The pledges to finance biodiversity preservation make up a fraction of the identified needs. Therefore, scientists must develop tools to help prioritise the many goals of biodiversity preservation. Analysts and policy makers often use the ‘Noah’s Ark’ metaphor to imply that society must choose how much biodiversity to save and which specific components of it to save. Unfortunately, economic models proposed to answer these questions do not capture the complexity and inter-relatedness that enrich ecological perspectives, while ecological models often ignore the anthropogenic aspects that drive economic analysis. I develop a framework for prioritising species conservation policies that advances the integration of the economic and ecological perspectives. I first develop a macro-oriented model that builds from Norgaard’s framework (EcolEcon 2010) to address how big an ark to build. Then, I develop a microeconomic model that prioritises species—one that starts with Weitzman’s model (Econometrica 1998) and builds upon the work of Perry (EcolEcon 2010) and Arponen (BiodiversConserv 2012) to include ecological concerns. I demonstrate this methodology with two examples from current issues concerning protecting Keoladeo National Park, India. First, I look at maintaining the Gambhir River’s natural flow (instead of impounding it behind the Panchana Dam) to help re-establish the Siberian Crane at the park. Second, I investigate the protection of satellite wetlands, which are part of the park’s overall ecosystem, to enhance the Sarus Crane population.
