Biodiversity Economics
Why nature has economic value, how biodiversity loss threatens prosperity, and the emerging field of natural capital accounting.
Nature's Economy
The global economy depends on nature in ways that are poorly understood and largely unpriced. Pollinators contribute an estimated $235-577 billion annually to global crop production. Coral reefs provide coastal protection worth $36 billion per year. Forests absorb roughly 30% of human CO2 emissions, a service that would cost trillions to replace artificially. The Dasgupta Review, commissioned by the UK Treasury in 2021, concluded that 'our economies are embedded within Nature, not external to it.'
The World Economic Forum estimates that $44 trillion in economic value -- more than half of global GDP -- is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. Construction, agriculture, and food and beverages are the three most nature-dependent sectors. Yet traditional economics treats nature as an externality, something outside the economic system to be exploited at zero cost.