ANALYSIS Costs and benefits of preserving farm animal genetic resources from extinction: CVM and Bio-economic model for valuing a conservation program for the Italian Pentro horse Gianni Cicia a, *, Elisabetta D’Ercole b , Davide Marino b a Dipartimento di Economia e Politica Agraria, Universita ` degli Studi di Napoli ‘‘Federico II’’, via Universita `, 96, 80055 Portici (Naples), Italy b Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche Gestionali e Sociali, Universita ` degli Studi del Molise, via De Sanctis, 86100 Campobasso, Italy Received 24 August 2001; received in revised form 25 April 2002; accepted 26 April 2002 Abstract This paper presents the results of a cost-benefit analysis of a conservation program for the Pentro horse. This horse breed has been reared for millennia in a Southern Italian wetland where it is now strongly tied to the traditions of the region, but presently faces extinction as only 150 horses have survived. Horse herds live in a wild state, characterising in a remarkable manner the landscape of the wetland. This results in a flow of social benefits that the market value of this breed fails to capture. The benefits from a conservation program for this currently unprotected local breed is estimated in a contingent valuation study, while a bio-economic model is used to estimate the costs associated with its in situ conservation. The results show that the benefit/cost ratio is, in the worst scenario, equal to 1.67, thus justifying a conservation policy. This combined approach could be useful to support policy-making for conservation in regions with a long history of breeding domestic animals. # 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Animal genetic resources; Contingent valuation; Bio-economic model; Cost-benefit analysis; Pentro horse 1. Introduction The profound changes that have taken place in agriculture in the past 50 years in both developed and developing countries have caused severe and undesirable impacts on the environment. Amongst these is what has been termed the genetic erosion of crop plants and domesticated animals. It is noteworthy that, even though an ample literature on plant genetic erosion exists, little research work has been carried out thus far for farm animals, despite the fact that the available data indicates that the phenomenon is of consider- able importance. According to FAO statistics, 20% of the world’s farm animal recorded breeds face extinction, while 10% are already extinct. The extinct breeds in Europe and in North America * Corresponding author. Tel.:  /39-081-2539057; fax:  /39- 081-775-5143. E-mail address: cicia@unina.it (G. Cicia). Ecological Economics 45 (2003) 445  /459 www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon 0921-8009/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0921-8009(03)00096-X