Over the weekend, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released assessments on the diverse values of nature and the sustainable use of wild species. Its underlying theme: Global biodiversity loss and its effects on human well-being. The IPBES found that a "market-based focus on short-term profits and economic growth” has led to bad policy-making decisions ignoring the vital benefits of nature, which in turn, negatively affected the climate crisis and human quality of life. According to the IPBES, the global economy has severely undervalued the positive contributions of nature to human life and put the planet at "extreme risk.”

Why This Matters

Overexploitation, habitat destruction, and pollution are contributing factors to an unprecedented rate of biodiversity loss that threatens the livelihoods of billions of people who rely on wild species for food, clean water, medicine, energy, and income. Seventy percent of people in poverty directly depend on wild species to survive, making them most at risk as a result of unsustainable overuse. Ignoring the true value of nature not only exacerbates the climate crisis and social conflict, but is the key driver of nature loss that contributes to cultural disintegration. Without the earth’s vital ecosystem services, humanity risks global economic instability and environmental collapse.

Sustainable Development and the Valuation of Nature

Sir Partha Dasgupta, an Emeritus Professor of Economics at Cambridge University, says a radical shift in production, consumption, finance, and education is needed to intrinsically increase the valuation of nature and foster sustainable development. He adds that policymakers must redefine "development” and "good quality of life” in a way that incorporates the authentic and diverse relationship between humans and nature. That includes the variety of values and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities.

"Nature is our home. Good economics demands we manage it better,” says Dasgupta. “Truly sustainable economic growth and development means recognizing that our long-term prosperity relies on rebalancing our demand of nature’s goods and services with its capacity to supply them.”