Financing threatened species management: the costs of single species programmes and the budget constraint

Abstract

In New Zealand total annual funding allows 15 percent of the 2,400 threatened species to be targeted for management. Although management costs are crucial to a conservation organisation's ability to achieve its goals, estimates of costs are not usually included in applications for funding or the preparation of recovery plans. Cost is also not generally a factor in priority ranking systems and cost-effectiveness analysis is rarely conducted. Using the results of analysis of 11 single species programmes for 2003-2012, this paper investigates the costs of management. It also considers the impact of the budget constraint on outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and investment.