Auctions for conservation contracts: an empirical examination of Victoria's BushTender Trial

Abstract

In this paper we provide an analysis of an auction-based approach to allocating biodiversity conservation contracts on private land. The auction, called BushTender, was conducted by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) in two regions of Victoria. The paper describes the key design features of the auction: including the auction format, contract specification and specification of biodiversity preferences; we analyse the bids provided by landholders; and compare the discriminative price auction with a hypothetical fixed-price scheme. We also comment on anecdotal evidence about the likely indirect benefits of BushTender. Show more