Blue Planet Prize Story

As he considered his answer to the question, he realized that something was wrong with the system that people had been using. Nature, he thought, should have significant economic value, but it was largely ignored in the field of economics. He began to realize the need for a system in which the value of nature could be seen at a glance.

What we need is a system of environmental accounting.

Sukhdev began to examine the relationship between the environment and the economy. He read many books, learned about the problems with past economic concepts and gained insight into possible solutions.

He was especially interested in the standards used to measure the wealth of nations. When we hear, for example, that a country's gross domestic product (GDP) has grown, we generally think that the country has been developing into a wealthier nation.

Underlying that growth in GDP, however, may be a destruction of nature that perpetuates the cycle of poverty. In Sukhdev's home country of India, dairy farming and agriculture are common, but the ranchers and farmers are poor and depend on nature. Placing an emphasis on logging as a means of increasing the nation's GDP, however, had a direct impact on those that depend upon the land for their livelihood. It affected the pastures ranchers need to raise their livestock, and the soil and water that farmers need to produce their crops.

Although the intention was to develop the country by increasing its GDP, the result was the destruction of people's livelihoods. Not taking into consideration the negative effects of strategies to increase GDP creates huge problems.

To address this problem, Sukhdev sought to implement a system of environmental accounting, a system that would include nature in the measurement of a nation's wealth.

In developing this system, Sukhdev sought out the opinions of experts. He read David Pearce, a pioneer in environmental economics, and communicated with him about his ideas.

While Sukhdev at first thought that an important man like Professor Pearce would not have time for him, the professor expressed great interest in his ideas and even met with him to discuss them. Professor Pearce advised Sukhdev and introduced him to others with an interest in environmental economics. Sukhdev was only able to meet with Professor Pearce only three times before the professor passed away, but their association was of tremendous value to him in developing his ideas.

Greatly encouraged by Professor Pearce, his confidence grew to the point that he felt ready to devote himself to environmental accounting. This was in 2003, when Sukhdev was 43.

Introducing environmental accounting to India

Sukhdev chose India as the first place to implement environmental accounting. He wanted to investigate the state of nature in each province, including comparisons with the past.

It was a large and difficult undertaking, and he wondered if he would be able to handle the project all by himself.

One day, Sukhdev saw a sign in downtown Mumbai. The sign had a picture of Mahatma Gandhi and it read, "Find purpose. The means will follow." Sukhdev paused, thinking to himself, "Yes, I have found a purpose. I hope the means will follow." Inspired by the words of Gandhi, he asked his closest friend for help. "I want to introduce environmental accounting in India. Would you help me?" His friend answered, "It's a wonderful idea. Of course, I will."

Their examination of each province in India through GIST revealed a shocking fact. Compared with the previous year, some provinces had seen their nature drop by 10 to 20% of their GDP. There was also a province that was losing 30% of its GDP each year. Because no one had examined the situation or had provided specific figures, people had not realized the seriousness of the situation.

GIST activities brought good results. In 2006, the Supreme Court of India used the GIST evaluation to determine compensation for the destruction of nature through logging in India. Considering the wealth of the biodiversity before its destruction, they decided to increase the compensation for nature reserves 5-fold and compensation for national parks 10-fold.

It was a revolutionary innovation for the national agency to consider the value of nature. This showed a shift in thinking toward the idea that sustainable growth could not be achieved without the preservation of nature. That was a fundamentally important development.

3. Teaching the value of ecosystems and
biodiversity to the world