This week ENVIRON2016 hosted environmental journalist and author Paddy Woodworth (@PaddyWoodworth), who gave a public lecture on valuing natural capital, following his 2015 book Our Once and Future Planet (http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo8312323.html).
His message was that we need to account for the financial benefits of natural capital. In keeping with the theme of the conference, he drew our attention to Ecosystem Services e.g.:
- Carbon sequesteration
- Flood mitigation (Pont Bren study)
- Soil stability
- Pollination
- Clean air
- Biodiversity
- Less tangible services:
- Recreational
- Physical and psychological health
- Social benefits
- Asthetic/spiritual benefits
In contrast, he observed that “industry sees a forest and thinks timber”. Using the example of timber, he argued that, while some services have a market and are traded (e.g. timber), others, like flood mitigation or carbon sequesteration, are invisible on balance sheets. He used another clever metaphor to explain that we need to invest in natural capital for ecosystem services to flow from it, just like interest flows from financial capital. As Woodworth eloquently noted:
“Mainstream economics treats nature and its services either as infinite or infinitely substitutable. It is neither”
An excellent aspect to Woodworth’s lecture was that he also introduced some of the arguments against valuing natural capital, highlighting the following sources:
Heinrich Boll Foundation – Valuing Natures Services or Pricing Natures Destruction:
https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/e-paper_151109_e-paper_economicvaluenature_v001.pdf
George Monbiot:
http://www.monbiot.com/2014/07/24/the-pricing-of-everything/
Woodworth stressed the need to account accurately for all natural capital and ecosystem services and suggested that we need a global vision for natural capital valuation. He highlighted some of the projects and legislation currently under way:
- UNCCD 2015 (www.unccd.int)
- EU biodiversity strategy
- EU directive 2014/95/EU (the incoming directive on non-financial reporting)
- Irish National Biodiversity Plan
- Irish Forum on Natural Capital (http://www.naturalcapitalireland.com/)
His article on the designation of Dublin Bay as a Unesco biosphere is also well worth reading:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/what-good-is-dublin-bay-biosphere-1.2288419
Finally, he spoke of “ecological restoration” and how this allows us to engage in a positive, interactive way with nature (see http://www.islandpress.org/book/restoring-natural-capital for more). As Woodworth commented, you don’t really know how something works until you try to build it.
By trying to “re-build” nature, maybe we will develop a new-found respect for it. Exhibit A: I leave you with the story of “Biosphere 2”:
http://www.armaghplanet.com/blog/whatever-happened-to-biosphere-2.html