The ring-tailed lemur was recently upgraded to endangered
According to new research done by an international team of scientists, it would cost just
$1.3 million a year to save an endangered species.
The researchers developed a "conservation opportunity index" using measurable indicators to quantify the possibility of achieving successful conservation of a species, both in its natural habitat and by establishing insurance populations in zoos. They computed the cost of, and opportunities for, conserving 841 species of mammals, reptiles, birds and amphibians listed by the Alliance for Zero Extinction or AZE as restricted to single sites and categorized as Endangered or Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
The total cost: only $1.3 billion per year to safeguard all 841 species, truly a bargain basement price by any standard, the researchers note. Of this, a little over $1.1 billion per year would go towards conserving the species in their natural habitats and the rest for complementary management in zoos. "Although the cost seems high, safeguarding these species is essential if we want to reduce the extinction rate by 2020," said Prof. Hugh Possingham from the University of Queensland.
The caveat is that these prices only work if we put habitat protection and environmental conservation measures into place immediately. We can spend a little money to save life on our planet or we can
spend millions on senators' hair. Maybe we could throw
less expensive parties during election years?
Taxpayers directly contributed $18,248,300 million to the Republican and Democratic national committees, or a total of $36.5 million, to hold their presidential nominating conventions in Election 2012. They gave similar amounts to the parties in 2008.
In addition, Congress set aside $50 million for security at each of the party conventions in 2012, for a total of $100 million. The total cost to taxpayers of the two national party conventions in 2012 exceeded $136 million.
So we can spend money to save beautiful species like the Desert Fox (
vulpes macrotis).
OR we can continue to try to make Tom Cotton (
narcississ idiotic) look pretty.