What is a major hurdle in conservation efforts regarding slow decline?

Answer

The gap between the slow perceived risk and the sudden, high cost of failure when the threshold is crossed

A significant challenge is that cumulative slow degradation leads to an immediate, massive economic and ecological cost once the critical threshold for a service, like flood defense, is crossed.

What is a major hurdle in conservation efforts regarding slow decline?
Ecosystemenvironmentcausebiodiversitycollapse