Frank Wätzold

Species conservation and climate change: What policy responses do we need?

So far, there is very little social science or economic research on how to deal with the effects of climate change on biodiversity, and in particular, on what policy responses are needed.

Some preliminary thoughts:
In economic terms, climate change will probably alter the costs and benefits of species conservation in a certain location. The climate and the habitat may become less suitable for the species, i.e. the benefits of species conservation in this location become less obvious. Is it really a benefit to carry out management measures to conserve a species in a location where it naturally may go extinct? In contrast, as management measures probably have to be intensified the costs of these measures may rise to an extent where they may be considered too high. But who makes this decision? And on what basis will this decision be made? How can an institutional framework that is responsible for such a decision look like?

If we are unable to conserve a species in a particular location this may still be possible in another location. In fact, new locations may become suitable that have previously been unsuitable for a species. How may policy react to that? First, policy needs to develop conservation goals on a broad geographical scale, e.g. the European level. This allows some flexibility regarding the location where we want to conserve the species. Second, an institutional framework has to be created that gives appropriate incentives to stakeholders to conserve the species in new locations. How should such a framework look like? How can we create incentives that make it worthwhile for stakeholders to identify and maintain new habitats?

A lot of research is needed to enable social sciences and economics in co-operation with natural sciences to answer these and other questions related to species conservation and climate change. The reason is that the challenge that arises from climate change to biodiversity conservation is new and requires answers different from those given to traditional challenges faced by biodiversity conservation (e.g. ecological effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, social acceptance).