Nature conservation: information, costs, and evaluation

Abstract

Public understanding of conservation is flawed in New Zealand and the level of threat to species and ecosystems is poorly understood. Pursuit of conservation goals is costly. We invest resources and effort to maintain specific species and return ecosystems to a former state by investing resources and effort. Selection of conservation projects needs to be based upon good understanding of their expected outcomes and projected costs. Efforts to conserve ecosystems should be evaluated to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of those actions. Practical, low cost evaluation techniques exist and can inform society about ecosystem conservation programmes. A New Zealand conservvision is for conservation decisions made by small groups of experts, based on estimated cost and projected outcomes that will conserve the dynamic nature of ecosystems.