Saving a Million Species

The research paper "Extinction Risk from Climate Change" published in the journal Naturein January 2004 created front-page headlines around the world. The notion that climate change could drive more than a million species to extinction captured both the popular imagination and the attention of policy-makers, and provoked an unprecedented round of scientific critique. Saving a Million Speciesreconsiders the central question of that paper: How many species may perish as a result of climate change and associated threats? Leaders from a range of disciplines synthesize the literature, refine the original estimates, and elaborate the conservation and policy implications. The book: *examines the initial extinction risk estimates of the original paper, subsequent critiques, and the media *and policy impact of this unique study *presents evidence of extinctions from climate change from different time frames in the past *explores extinctions documented in the contemporary record *sets forth new risk estimates for future climate change *considers the conservation and policy implications of the estimates. Saving a Million Speciesoffers a clear explanation of the science behind the headline-grabbing estimates for conservationists, researchers, teachers, students, and policy-makers. It is a critical resource for helping those working to conserve biodiversity take on the rapidly advancing and evolving global stressor of climate change-the most important issue in conservation biology today, and the one for which we are least prepared.