking.com,\ud USA: an analysis of neoliberal performance in the species\ud offsetting industry

摘要

Market-based strategies are promoted as neoliberal\udgovernance solutions to environmental problems, from\udlocal to global scales. Tradable mitigation schemes\udare proliferating. These include species banking, which\udenables payments for the purchase of species credits\udawarded to conserved areas to offset development\udimpacts on protected species elsewhere. An analysis of\udspecies banks in the USA through a survey of data from\udthe website www.SpeciesBanking.com (established as\uda ‘clearing house’ for species banking information)\udwas complemented by questionnaire material from\udUSA bank managers. The number of USA species\udbanks has increased rapidly, bank area ownership\udand management is consolidated in a small number\udof organizations, and public information on species\udcredit price is limited. In interrogating the case\udmaterial, the roles of specific economic policies\udassociated with neoliberalism are considered, focusing\udon the extension of privatization, de- and re-regulation\udand marketization into the arena of environmental\udconservation, and commodification processes as\udmanifested in species banking. Problematic ecological\udand distributive ‘concealments’ in species banking\udinclude the ‘development-led’ nature of conservation\udbanking, tendencies towards net biodiversity loss,\udand an emphasis on supporting conservation-related\udwealth accumulation by larger landowners and\udinvestors.