Success and cost effectiveness of multi-species projects

Abstract

Species loss is widely recognised as one of the most seriousenvironmental problems nations face. Of 142 nations compared against a wide variety of indicatorsNew Zealand is considered to be performing worst in terms ofbiodiversity (World Economic Forum 2002). New Zealand is reported to have 1300 threatened andendangered species of which about 34 species have 'recovery plans', someoperating since at least 1987. Biodiversity strategy projects estimate approx NZ $1 billion in additional expenditure on biodiversity programsover the next 20 years. There are some obvious challenges and a need to develop methodologies to aid investment decision-making and evaluate the programs and projects.