Cornell Professor Suggests Putting a Price on Endangered Species

I haven't read the actual article, but here is a tidbit from a post on Wired Science:

Rather than relying on warm, fuzzy feelings to protect animals, conservationists suggest appealing to something more reliable: greed.

By selling financial contracts pegged to species health, the government could create a market in the future of threatened animals, making their preservation literally valuable to investors.

"The incentive to conserve would increase as the likelihood of species survival decreases," said Cornell University biologist James Mandel. "If a species declines, investors have a bunch of paper that's now worthless."

It will be a hard sell, but it sounds like it might be worth a try.