In our attempts to safeguard nature, from entire ecosystems to the last specimen of rare species, all allies are welcome. More than ever, there is a need for an overarching view on what conservation is supposed to be. This article serves to introduce biodiversity professionals to contemporary environmental philosophy. It is a discipline that could […]
Conservationists must engage local communities
Let’s face it, top-down approaches haven’t worked. While the big NGOs have some merits, the model of going into a conservation area and it fencing off has not made much difference to the overall trend of biodiversity loss and wildlife population declines. One answer is to engage communities more frequently and more effectively. According to […]
Does it help conservation to put a price on nature?
Assigning an economic value to the benefits which nature provides might not always promote the conservation of biodiversity, and in some cases may lead to species loss and conflict, argues a University of Cambridge researcher. There is a risk that traditional conservation strategies oriented toward biodiversity may not be effective at protecting the economic benefits […]
Carbon storage vs. biodiversity conservation
Recent research has profound implications for conservation organizations who base their model on carbon storage and sequestration. Up to now, conservationists (and their donors) have assumed that conserving the maximum biodiversity also stores the most carbon. It’s supposedly a win-win. But two new studies turn this assumption its head. In a July 2015 paper in […]
Paper in Science says loss of species is 1000 times greater than the natural extinction rate
Are we in the middle of a mass extinction, like that of the dinosaurs? By all accounts, yes. In a highly significant paper shortly to be published in the journal Science, a team of conservation scientists has revised current rates of species loss upwards. According to the analysis, species are being lost at least a […]
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