The opportunity cost of conservation

An ASU research team has developed a first-of-its-kind study that combines conservation with practical economic tools for a case study of Columbia, South America.  The study, led by Camila Gurrero-Pineda and Leah Gerber, was recently published in Nature Sustainability.  They found that Columbia would need to substantially increase its conservation spending, and develop a prioritization map that permits policymakers to target conservation actions toward regions where conservation benefits are the highest and economic impacts are low--giving the biggest ecological bang for the buck.  Read more in ASU News.