India set to be first country to publish ‘natural wealth’ accounts
Work on agreeing common measures, such as the value of ecosystems and their “services” for humans – from relaxation to clean air and fertile soils – will be co-ordinated by the World Bank, which hopes it can sign up 10-12 nations and publish the results by 2015 at the latest.
The report was commissioned by the G8+5 major nations in 2007 in the hope of repeating the success of Lord Stern’s report on climate change in persuading governments of the strong economic case to take action on saving the natural world.
The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, welcomed the report: “TEEB can have the same impact for biodiversity as Stern had for climate change and will be a useful tool to help reduce the loss of species and habitats … economically, we have to take action to reduce the loss of our natural environment before the cost becomes too high.”
Pavan Sukhdev, economist and the TEEB study leader said: “Natural capital is a massive asset class, and developing nations’ biggest asset.”For it to be missing from the balance sheet of the nation, or for failures not to be counted, does not make sense.”
After India and the other countries that join it in the first ecosystem accounts, Sukhdev said he hoped another 20-30 would adopt the system over the following three to five years.
