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Dasgupta report on biodiversity: what does the world cost?

2021-02-02T07:34:34.918Z


An expert opinion on behalf of the British government tries to determine the value of nature. A new economic system is therefore necessary in order to maintain biological diversity.


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Underwater world (in the Red Sea): Describing the value of nature

Photo: Georgette Douwma / Getty Images

The nations of the world pay around $ 500 billion annually to exploit and destroy nature.

They are subsidies for agriculture, for fossil fuels, for energy, for fishing or for fertilizers.

In total, misdirected public funds cause damage worth four to six trillion US dollars worldwide.

On the other hand, humanity spends only between 78 and 143 billion dollars a year on protecting the natural foundations of life.

That is 0.1 percent of global economic output.

The alarming numbers are part of a new report on the economics of biodiversity by the British economist Partha Dasgupta from St John's College at the University of Cambridge.

On behalf of the British government, Dasgupta tried to describe the value of nature.

The UK government will present the results of the comprehensive study this afternoon.

Nature is more than an economic asset

Similar to the now famous Stern Report, which examined the economic consequences of global warming in 2006, the Dasgupta Review presents the economic consequences of the destruction of the natural foundations of life. The professor calls for a more sustainable approach to nature and presents a new economic framework which should make it possible to preserve and increase biodiversity and prosperity in equal measure.

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Forest fires in the Amazon region: ecological and climatic collapse

Photo: Sandro Pereira / Fotoarena / imago images

"The growth and development theories that have shaped our ideas about the progress and regression of nations do not recognize the dependence of humanity on nature," writes the researcher.

Nature is more than a mere economic good.

It not only has a "use value" but also an "intrinsic value".

An economic system based on limitless growth will lead to ecological and climatic collapse.

To person

Icon: enlarge Photo: Niccolò Caranti / wikimedia commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Partha Sarathi Dasgupta,

born in 1942, is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Dasgupta has done research on topics such as environmental economics, population growth, malnutrition, poverty and sustainability.

He is the author of "Economic Theory and Exhaustible Resources" (1979), one of the standard works in resource management.

In order to meet the challenge, Dasgupta calls for a "Marshall Plan" for biodiversity.

He sees four ways to close the gaping gap between the global ecological footprint and the regenerative capacity of the biosphere: The reduction of global per capita consumption;

the reduction of the world population;

increasing the efficiency with which goods and services are provided;

as well as higher investments for the maintenance and regeneration of natural systems.

Threatening loss of life, ecosystems, wilderness and natural beauty

“The Dasgupta report shows us the market failure in the portfolio management of our natural foundations of life,” comments Georg Schwede, European head of the Campaign for Nature. “It is high time to include the services provided by nature in our economic balance sheets and financial models.

Otherwise we will not succeed in the necessary paradigm shift in dealing with nature «.

Earth is experiencing the sixth mass extinction in its history, a threatening loss of living things, ecosystems, wilderness, and natural beauty.

Man is to blame.

He destroys what nourishes him, what offers him protection, what inspires him - in short: what keeps him alive.

Since 1970, the populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have declined by an average of nearly 70 percent.

Between half a million and a million species are threatened with extinction, and a quarter of all cataloged animal and plant species are said to have already been lost.

A shift in natural systems is taking place, compounded by climate change.

The World Biodiversity Council already formulated this urgent warning in a report in 2019.

The Dasgupta report is now trying - also with a view to the UN biodiversity summit in May in Kunming, China - to underpin this warning economically.

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Red deer in the Taunus: intrinsic value of nature

Photo: Jan Eifert / imago images

Too many people on earth

How can it be possible to integrate nature and its services on a fundamental level into the global economic system?

The core messages of the paper:

  • Man is part of nature.

    The national economies are also embedded in nature.

    The current way of dealing with biodiversity endangers the prosperity of present and future generations.

    Wherever the natural systems collapse, where the soil and its organisms, the plants and their pollinators disappear, the earth loses the ability to produce food and sustain life.

  • Protecting ecosystems has priority over renaturation

    , which is becoming more and more expensive.

    Dasgupta joins the 30-30 goal: By 2030, 30 percent of the earth's land and ocean area should be placed under protection.

    So far it is only around 15 percent of the land area and only 7 percent of the oceans.

  • Land use has to change.

    Genetically modified crops, for example, could increase yields, alleviate climate change and reduce the loss of biological diversity, writes Dasgupta.

    He also recommends precision farming, integrated pest management and avoiding meat.

    Animal husbandry takes up almost 80 percent of the world's agricultural area.

  • There are too many people on earth.

    Education for everyone from preschool age, access to effective contraceptives and modern family planning are necessary in order to effectively reduce birth rates.

  • Strong states must represent the interests of nature.

    Taxes, subsidies, bans and nature-specific mechanisms such as paying for ecosystem services could be considered to protect natural capital.

  • The market has failed.

    The true value of goods and services is not reflected in market prices because the consumption of natural capital has not yet been priced in.

    However, it is not only the companies that are responsible, but above all the institutions, especially the financial and educational systems.

  • The gross domestic product as an indicator of economic success has had its day

    .

    Instead, Dasgupta proposes the concept of "inclusive prosperity", which includes the value of natural capital in national accounts.

more on the subject

  • Icon: Spiegel Plus Destruction of Nature: That is why species extinction is more threatening than climate changeBy Philip Bethge

  • Icon: Spiegel Plus Scientists are calling for a turnaround in species protection: Save mushrooms instead of pandas! By Julia Koch

  • Title: Nature's Marketplace

It is not enough just to give nature a cool value, writes the professor.

As early as 1997, researchers tried exactly that in the specialist magazine "Nature".

They estimated the value of so-called ecosystem services, those services of the biosphere that make life on earth possible in the first place.

The experts calculated a value of 16 to 54 trillion US dollars annually.

Dasgupta reports that this number was greater than global economic output in the mid-1990s.

It should probably impress.

However, think about it the wrong way round, the concept didn't work.

Instead, a more in-depth appreciation of nature is needed: "The goods and services of nature are the basis of our economic activity," said the professor, the biosphere is "our home", and humans "completely dependent on it".

"If our common future and the common future of our descendants are important to us, then we should all be naturalists."

Partha Dasgupta

Dasgupta therefore calls for a complete rethink.

A new ethic and a new image of man are necessary in order to cope with the crisis of nature.

This attitude must be shaped early on through education: "Every child in every country" must be taught natural history "in order to be introduced to the awe and wonder of nature."

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Source: spiegel

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