The Economics of Policies to Conserve Biodiversity in a Changing Climate

Charlotte Gerling, Martin Drechsler, Payal Shah and Frank Wätzold

Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 2026, vol. 20, issue 1, 125 - 144

Abstract: Climate change is a key threat to biodiversity and may become the largest threat by 2070. Climate change will alter ecological impacts and costs of conservation sites and measures, and introduce additional uncertainties to be considered in decision-making. As a consequence, we need to rethink the design of policy instruments, with four key challenges ahead: (1) Cost-effectiveness analysis needs to consider the heterogeneous impacts of climate change on biodiversity and on conservation costs. (2) Designing conservation strategies under climate change requires a consideration of economic approaches in dealing with climate change–induced uncertainties. (3) Changes in cost-effectiveness and increasing uncertainties imply that policy instruments for biodiversity conservation should allow for spatial flexibility (to adapt the location of conservation sites) and management flexibility (to adapt conservation measures on those sites). (4) Climate change poses new questions regarding citizens’ preferences, including the difference in the value people attach to species migrating to a region due to climate change, relative to native species, and the increasing importance of considering risk and time preferences as climate change increases risks and causes changes in the ecological system over time. In this article, we summarize the existing research and derive recommendations for policies to conserve biodiversity in a changing climate.

Date: 2026
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