Global biodiversity loss is occurring at an unprecedented rate. Approximately 25 percent of all mammals are threatened with extinction, and many species have actually gone extinct in the past decade, including the Western black rhino and the Caribbean monk seal.

Recent research by Anthony Waldron, Daniel Miller and colleagues suggests that relatively small amounts of funding can have major impacts on preventing extinction in many countries. For example, an increase of 5 million constant international dollars in conservation spending would reduce biodiversity declines by 54 percent in the biologically mega-diverse countries of Peru and Papua New Guinea.

This recently established relationship between funding and biodiversity outcomes offers a new opportunity to develop a predictive tool for understanding the impacts of alternative investment strategies for biodiversity losses in the future.

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is co-developing a tool with Waldron and Miller that will allow users to visualize the biodiversity impact of future investments and future socioeconomic pressures, and calculate the investment needed to achieve future biodiversity targets.