A data envelopment analysis approach to the assessment of natural parks' economic efficiency and sustainability. The case of Italian national parks

Bibliographic Data

ID12307382
AuthorsValentina Bosetti (0000-0003-4970-0027, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, corresponding author), Gianni Locatelli (University of Milano-Bicocca)
Year2006
Volume14
Issue4
Pages277-286
Publication date2006-05-15
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSustainable Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0968-0802 • E-ISSN: 1099-1719
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sd.288
OpenAlexW3123791013
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited13

Wilderness protection is a growing necessity for modern societies, and this is particularly true for areas where population density is extremely high, for example Europe. Conservation, however, implies very high opportunity costs. It is thus crucial to create incentives for efficient management practices, to promote benchmarking and to improve conservation management. In the present paper we propose a methodology based on data envelopment analysis, DEA, a non‐parametric benchmarking technique specifically developed to assess the relative efficiency of decision‐making units. In particular, the objective of the discussed methodology is to assess the relative efficiency of the management units of the protected area and to indicate how it could be improved, by providing a set of guidelines. The main advantage of this methodology is that it allows us to assess the efficiency of natural park management not only internally (comparing the performance of the park with itself over time) but also by external benchmarking, thus providing new and different perspectives on potential improvements. Although the proposed methodology is fairly general, we have applied it to the context of Italian national parks in order to produce a representative case study. Specifically, the choice of adequate cost and benefit indicators is a very important and delicate phase of any benchmark analysis. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used to investigate the opinions of Italian national park managers and stakeholders and to define the relevant indicators for the analysis. Finally, relevant policy implications for the case study are given. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Benchmark (surveying · Benchmarking · Business · Context (archaeology · Data envelopment analysis · Economics · Environmental economics · Environmental resource management · Geography · Incentive · Management by objectives · Operations research · Sustainability · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Engineering · Forest Management and Policy · Marketing

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