Is it worth saving the world’s most worthless species? By
Victoria Martindale, a postgraduate student in primate
conservation and a member of the Primate Society of Great
Britain. In September IUCN and the Zoological Society of London
published the world’s 100 most endangered species in a report
titled Priceless or Worthless? These species are at risk because
they are considered to be of little economic value to man. At
the same time a bill of £50 billion a year has been estimated as
the cost of saving the world’s endangered species and the world
is asking itself if it can afford this. “It is that range of
biodiversity that we must care for – the whole thing – rather
than just one or two stars” That global government budgets can
afford this trivial bill to save species from disappearing
forever goes without saying but whether we decide to pick up the
tab or not only time will tell. Yet rather than discriminate
species, conservation efforts of all strategies should remember
David Attenborough’s words: “It is t