The company already operates three Australian conservation sanctuaries and plans to add to this list by buying additional land for new sanctuaries near population centers like Sydney and Melbourne.

Earth Sanctuaries intends to make money from tourism, merchandise sales, and educational and conference revenues derived from the land, as well as through the sale of outsourced consulting and contract services for wildlife and conservation management.

John Wamsley, managing director of Earth Sanctuaries, believes that when it comes to the conservation business, the company can do as good as or better than government and nonprofit organizations.

"Conservation is about the only thing still operating worldwide on a socialist model," says Wamsley. "These days, you won't be able to save anything unless you do it in a proper commercial environment, with proper dollar values on things."

Under Australian accounting rules, Earth Sanctuaries can list wildlife and other conservation holdings as "Self-Generating and Regenerating Assets," ­just as if they were wheat crops, apple trees, or cattle. Every year, such holdings will be given net market values, with year-to-year changes designated as revenues or expenses on the company's annual profit and loss statement.

As a result, Earth Sanctuaries has an fiscal incentive for investing in the viability and biodiversity of its sanctuaries -- that means enhancing the health and growth of native plant and animal populations, and eliminating feral animals and destructive introduced species.

Wamsley contrasts this approach with one-off schemes like tree planting.

"These days, we sometimes plant huge numbers of trees as part of volunteer reforestation programs," he said. "But then they all die because no one weeds and waters them in their early stages."

An iconoclast with a white beard stretching halfway down his chest, Wamsley is a mathematics Ph.D. who takes a hard-boiled businessperson's approach to environmental issues.

"We're not going to try to change the world," he says. "We accept the world as it is, and are merely trying to make the system work to save our environment."

Steven Lydenberg, spokesperson for KLD & Co. of Boston, Massachusetts, a leading authority on social investing, agrees Earth Sanctuaries appears to be a world first.

"I can say with reasonable certainty there's no analogous group in the U.S. or elsewhere that we know of," Lydenberg said. "In the U.S., this kind of work is either handled by nonprofit groups, or by eco-tourism operators, which aren't public."

Unfortunately, since first trading May 8 on the Australian Stock Exchange at A$2.47 per share, Earth Sanctuaries' shares (Australia: ESL) have fallen about 33 percent to A$1.53 as of last week. Over the same time period, the exchange's benchmark All Ordinaries Index has fallen about 2.6 percent, while the exchange's Tourism and Leisure Index is down 1.2 percent.

Despite the poor performance since listing, Earth Sanctuaries' performance looks brighter when its total 12-year history is taken into account. In a brochure, the company states that Earth Sanctuaries shares sold for 25 Australian cents apiece in 1988. A buy-and-hold investment at that price would have resulted in a compound annual return of around 16.50 percent.

Wamsley believes the company's weak share price since listing could be due to financial market uncertainty about the company's novel business model.