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Beyond Protection: Why Species Recovery is Slowing and What It Means for Conservation Economics
A landmark study in Nature reveals a troubling trend: the rate of recovery for species and ecosystems has sharply declined since the 1990s, from 5% to just 1% per year. This slowdown, uncovered by researchers from iDiv and Martin Luther University, signals a critical inflection point for global conservation. The analysis of nearly 3,000 time series suggests that simple protection is no longer sufficient. The increasing complexity of threats and restoration efforts demands a fundamental shift toward more active, sophisticated, and economically integrated interventions. This article explores the hidden economic logic behind the slowdown and its implications for the future of biodiversity investment.