Wilderness?: Yes! Commercial development in parks?: No!

Abstract

Can we still ‘afford’ wilderness? And if so, should we aim to use it ‘sustainably’? The straight answers are: yes, and no. But the terminology is misleading. The total cash cost to buy all the world’s remaining areas of high biological diversity at current local land prices is estimated at $20 billion per year for ten years. This is less than annual US expenditure on soft drinks. So yes, the world can afford it. Most wilderness, however, is not for sale, except politically. It is controlled by national governments, which protect, exploit or ignore it depending on their own economic and political power bases.