Big Ideas in Conservation - Next Big Ideas in Conservation: Peter Kareiva

Peter Kareiva is chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, where he is responsible for developing and helping to implement science-based conservation throughout the organization and for forging new linkages with partners. In addition to a long academic career, he has worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and directed the Northwest Fisheries Science Center Conservation Biology Division. His current projects emphasize the interplay of human land-use and biodiversity, resilience in the face of global change, and marine conservation.

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"If we don't start linking the needs of humanity and nature, all our efforts are guaranteed to fail."

— Peter Kareiva
The Conservancy's chief scientist

The Natural Capital Project

Learn how this new partnership among The Nature Conservancy, Stanford University, and WWF wants to make conservation mainstream throughout the world.

By Peter Kareiva
Chief Scientist, The Nature Conservancy

Modern science has rediscovered what hunter-gatherers knew over 1 million years ago — and what today’s ranchers and farmers and fishermen still know well: Nature has tremendous assets that are key to human-well being and that have concrete economic value.

When we destroy natural ecosystems, we lose these assets and the services they provide us. But putting an accurate value on these ecosystem services (PDF) could make protecting those services even more attractive to business, policymakers and the public.

And protecting ecosystem services could also protect biodiversity: After all, clean drinking water is also clean water in which trout and salmon can thrive.

Just Protecting Biodiversity Will Fail

We’ve just begun the process of valuing ecosystem services through efforts such as the Natural Capital Project. Some conservationists worry these efforts amount to mission drift, and that assigning dollar values to natural systems will make conservation organizations venal. These are important philosophical concerns.

But conservation based solely on protection of biodiversity will ultimately shortchange nature, given the priorities and concerns of modern society. Even if nature preserves covered 30 percent of the Earth's surface (a figure triple today’s coverage), those protected areas would have no chance of surviving if we allow ecosystem services to degrade in the other 70 percent. Human demand on that 30 percent for resources would be overwhelming.

In fact, it's becoming increasingly clear that the goals of conservation and the goals of alleviating poverty and improving human health are deeply interwoven. Our best hope for conservation success is to work more closely with poverty and public-health NGOs and to end the extreme compartmentalization among our efforts.

Protecting ecosystem services does not guarantee improved human well-being or enhanced biodiversity. But if we don’t start linking the needs of humanity and nature, all our efforts are guaranteed to fail.

Fast-Forward to the Future of Conservation!

Climate: Curbing Deforestation to Slow Climate Change
Forests: Biofuels, Yes — But Not at the Expense of Forests
Freshwater: Improving Dams for Nature and People
Oceans: Taking Private Conservation to the Sea
Security: Ending the "War on Terra"

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Janice L. Reed (Sand dunes at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Utah); Photo © TNC (Peter Kareiva).