Nature’s Cash Value
Insects’ benefits are valued at £134bn and coral’s at £109bn in a pioneering report equating biodiversity to cash in the hope of encouraging conservation.
“The enormous economic value of forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs (and) the social and economic consequences of their loss, must be factored into political and economic policies in all countries, according to the new study of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb). It suggests…that the value of human welfare benefits provided by coral reefs is between $30bn (£19bn) and $172bn annually (and)…the economic value of insect pollinators in global crop production is worth €153bn (£134bn) every year.” “The lack of an economic lens to reflect these realities has meant that we have treated these matters lightly.”
