Conservative Conservationism (1 of 6)

This idea is a strange one. The conservative parties of the world have historically been fairly hostile towards the conservation movement in general (with the strange and interesting exception of the US Republican Party), and certainly hostile towards "environmentalists," however one might define that term. I believe, as a 21st century conservative, that this must change. Conservatives around the world must recognize that there are some very valid concerns within the conservation movement that must be addressed, whatever the historical political leanings of environmentalists. This policy is going to have to be built from the ground up, especially in Canada, where conservatives have generally been ignorant or apathetic towards environmental issues.

I believe that the foundation of a conservative environmental policy can be found within two existing conservative philosophies, those concerning the management of the economy and the role of government.

Most conservatives believe that no society can remain prosperous and dynamic without a strong economy. A conservative environmental policy, therefore, must not compromise economic growth in a significant way. However, keeping the economy strong in the long term will require sustainability and achieving this sustainability should form the core of a conservative environmental policy.

With respect to the role of government, most conservatives would like to see a government that is as small and efficient as possible. Many conservatives are sceptical of commonly proposed solutions to environmental problems, because those solutions often involve big government mandates, with significant public expenditure to fund programs administered by the bureaucracy. A conservative environmental policy must incorporate these concerns, and be geared towards public-private partnerships, incentives, efficiency and revenue neutrality.

Given those two factors, I would argue that an effective and conservative environmental policy should be based on the management of externalities. In order to explain what I mean by that, it is necessary to discuss what I am defining as an externality. Wikipedia provides a concise explanation:

"An externality is an impact on any party not directly involved in an economic decision. An externality occurs when an economic activity causes external costs or external benefits to third party stakeholders who did not directly affect the economic transaction. For example, manufacturing that causes air pollution imposes costs on others.

In a competitive market, the existence of externalities would mean that either too much or too little of the good would be produced and consumed in terms of overall costs and benefits to society. If there exist external costs (negative externalities) such as pollution, the good will be overproduced by a competitive market, as the producer does not take into account the external costs when producing the good. If there are external benefits (positive externalities) such as in areas of education or public safety, too little of the good would be produced by private markets as producers and buyers do not take into account the external benefits to others."

The role of the government, then, is to provide those services that create positive externalities in a fair and equitable way (health care, education, national defense, law enforcement etc), and to regulate or otherwise deter those activities that create negative externalities.

Most of the environmental issues facing the world today are caused by negative externalities stemming from human activity. By seeking pragmatic and efficient ways to mitigate these externalities, and providing incentives to create positive environmental externalities, a cohesive environmental policy can be established. It cannot focus only on the key issue of the day, because any approach dominated by a single issue, like global warming, cannot be a successful solution to a multifaceted issue like conservation.

This post is getting towards the long side, so I will leave it here, and elaborate on specific policy prescriptions for specific issues in five future posts.