Scientists Proposed A Species ‘Stock Market’ To Put A Value On Acts That Endanger Biodiversity

More than 2 million species have been reported by science thus far, with millions more waiting to be discovered. Many species, such as bugs that pollinate our crops, have value in and of themselves, but many also provide significant ecological services to mankind.

However, because there is no uniform system for valuing distinct species, it is all too simple to conclude that they are useless. As a direct consequence, mankind has been eager to imply activities that reduce population and even endanger biodiversity.

A group of Estonian & Swedish scientists recommends formalizing the worth of all species through a hypothetical species stock market’ in a paper featured in the scholarly open-science journal Research Ideas & Outcomes (SSM).

The SSM, like a traditional stock exchange, will serve as a uniform basis for immediate pricing of all assets in its possession.

Other parts of the SSM, on the other hand, would be very distinct from the conventional stock market. New types of possession, transactions, and trade will emerge. Species do not have owners, and ‘trading’ would not include the exchange of ownership and control between shareholders. Instead,’ selling’ would refer to processes that eliminate species from a certain area, such as conflict, deforestation, or pollution.

Taking some action that improves biodiversity—as measured by specific species, on the other hand, is analogous to investing in the species stock market. Purchasing has a cost as well, although it’s more likely to be conceived of in terms of gratitude. ‘Money’ here refers to a financial commitment to increasing biodiversity.

Surprisingly, the SSM is centered on the concept of digital species. These are representations of identified and unexplained species that have been shown to reside based on DNA sequences and enriched with information on their environment, habitat, distribution, relationships with several other species, and functionalities.

Such DNA sequences and information must be obtained from global social and scientific resources, such as natural history archives, sequence datasets, and bioscience information portals, for the SSM to operate as specified. Data recordings of non-sequenced individuals, such as inspections, older materials in archives, and data from journals, could be incorporated into digital species management.

according to the research, The SSM is allegedly organized by a worldwide taxonomist and economist associations, as reported by phys.org.