Regional, State and national conservation organisations are set to benefit from a new framework developed by a team of Australian researchers and designed to help cost out biodiversity threat abatement strategies.
"Costs have, and always will be, at the centre of environmental decision-making, but until now, there hasn't been a consistent way to estimate the resources needed to manage key biodiversity threats. "
PhD candidate Chuanji Yong, UWA
The new approach, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, was led by PhD candidate Chuanji Yong, from The University of Western Australia's School of Agriculture and Environment, and supported by the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program through the Threatened Species Recovery Hub at the University of Queensland.
Mr Yong said it is hoped the framework will be useful in planning and implementing conservation interventions and avoiding impacts to biodiversity, including stopping the extinction of threatened species.
"Australia is a mega-biodiverse nation whose biodiversity faces significant threatening processes over vast landscapes, tenures and ecosystem types," Mr Yong said.
Image: UWA PhD candidate Chuanji Yong.
"Costs have, and always will be, at the centre of environmental decision-making, but until now, there hasn't been a consistent way to estimate the resources needed to manage key biodiversity threats.
"Our project costs out 18 of the most important threat abatement strategies for saving Australia's biodiversity, such as invasive predator management, habitat restoration, native herbivore management, hydrology management and grazing management. It can be adapted to new situations and contexts as needed."
The team worked with experts in threat management across Australia to define the actions required to abate each biodiversity threat, and brought together existing cost records, such as from the NSW Saving our Species program. The models cost out each action, considering the spatial distribution of the threats, the vegetation type and terrain, and the costs of travelling to the location.
The study found that managing some threats to biodiversity are more expensive than previously thought, with the most expensive action being the restoration of habitat. The authors concluded that Australia needs be strategic about conservation investments and reconsider how to best avoid impacts on biodiversity in the first place.
Dr Josie Carwardine, co-leader of the project from CSIRO, said the approach provides invaluable decision-making information to help people realistically budget and plan for their biodiversity aspirations, from local to national scales.
"Being able cost out conservation actions across tenures and scales is a critical step since biodiversity management cuts across economic, social and political decision-making," Dr Carwardine said.
"Our approach can help people to plan and budget for everything from removing feral pigs from a national park, to achieving national and international targets such as stopping extinction, recovering species, protecting 30 per cent of our ecosystems by 2030 and more."
