Saving billions to save the environment

Saving billions to save the environment An Israeli researcher is playing a leading role in developing a pan-Mediterranean conservation effort which could save more than $67 billion for the 25 governments whose countries are situated around the Mediterranean Basin.

Along with her researcher husband and an Australian colleague, Dr. Salit Kark recently wrote a paper that was the cover story in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers sought to determine how much energy could be saved if countries within the Mediterranean Basin were to collaborate on conservation decisions and efforts. After crunching the numbers, they estimated huge cost savings if the governments would merely work together.

Using prediction software that excluded political limitations, Kark and her co-authors ascertained that when coordinated across national boundaries, conservation efforts could achieve significantly higher results at lower costs than those planned within individual states.

"We wanted to investigate the costs and benefits of international collaboration on biodiversity conservation," Kark tells ISRAEL21c.