Popular interest in vertebrates does not reflect extinction risk and is associated with bias in conservation investment.

Thomas Davies,Beth Robinson,Hazel Carter,Gwladys Lambert,Richard Inger,Jon Bennie,Catherine Leyshon,Kevin Gaston,Stefano Casalegno,Andrew Cowley,James Duffy

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0203694

Abstract

The interrelationship between public interest in endangered species and the attention they receive from the conservation community is the ‘flywheel’ driving much effort to abate global extinction rates. Yet big international conservation non-governmental organisations have typically focused on the plight of a handful of appealing endangered species, while the public remains largely unaware of the majority. We quantified the existence of bias in popular interest towards species, by analysing global internet search interest in 36,873 vertebrate taxa. Web search interest was higher for mammals and birds at greater risk of extinction, but this was not so for fish, reptiles and amphibians. Our analysis reveals a global bias in popular interest towards vertebrates that is undermining incentives to invest financial capital in thousands of species threatened with extinction. Raising the popular profile of these lesser known endangered and critically endangered species will generate clearer political and financial incentives for their protection.

Highlights

In recent decades, Big International Non-Governmental Organisations (BINGOs) have come to have a powerful influence over the conservation agenda, including the flow of financial capital [1,2] (Fig 1)
Attractive ‘flagship’ species for example, are used to raise funds that support a variety of conservation initiatives, the effectiveness of this approach to species conservation has been challenged on the grounds that it focuses public attention and conservation efforts on a limited number of taxa [8,9], prioritizes conservation spending according to popularity rather than need [10], and in some cases reduces the popular appeal of taxa that receive less publicity from the conservation community [11]
The monthly web search interest in 36,873 species of vertebrate listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of threatened species was downloaded from the Google Trends web facility between 14/10/2015 and 16/06/2016

Summary

Introduction

Big International Non-Governmental Organisations (BINGOs) have come to have a powerful influence over the conservation agenda, including the flow of financial capital [1,2] (Fig 1). The interrelationship between BINGOs and the public—which we refer to as the ‘flywheel’ of conservation governance—exposes conservation funding and policy decisions to the influence of prevailing cultural norms surrounding environmental issues in the general population, such that conservation priorities risk reflecting bias in popular attitudes, rather than the needs of the environment or society [4,5]. The interrelationship between popular perceptions of endangered species, and the publicity they receive from the conservation community is one prominent example of the ‘flywheel’ of conservation governance in action. BINGOs seek to address the biodiversity crisis [6,7], by fund raising through publicity campaigns, investing directly in conservation programmes, and influencing the conservation agendas of governments and trans-national institutions (Fig 1). Attractive ‘flagship’ species for example, are used to raise funds that support a variety of conservation initiatives, the effectiveness of this approach to species conservation has been challenged on the grounds that it focuses public attention and conservation efforts on a limited number of taxa [8,9], prioritizes conservation spending according to popularity rather than need [10], and in some cases reduces the popular appeal of taxa that receive less publicity from the conservation community [11]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion