ABSTRACT
Market-based instruments (MBIs) have become increasingly prevalent in the environmental policy sphere in recent decades and their application to ecological restoration reflects this global trend. MBIs can take a variety of forms, from simple grants through to complex offsetting and trading schemes. When implemented carefully, they can allow providers of ecological restoration services to capture a greater share of the economic benefits produced by their projects, as well as attracting new sources of investment into ecological restoration. However, MBIs also bring with them the risk that the diverse range of ecosystem services and functions provided by restoration activities may be commodified, over-simplified or traded-off against environmental degradation at other locations. This chapter explores the various classes of MBIs, the extent to which they have been used to promote ecological restoration and the advantages and disadvantages they offer.
