The Needs of the Many

Craig Turner and Jeff Dawson explore whether ‘triage’ systems could help in the battle against biodiversity loss

Not so long ago, the Society of Biology asked, “do we need pandas?” It is a question that often sparks a much wider debate on species conservation and whether certain species are more important to save than others. Many would save the panda, but certainly not all. Merely posing the question begins to lift the lid on a much more complex conservation conundrum.

Extinction is often an entirely natural process, but is now expedited by anthropogenic pressures. A survey of almost 600 scientists1 showed that nearly 80% agreed that acceleration of the loss of biological diversity by human activities was “virtually certain”. The controversy appears to be not what species we need, value or want, but rather which can we save, since the estimated annual cost of saving all threatened species and sites – $76.1bn2 – seems out of the question. As such, nearly 60% of the survey scientists[1] agreed or strongly agreed that criteria for triage decisions should be established.

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