New report: the economic and social aspects of biodiversity

Citation

(2008), "New report: the economic and social aspects of biodiversity", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 19 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/meq.2008.08319fab.004

New report: the economic and social aspects of biodiversity

Article Type: News From: Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 19, Issue 6

This report, which is of broad international interest was commissioned by the Biodiversity Unit of the Irish Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government as a preliminary valuation of the nature and scale of the benefits derived by society from biodiversity. Putting a monetary value on biodiversity is no easy task – most people would agree that there are some things which are too fundamental or too complex to value in a meaningful way. This report argues, however, that what matters is knowing the approximate marginal value of key ecosystem services at the present time. Such a value allows us to begin to determine how much we should be spending on biodiversity protection. By drawing a comparison between the value of ecosystem services provided by biodiversity in the principle economic and social sectors (agriculture, forestry, fisheries, water, human welfare and health) and the cost of implementing biodiversity protection policies, the authors established a marginal value of biodiversity to Ireland of at least €2.6 billion per annum. They conclude that, by designing policies that do not reward people for damaging the environment, and by enforcing these with environmental standards, biodiversity protection need not cost the earth.