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Conserving Biodiversity Efficiently: What to Do, Where, and When

Author

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  • Kerrie A Wilson
  • Emma C Underwood
  • Scott A Morrison
  • Kirk R Klausmeyer
  • William W Murdoch
  • Belinda Reyers
  • Grant Wardell-Johnson
  • Pablo A Marquet
  • Phil W Rundel
  • Marissa F McBride
  • Robert L Pressey
  • Michael Bode
  • Jon M Hoekstra
  • Sandy Andelman
  • Michael Looker
  • Carlo Rondinini
  • Peter Kareiva
  • M Rebecca Shaw
  • Hugh P Possingham

Abstract

Conservation priority-setting schemes have not yet combined geographic priorities with a framework that can guide the allocation of funds among alternate conservation actions that address specific threats. We develop such a framework, and apply it to 17 of the world's 39 Mediterranean ecoregions. This framework offers an improvement over approaches that only focus on land purchase or species richness and do not account for threats. We discover that one could protect many more plant and vertebrate species by investing in a sequence of conservation actions targeted towards specific threats, such as invasive species control, land acquisition, and off-reserve management, than by relying solely on acquiring land for protected areas. Applying this new framework will ensure investment in actions that provide the most cost-effective outcomes for biodiversity conservation. This will help to minimise the misallocation of scarce conservation resources. : Given limited funds for biodiversity conservation, we need to carefully prioritise where funds are spent. Various schemes have been developed to set priorities for conservation spending among different countries and regions. However, there is no framework for guiding the allocation of funds among alternative conservation actions that address specific threats. Here, we develop such a framework, and apply it to 17 of the world's 39 Mediterranean-climate ecoregions. We discover that one could protect many more plant and vertebrate species by investing in a sequence of conservation actions targeted towards specific threats, such as invasive species control and fire management, rather than by relying solely on acquiring land for protected areas. Applying this new framework will ensure investment in actions that provide the most cost-effective outcomes for biodiversity conservation. A new framework applied to 17 of the world's Mediterranean ecoregions reveals that investing in a sequence of conservation actions targeted towards specific threats will protect more species than just acquiring land for protected areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Kerrie A Wilson & Emma C Underwood & Scott A Morrison & Kirk R Klausmeyer & William W Murdoch & Belinda Reyers & Grant Wardell-Johnson & Pablo A Marquet & Phil W Rundel & Marissa F McBride & Robert L , 2007. "Conserving Biodiversity Efficiently: What to Do, Where, and When," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(9), pages 1-12, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pbio00:0050223
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0050223
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Norman Myers & Russell A. Mittermeier & Cristina G. Mittermeier & Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca & Jennifer Kent, 2000. "Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities," Nature, Nature, vol. 403(6772), pages 853-858, February.
    2. Costello, Christopher & Polasky, Stephen, 2004. "Dynamic reserve site selection," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 157-174, June.
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    3. Drechsler, Martin & Hartig, Florian, 2011. "Conserving biodiversity with tradable permits under changing conservation costs and habitat restoration time lags," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 533-541, January.
    4. Carissa J Klein & Natalie C Ban & Benjamin S Halpern & Maria Beger & Edward T Game & Hedley S Grantham & Alison Green & Travis J Klein & Stuart Kininmonth & Eric Treml & Kerrie Wilson & Hugh P Possing, 2010. "Prioritizing Land and Sea Conservation Investments to Protect Coral Reefs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(8), pages 1-8, August.
    5. Beth E I Roberts & W Edwin Harris & Geoff M Hilton & Stuart J Marsden, 2016. "Taxonomic and Geographic Bias in Conservation Biology Research: A Systematic Review of Wildfowl Demography Studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-12, May.
    6. Álvarez-Miranda, Eduardo & Salgado-Rojas, José & Hermoso, Virgilio & Garcia-Gonzalo, Jordi & Weintraub, Andrés, 2020. "An integer programming method for the design of multi-criteria multi-action conservation plans," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    7. John A. Gallo & Amanda T. Lombard & Richard M. Cowling & Randal Greene & Frank W. Davis, 2023. "Meeting Human and Biodiversity Needs for 30 × 30 and beyond with an Iterative Land Allocation Framework and Tool," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-29, January.
    8. McBride, Marissa F. & Wilson, Kerrie A. & Burger, Jutta & Fang, Yi-Chin & Lulow, Megan & Olson, David & O’Connell, Mike & Possingham, Hugh P., 2010. "Mathematical problem definition for ecological restoration planning," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(19), pages 2243-2250.
    9. Salgado-Rojas, José & Álvarez-Miranda, Eduardo & Hermoso, Virgilio & Garcia-Gonzalo, Jordi & Weintraub, Andrés, 2020. "A mixed integer programming approach for multi-action planning for threat management," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 418(C).
    10. Fred A. Johnson & Mitchell J. Eaton & James H. Williams & Gitte H. Jensen & Jesper Madsen, 2015. "Training Conservation Practitioners to be Better Decision Makers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-20, June.
    11. Arjun Srivathsa & Divya Vasudev & Tanaya Nair & Stotra Chakrabarti & Pranav Chanchani & Ruth DeFries & Arpit Deomurari & Sutirtha Dutta & Dipankar Ghose & Varun R. Goswami & Rajat Nayak & Amrita Neela, 2023. "Prioritizing India’s landscapes for biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 6(5), pages 568-577, May.
    12. Brad H McRae & Sonia A Hall & Paul Beier & David M Theobald, 2012. "Where to Restore Ecological Connectivity? Detecting Barriers and Quantifying Restoration Benefits," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(12), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Josie Carwardine & Kerrie A Wilson & Matt Watts & Andres Etter & Carissa J Klein & Hugh P Possingham, 2008. "Avoiding Costly Conservation Mistakes: The Importance of Defining Actions and Costs in Spatial Priority Setting," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(7), pages 1-6, July.
    14. Stephen T Garnett & Liana N Joseph & James E M Watson & Kerstin K Zander, 2011. "Investing in Threatened Species Conservation: Does Corruption Outweigh Purchasing Power?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    15. Liwei Zhang & Yihe Lü & Bojie Fu & Yuan Zeng, 2017. "Uncertainties of Two Methods in Selecting Priority Areas for Protecting Soil Conservation Service at Regional Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-12, September.
    16. James Brazill-Boast & Moira Williams & Beth Rickwood & Thalie Partridge & Grant Bywater & Bronwyn Cumbo & Ian Shannon & William J M Probert & Julie Ravallion & Hugh Possingham & Richard F Maloney, 2018. "A large-scale application of project prioritization to threatened species investment by a government agency," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, August.
    17. Boyd, James & Epanchin-Niell, Rebecca & Siikamaki, Juha, 2012. "Conservation Return on Investment Analysis: A Review of Results, Methods, and New Directions," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-01, Resources for the Future.
    18. John A. Gallo & Gregory H. Aplet & Randal Greene & Janice L. Thomson & Amanda T. Lombard, 2020. "A Transparent and Intuitive Modeling Framework and Software for Efficient Land Allocation," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-29, November.
    19. Busch, Jonah & Cullen, Ross, 2009. "Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of yellow-eyed penguin recovery," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 762-776, January.

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