Value of Nature
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This new report highlighting the importance of nature to the economy was released as part of the TEEB paper series. The report Nature and its Role in the Transition to a Green Economy was authored by a team of researchers from IEEP and funded by UNEP. The report aims to clarify and help mainstream nature’s role in the transition to a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. The report demonstrates that working with nature should be at the heart of the transition to a green economy for a range of reasons, including that human and societal well-being depends on nature and that all sectors of the economy benefit directly or indirectly from nature. It calls for making sure there is a clear understanding of the value of nature and how to take it into account in public and private decisions in light of the multiple benefits it provides.
Institute for European Environmental Policy - Valuing Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services
Following in the footsteps of the global The Economic of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative, the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) and the NCM Finnish Presidency decided in 2011 to initiate a TEEB inspired synthesis in the Nordic context (TEEB Nordic). The aim of this synthesis was to bring together existing information on the socio-economic role and significance of nature in the Nordic countries (i.e. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The synthesis of existing information carried out in the context of TEEB Nordic shows that nature and its ecosystem services are of high socio-economic significance for the Nordic countries, whether that is based on their market value or estimated value for the broader public.
Institute for European Environmental Policy - Financing Biodiversity
Ivar A. Baste, Direktoratet for naturforvaltning, ble i helgen valgt inn styret i det internasjonale Naturpanelet for biologisk mangfold og økosystemtjenester. Baste har solid internasjonal og nasjonal erfaring, herunder utvikling og gjennomføring av vitenskapelige miljøutredninger fra FNs miljøprogram. Det første møtet i Naturpanelet ble avholdt 21.-26. januar i Bonn. Naturpanelet ble opprettet av FNs miljøprogram i april 2012, som et uavhengig organ. Naturpanelet skal styrke samspillet mellom forskning og forvaltning og bidra til å hindre tap av biologisk mangfold og forringelse av økosystemtjenester.
Norge valgt inn i styret for Naturpanelet
Det er en ældgammel idé. Det startede egentlig med fysiokraterne,« siger Inge Røpke. Og nu har ideens udbredelse nået et foreløbigt lokalt højdepunkt med udnævnelsen af Danmarks første professor i økologisk økonomi. Fysiokraterne var de franske naturfilosoffer, som i 1700-tallet mente, at naturlovenes gyldighed også måtte omfatte menneskesamfundene. Og Danmarks første økologiske økonomiprofessor er Inge Røpke. Udnævnt af Aalborg Universitet og tilknyttet universitetets nye Center for Design, Innovation og Bæredygtig Omstilling, DIST, der har til huse i Københavns sydvestkvarter og som officielt indvies den 11. januar.
Første professor i øko-økonomi: Vi kommer med et uønsket budskab
Gretchen Daily on approaches to assessing natural capital The concept of ecosystem services has become a useful tool in highlighting the value of healthy ecosystems for human well-being. In a seminar held in honour professor Gretchen Daily, the 2012 winner of the Volvo Environment Prize , Daily presented challenges and research frontiers when moving from theory to real-world application in achieving more sustainable land management practices. What are the potential for replicating and scaling up successful approaches to achieve meaningful impact globally? Putting a price on nature is controversial among many in the environmental movement.
Gretchen Daily: Assessing natural capital - Stockholm Resilience Centre
(This blog originally appeared on Wetlandia , and appears here with permission of the author) A report just out from Resource Media on public communications strategies and "messaging" for ecosystem service policies leans heavily on the fascinating 2010 national opinion survey on "ecosystem services" . They're straight up among the most interesting things I've read all year. Anyone with any stake in ecosystem services should read them .
Messaging Ecosystem Services | Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)
12 October 2012 Last updated at 02:28 ET By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC World Service The most threatened species tend to be relatively cheap to save because of small range sizes Reducing the risk of extinction for threatened species and establishing protected areas for nature will cost the world over $76bn dollars annually. Researchers say it is needed to meet globally agreed conservation targets by 2020. The scientists say the daunting number is just a fifth of what the world spends on soft drinks annually. And it amounts to just 1% of the value of ecosystems being lost every year, they report in the journal Science.
Scientists say billions required to meet conservation targets
The cash needed to conserve the world's species is a small price for biodiversity's “goods and services”, researchers say. Thinkstock Protecting all the world's threatened species will cost around US$4 billion a year, according to an estimate published today in Science 1 .
Global biodiversity priced at $76 billion
Working together for a better understanding of nature | Valuing Nature Network
The Valuing Nature Network is working with other UK-based research and policy-driven initiatives: to see what these other initiatives are about; to find out what the differences are and identify where there are links to be made. Mark Reed , from the Valuing Peatlands project, has written about this on a blog posted on the Living with Environmental Change website. In his blog, Mark says
Natural Capital | Manomet
Pressures on forests, farmland, water resources, and conservation lands are hurting the natural capital we rely on. Those resources include drinking water, food, wildlife habitat, recreation, floodwater control, clean air, and climate regulation. Manomet scientists are creating new tools and science to measure and manage our impacts. Manomet is collaborating with many partners in New England and across the United States to put these tools and strategies into practice to create a more sustainable planet. Our Natural Capital ProjectsDownload PDF | View news release This report provides the first-ever estimate of the economic value of ecosystem services provided by Canada's future Rouge National Park and its surrounding watersheds. Using valuation techniques from the field of natural capital economics, the report estimates that the Rouge region's rich tapestry of natural, agricultural and cultural assets provide more than $115 million in economic benefits each year, including $12.5 million in benefits from the almost 6,000-hectare proposed Rouge National Park. The report also provides recommendations for legal, policy and conservation efforts that should be undertaken to ensure the Rouge's ecological health and economic value is maintained in the long term.
Natural Capital in Rouge National Park | Publications
Economic Impact of Protected Areas in Europe - How Businesses can benefit from the Economic Values of Protected Areas - EUROPARC Federation
In Europe, many different tools are used for protecting biodiversity and natural areas including the Natura 2000 network, the Habitats Directive and the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas. To the European business sector, however, the potential economic value of Natural and National parks is little known. More and more companies are looking for ways to contribute to biodiversity protection. The European Business & Biodiversity Campaign and EUROPARC Federation are offering new aspects to the debate how protected areas can be maintained, and how societies can re-connect to the ecological, socio-cultural and economic value of such landscapes.Our rivers and natural resources are to be valued and commodified, a move that will benefit only the rich, argues George Monbiot. Photograph: Alamy 'The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying 'This is mine', and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, 'Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody'." Jean Jacques Rousseau would recognise this moment.