An upgraded national biodiversity risk assessment index

The setting of priorities for international conservation assistance is important due to limited available financial resources. A recent study constructed a national biodiversity risk assessment index (NABRAI) in order to prioritise nations for conservation assistance. The present study aimed to upgrade the original index in order to address computational and weighting inconsistencies. The results of the upgraded index corresponded relatively well with those of the original model. We feel this study goes a step further towards strengthening the methodologies for biodiversity risk assessment. However, due to the absence of theoretical constructs for biodiversity risk assessment and the considerable disagreement between the various models of biodiversity risk, we recognise a need for a more sophisticated understanding of national biodiversity risk before these models can be used to identify global conservation priorities with any degree of confidence.