Biodiversity loss and economic inequality

A new study that will appear in the 16 May issuer of PLoS One suggests that “societies with more unequal distributions of income experience greater losses of biodiversity” (source).

“While there is often a trade-off between economic growth and environmental quality,” says [Greg] Mikkelson, “this study suggests that there is a synergy between a different kind of economic development – namely, toward a more equitable distribution of wealth and the conservation of biological diversity.” For example, if the US were to achieve levels of income equality comparable to those of Sweden, the pattern reported in their paper implies that 44% fewer plant and vertebrate species in the US would be in danger of extinction.

I look forward to reading the paper when it becomes available.¹ As Andrew Gonzalez another of the paper's authors points out, “With biodiversity loss, if we don't link the science to the social causes, we will never solve the problem.”

UPDATE: The article is now available on PLoS ONE.

¹The 16 May issue of PLoS one doesn't appear to be available yet. I'll post a link to the paper when it is.