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Conservation policies informed by food system feedbacks can avoid unintended consequences

Nature Food volume 1, pages 783–786 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Understanding the feedbacks between food systems and conservation policies can help avoid unintended environmental consequences. Using a survey-based choice experiment and economic modelling, we quantify the potential impact of tourists’ responses to a shift in offshore fish supply after the designation of a large-scale marine protected area in Palau. We find that this conservation policy may increase offshore fish prices and tourists’ consumption of reef fish, thereby further endangering local reef ecosystems. However, if tourists are offered a sustainable offshore choice, their demand for fish could be kept at current levels, and environmental impacts from increased reef fish consumption would be avoided.

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Fig. 1: Demand functions of reef fish and offshore fish for different levels of offshore fish price.
Fig. 2: WTP estimates and scenarios.

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Data availability

The authors declare that all of the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information and Supplementary Data files.

Code availability

The custom code generated for this study is available in the Supplementary Data file.

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Acknowledgements

We thank National Geographic Pristine Seas for funding this project; the Palau International Coral Reef Center for coordinating and supporting the data collection; the survey enumerators, including A. Uchel and T. Holm; and T. Oliver for providing advice on our statistical analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford, CA, USA

    Staci A. Lewis

  2. Department of Natural Resource and Environmental Management, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Staci A. Lewis, Carlo Fezzi & Kirsten L. L. Oleson

  3. Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Carlo Fezzi

  4. Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Carlo Fezzi

  5. School of Life Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Rachel Dacks

  6. University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Silvia Ferrini

  7. University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Silvia Ferrini

  8. Pacific Community (SPC), Noumea, France

    Philip A. S. James

  9. Palau International Coral Reef Center, Koror, Palau

    Lincy Marino & Yimnang Golbuu

Authors
  1. Staci A. Lewis
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  4. Silvia Ferrini
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  6. Lincy Marino
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  7. Yimnang Golbuu
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  8. Kirsten L. L. Oleson
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Contributions

S.A.L., K.L.L.O. and R.D. planned the project. S.A.L., K.L.L.O., R.D., C.F., S.F and P.A.S.J. designed the study. S.A.L. K.L.L.O., R.D. and L.M. collected the surveys. C.F., S.A.L., K.L.L.O., R.D. and S.F. conducted the analysis. C.F. and S.F. designed and estimated the choice experiment analysis. S.A.L., C.F. and K.L.L.O. wrote the paper. R.D., S.F., P.A.S.J., L.M. and Y.G. contributed to the writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Staci A. Lewis.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Food thanks Mark Zimring and Hollie Booth for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Survey instrument, Supplementary Figs. 1–5 and Supplementary Tables 1–12.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Data

Data and code for the choice experiment calculations, WTP modelling, demographics analysis and consumption calculations.

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Lewis, S.A., Fezzi, C., Dacks, R. et al. Conservation policies informed by food system feedbacks can avoid unintended consequences. Nat Food 1, 783–786 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00192-7

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