Blue Planet Prize Story

Nature consists of living things. Forests, trees, plants, flowers, insects, birds, and animals coexistence as the ground, air, water, and sunlight sustain them. This is called an ecosystem. There are many ecosystems: forests, woodlands, rivers, wetlands, tidelands, and coral reefs.

The type and nature of the living things in these ecosystems vary; but the greater the diversity of life in an ecosystem, the more active and abundant nature becomes. This is called biodiversity.

Leading research in the Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB)

"We need to initiate a process to analyze the global economic benefit of ecosystems and biodiversity, the cost of a loss of biodiversity, and the cost of effective conservation versus the cost of failing to take protective measures."
The 2007 G8+5 Meeting of Environment Ministers in Potsdam, Germany called for the above-mentioned approach. The report released by British economist Nicholas Stern in the previous year, 2006, produced shock. His report on the Economics of Climate Change (called the Stern Review) stated the possibility of significant economic loss by failing to take action against global warming and the importance of preventing such loss immediately.
The Environment Ministers discussed the need to conduct a similar study on the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity. Their discussion led to the decision to initiate the Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity (TEEB) Project to evaluate the wide range of benefits provided by ecosystems with the goal of helping people recognize their importance.

Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's Environment Minister, and Stavros Dimas, a member of the EU commission responsible for the environment, agreed on the need for a leader to make this project successful, and decided to ask Sukhdev, who was in charge of implementing environmental accounting in India.

When Sukhdev was asked to become a leader, he was concerned. Although honored to have been asked, he knew the work was urgent and would not be easy. He was not sure if he would be able to handle the responsibility.
However, he realized the importance of the project and decided to accept. He found time between his work as a banker to engage in the study with others.

The value of nature

Considering the value of nature. The value of nature is derived from the benefits we receive from it. It is the ecosystems that bring us these benefits, which we call "ecosystem services." In other words, the value of nature is its usefulness to us.

You may think, "Nature is precious regardless of whether it is useful or not to human beings." Yes, you are correct. However, it takes many people to protect nature and those people need a reason to preserve it.

There are different ways of thinking about the preservation of nature. TEEB classifies ecosystem services into four categories: provisioning services, regulating services, habitat or supporting services, and cultural services.

Provisioning services are materials or energy outputs, including food, water and other resources that we need to live.

Regulating services comprise the regulation of air, soil and water quality that occurs naturally within ecosystems. For example, bees carry pollen from one flower to another to germinate them. According to TEEB calculations, the value of pollinating by insects around the world in 2005 was the equivalent of 153 billion euros, accounting for 9.5% of global agricultural production.

Habitat or supporting services are the different habitats that each ecosystem provides.

Cultural services are the influence that ecosystems have on our mental and physical health. For example, the feeling of comfort and joy we have in nature.

The richer the biodiversity is, the more extensive these ecosystem services become. Therefore, we must protect both of them.

Is nature free just because it has no price?

Nature is essential for human beings. Yet, we destroy it. Why? Sukhdev said, "It is because we see nature as free." In spite of the blessings she gives to us, nature never asks for money.

We usually value what we have built with money, our bridges, factories and roads; but we do not recognize the significant value of nature because it is free. This is the reason that we destroy it so easily.

In order to change this situation and preserve nature through sustainable use, Sukhdev and TEEB members set a priority on increasing recognition of nature's value. First, they made nature's value visible by converting it into monetary terms. In other words, they put prices on nature.

Sukhdev and other TEEB members presented their interim report at the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-9) in Bonn. They summarized the state of loss of nature, and the economic loss this entailed. Their research on large cities revealed the economic loss to be about 2 to 5 trillion USD each year, according to Sukhdev.

In 2008, the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy triggered the largest global financial crisis ever. The loss of banks due to Lehman's fall was almost the same as the global loss of nature. Over the past 10 years, that loss has occurred each year. These figures had an impact on people who had not previously understood the loss of nature, helping them to finally realize the seriousness of the issue.
Nature's value is complex and monetary equivalents do not necessarily accurately describe the seriousness of its destruction. However, it is an easy-to-understand standard that helps people to visualize nature's value and the cost of its loss.

After presenting this interim report, Sukhdev took a two-year leave of absence from the bank to devote himself to TEEB activities. At the CBD COP-10 held in Nagoya, Japan in 2010, Sukhdev and TEEB members presented their final report. They asked future society to recognize and consider the value of nature when making decisions or taking action.

Individuals engaged in national or regional politics, for example, should work to create a system to protect nature. Company management should concentrate on production that does not damage or destroy nature. As individuals, we can contribute to the preservation of nature by purchasing environmentally-friendly products, preventing the waste of water, etc. TEEB asked each individual to consider the value of nature, which is the contribution that we can make to society.

4. Future society