非洲象被美国濒危物种法案和世界自然保护联盟列为濒危物种
是时候让一些濒危的物种灭绝了吗？在一项调查中，大多数的自然资源保护者认为，这个不同寻常的提议值得考虑。
在583名接受调查者中，60%的人同意应该设立标准来决定哪些物种可以被放弃以便专心挽救其他的物种。来自纽约大学的Murray Rudd主持了这项调查，他说这个话题直到现在在某种程度上还是个禁忌。他补充说，大多数保护组织在致力于保护前就已经有了清单。
我们不可避免地要失去一些物种，世界自然保护联盟(International Union for the Conservation of Nature)的Jean-Christophe Vié说。“但是对于优先对象仍然存在争议。我们不可能挽救17000种濒危物种，因此我们必须做出选择，这取决于许多的参数。”
做出那样的选择并不容易。就像Rudd提到的，“是看在遗传学上的独特性呢，还是看经济上的有用性，或者是看能否同时挽救大量物种？”
Scientists’ Opinions on the Global Status and Management of Biological Diversity
The large investments needed if loss of biological diversity is to be stemmed will likely lead to increased public and political scrutiny of conservation strategies and the science underlying them. It is therefore crucial to understand the degree of consensus or divergence among scientists on core scientific perceptions and strategies most likely to achieve given objectives. I developed an internet survey designed to elucidate the opinions of conservation scientists. Conservation scientists (n =583) were unanimous (99.5%) in their view that a serious loss of biological diversity is likely, very likely, or virtually certain. Scientists’ agreement that serious loss is very likely or virtually certain ranged from 72.8% for Western Europe to 90.9% for Southeast Asia. Tropical coral ecosystems were perceived as the most seriously affected by loss of biological diversity; 88.0% of respondents familiar with that ecosystem type agreed that a serious loss is very likely or virtually certain. With regard to conservation strategies, scientists most often viewed understanding how people and nature interact in certain contexts and the role of biological diversity in maintaining ecosystem function as their priorities. Protection of biological diversity for its cultural and spiritual values and because of its usefulness to humans were low priorities, which suggests that many scientists do not fully support the utilitarian concept of ecosystem services. Many scientists expressed a willingness to consider conservation triage, engage in active conservation interventions, and consider reframing conservation goals and measures of success for conservation of biological diversity in an era of climate change. Although some heterogeneity of opinion is evident, results of the survey show a clear consensus within the scientific community on core issues of the extent and geographic scope of loss of biological diversity and on elements that may contribute to successful conservation strategies in the future.
