September 21, 2001 (Washington, D.C.) - An international team of leading conservationists calculate that protecting enough biological diversity to sustain a healthy planet will cost some $30 billion, and maintain that the money and measures to do so are attainable. Their findings appear in, "Can We Defy Natures End?," an article published in todays Science Magazine.

The article summarizes the practical blueprint created at the Defying Natures End conference, which focused on developing a highly focused, results-oriented approach to biodiversity conservation. The conference was convened in August, 2000 at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) by the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS) at Conservation International and co-chaired by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson. Based on the findings of that conference, todays Science Magazine article offers specific recommendations for governments, industry and individuals to preserve global biodiversity.

"The goals we set at the Defying Natures End conference are ambitious, but we have no doubt they are attainable," says Conservation International President Russell A. Mittermeier, a co-author of the article. "If we fail, the scenario is an enormous biodiversity loss in the hotspots, which is simply not an option. When biodiversity goes, its gone forever, and the unraveling of nature means an impoverished future for us all. Although ambitious, the estimated $30 billion price tag is substantially less than the $40 billion tax refund mailed to American households earlier this summer."

The article states that $25 billion is required to fund the protection of the worlds 25 "biodiversity hotspots," which contain high concentrations of species found nowhere else and which are disproportionately vulnerable to extinction. The 25 hotspots represent j
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Contact: Brad Phillips
b.phillips@conservation.org
202-912-1532
Conservation International
21-Sep-2001