Ž . The Science of the Total Environment 240 1999 133144 Financing incentives for the protection of biodiversity  Helen Mountford  , Jan Horst Keppler OECD En ironment Directorate, 2 rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France ´ Received 15 May 1999; accepted 18 May 1999 Abstract The conservation or sustainable use of biological diversity presents special challenges for policy-makers because of its complex nature and the difficulties associated with identifying the underlying causes that lead to biodiversity loss. As such, it is often necessary that a range of incentive measures are utilised to ensure both the private and the public benefits of its conservation or sustainable use are realised. Incentive measures available for this purpose include Ž . Ž economic incentives such as taxes, charges, tradable use rights, and subsidies , regulatory measures such as . development or access restrictions , and the provision of relevant information and sufficient institutional capacity. While many of the direct use values of biodiversity are privately appropriable given a clear assignment of property rights and the existence of markets, other financing methods are often necessary for the realisation of other values, such as indirect use values, non-use values and option values. This paper expands the analysis in the Handbook of Ž . Incentive Measures for Biodiversity: Design and Implementation OECD, 1999 developed under the responsibility of the OECD Expert Group on Economic Aspects of Biodiversity to discuss some of the methods available for financing incentive measures for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Where appropriate, case studies of experiences in OECD countries are drawn upon to provide practical examples of the financing and implementation of incentive measures.  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Biodiversity; Environmental economics; Incentive measures  This paper was developed in connection with the writing of the Handbook of Incentive Measures for Biodiversity: Design and Implementation under the responsibility of the OECD Expert Group on Economic Aspects of Biodiversity. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of either the OECD Secretariat or any individual OECD Member country.  Corresponding author. Tel.: 33-l-45-24-13-83; fax: 33-1-45-24-78-76. Ž . E-mail address: helen.mountford@oecd.org H. Mountford 0048-969799$ - see front matter  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S 0 0 4 8 - 9 6 9 7 99 00312-5