2 February 2021 — Destined to be as critically important as the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review was commissioned by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, and released today, February 2.
The Dasgupta Review marks a major inflection point in global political economic discourse that puts forward a new economic paradigm in the same way that Adam Smith did in his time. The review calls for urgent and transformative change in how we think, act and measure economic success to protect and enhance our prosperity, and the natural world. As decision makers worldwide begin to rebuild economies in the wake of Covid 19, this Review should be a guide and catalyst for fundamental change.
Specifically, the Review calls for three transitions:
- Make sure our demands on nature are no greater than what it can supply, and increase nature’s supply by investing in conserving and restoring our natural assets.
- Include nature in our economic and financial decision-making and revise our measures of success to include changes in our natural assets in order to measure ‘inclusive wealth.’
- Transform our financial and education institutions to support the changes we need.
The Campaign for Nature, issued the following statement:
Enric Sala, Explorer in Residence, National Geographic and the author of the award winning book The Nature of Nature, Why We Need the Wild. @enric_sala
Henry Paulson, CEO Paulson Institute and Former US Secretary of the Treasury
Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary, UNFCCC; Founding Partner, Global Optimism; and member of Campaign for Nature’s Global Steering Committee
Russ Feingold, Former US Senator, former Special Envoy to Great Lakes Region of Africa, and Ambassador for the Campaign for Nature
Brian O’Donnell, Director, Campaign for Nature
The Dasgupta Review follows an emerging trend in economic ideas from donut economics to the circular economy. It starts by saying we are part of nature and we must fully put nature into our economic systems. The Review makes the case for natural capital as an economic asset and biodiversity loss as an asset management problem, arguing that biodiversity provides a portfolio of assets, and the diversity of those assets reduces risk and increases resilience and adaptability. We, as the asset managers, have failed to protect our stock of natural capital. By prioritizing human and produced capital at the expense of natural capital, which is limited, and consistently considering natural destruction as an “externality', we have landed on a dangerous interpretation of economic growth. There is fundamental inequality between demand for nature and supply of nature and with governments subsidising the exploitation of nature, our institutions have proven unfit to manage our natural capital.
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The Campaign for Nature works with scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and a growing coalition of over 100 conservation organizations around the world who are calling on policymakers to commit to clear and ambitious targets to be agreed upon at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in 2021 to protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030 and working with Indigenous leaders to ensure full respect for Indigenous rights.