If you ask most Americans what they know about the Endangered Species Act (ESA), they will likely respond, “the spotted owl.” This Pacific Northwest controversy epitomizes the conflict between jobs and the environment that the ESA has come to symbolize. To protect the spotted owl, large tracts of federal lands were withheld from logging, the supply of raw timber decreased, mill capacity was eliminated, logging jobs were lost, and prices increased. As this example illustrates, endangered species protection can alter local, regional, and national economies. It also shows the kind of win-lose negotiations that typify ESA debates. Each side in the debate sees beating the other as the way to achieve its goals. Environmentalists want a better environment and are willing to sacrifice economic development toward that end. Development interests want economic growth and consider it unacceptable to forfeit jobs or economic prosperity for species protection.
As species protection is weakened, we move toward satisfying development interests at the expense of environmental interests. As species protection is strengthened, we move toward satisfying environmental interests at the expense of development interests. Undoubtedly, such a tug-of-war debate will always persist, but we argue that there are opportunities to expand the scope of debate, finding solutions that will improve the potential outcome simultaneously for both environmental and development interests.
In the managerial negotiations literature, scholars used to argue over... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
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