Applying competitive tenders for the provision of ecosystem services at the landscape level: a paper

Source: CSIRO
"Most tenders focus on ecosystem services on individual properties to maximise the total amount provided across the landscape. However, for many services it is not just the total quantity but their location in the landscape relative to other sites that matters. For example, biodiversity conservation is often much more effective if conserved sites are connected to other conserved areas to form a corridor or to increase suitable habitat area. Adapting competitive tenders to address ecosystem services at the landscape scale requires a good scientific understanding of the biophysical system. It also requires an auction mechanism which can promote coordination while maintaining the competition required to overcome information asymmetries. Iterated auctions, in which bidding is spread out over a number of rounds, with information provided between rounds on the location of other bids in the landscape, provides an approach to cost effectively deliver landscape scale ecosystem services outcomes. "