TY - JOUR
T1 - Moving the Goalposts
T2 - Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage
AU - Woodcock, Paul
AU - Hayward, Matthew
N1 - MH was supported by the Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Nelson Mandela University.
PY - 2016/9/28
Y1 - 2016/9/28
N2 - Theresourcesrequiredtohaltbiodiversitydeclinesareestimatedtobemanytimesmorethancurrentinvestment,underpinningcallstoincreasefinancialsupportforconservation,andtodevelopmethodsforallocatingfundsmoreefficiently(McCarthyetal.,2012;McDonaldetal.,2015).Conservationtriageisanimportantpartofthelatterstrategy,withproponentsarguingthatbyexplicitlyprioritizingresourcestowardtargets(e.g.,particularspeciesorpopulations)identifiedasgeneratingthegreatestbenefitsforagiveninvestment,triageavoidsusingresourcesoncasesinwhichconservationeffortisunlikelytomakeadifference(i.e.,improvementisunlikelyorisnear-certainirrespectiveofinvestment;Bottrilletal.,2008;Schneideretal.,2010;Gerber,2016).However,triagehasbeencriticizedonseveralgrounds,suchaspotentiallysignalingtodecision-makersthatsomeextinctionsorpopulationlossesareacceptable,andthescientific,ethical,andpracticalargumentshavebeendebatedwithoutreachingclearconsensus(Bottrilletal.,2008;JachowskiandKesler,2008;Parretal.,2008).Ourprimaryaimhereisnottorevisitthesearguments,buttohighlightanadditionalissue—thepotentialforsubstantial,unforeseenchangesinthefuturecostsofconservation—andinvestigatehowthisissuemightaffecttriageandnon-triageapproaches.
CHANGES
AB - Theresourcesrequiredtohaltbiodiversitydeclinesareestimatedtobemanytimesmorethancurrentinvestment,underpinningcallstoincreasefinancialsupportforconservation,andtodevelopmethodsforallocatingfundsmoreefficiently(McCarthyetal.,2012;McDonaldetal.,2015).Conservationtriageisanimportantpartofthelatterstrategy,withproponentsarguingthatbyexplicitlyprioritizingresourcestowardtargets(e.g.,particularspeciesorpopulations)identifiedasgeneratingthegreatestbenefitsforagiveninvestment,triageavoidsusingresourcesoncasesinwhichconservationeffortisunlikelytomakeadifference(i.e.,improvementisunlikelyorisnear-certainirrespectiveofinvestment;Bottrilletal.,2008;Schneideretal.,2010;Gerber,2016).However,triagehasbeencriticizedonseveralgrounds,suchaspotentiallysignalingtodecision-makersthatsomeextinctionsorpopulationlossesareacceptable,andthescientific,ethical,andpracticalargumentshavebeendebatedwithoutreachingclearconsensus(Bottrilletal.,2008;JachowskiandKesler,2008;Parretal.,2008).Ourprimaryaimhereisnottorevisitthesearguments,buttohighlightanadditionalissue—thepotentialforsubstantial,unforeseenchangesinthefuturecostsofconservation—andinvestigatehowthisissuemightaffecttriageandnon-triageapproaches.
CHANGES
U2 - 10.3389/fevo.2016.00113
DO - 10.3389/fevo.2016.00113
M3 - Article
SN - 2296-701X
VL - 4
JO - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
IS - 113
ER -