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Imagine that the government informs you that a highly threatened species lives on land that you planned to develop. Would you be happy, angry, confused, or proud? What are your options in terms of the planned development? What would be a fair compromise that would protect your rights and interests, the rights of the public, and the well-being of the species?
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Imagine your country builds an expensive dam to provide hydroelectricity and water for irrigation. It will take decades to pay back the costs of construction and lost ecosystem services; some of those costs may never be recovered. Who are the winners of such a project, and who are the losers? How are each of these groups (consider both people and wildlife groups) affected? What do you think can be done to make the project more worthwhile?
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Do you think that the purchase of “green” (environmentally-responsible) products is an effective way to promote biodiversity conservation? Would you be willing to spend more money for timber, fuelwood, coffee, chocolate, palm oil, and other products that have been produced in a sustainable way, and if so, how much more? How could you determine whether the purchase of such products was really making a difference?
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Think of a family (someone you know or heard of) that has been a victim of human-wildlife conflict or contracted a disease while being in nature. What happened? What did the family lose? Was the family compensated for their losses? How and by whom? If you had the opportunity to establish a plan to prevent or mitigate future conflicts, what would you do?