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Moving the Goalposts: Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage

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Moving the Goalposts: Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage. / Woodcock, Paul; Hayward, Matthew.
In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 4, No. 113, 28.09.2016.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

HarvardHarvard

Woodcock, P & Hayward, M 2016, 'Moving the Goalposts: Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage', Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 4, no. 113. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2016.00113

APA

Woodcock, P., & Hayward, M. (2016). Moving the Goalposts: Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 4(113). https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2016.00113

CBE

Woodcock P, Hayward M. 2016. Moving the Goalposts: Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 4(113). https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2016.00113

MLA

Woodcock, Paul and Matthew Hayward. "Moving the Goalposts: Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 2016. 4(113). https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2016.00113

VancouverVancouver

Woodcock P, Hayward M. Moving the Goalposts: Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 2016 Sept 28;4(113). doi: 10.3389/fevo.2016.00113

Author

Woodcock, Paul ; Hayward, Matthew. / Moving the Goalposts : Possible Effects of Changes in Opportunity Costs on Conservation Triage. In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 2016 ; Vol. 4, No. 113.

RIS

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

VL - 4

JO - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2296-701X

IS - 113

ER -