(Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)):...At Spring
Statement 2019, the government commissioned an independent,
global review on the economics of biodiversity. Today, The
Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, has been
published.
At the start of an important year for global action to tackle
biodiversity loss and climate change, the government thanks
Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta for his independent Review and
welcomes its publication as a strong example of UK thought
leadership on an important environmental issue with clear – but
often overlooked – economic consequences. The government will
examine the Review’s findings and respond formally in due course.
The Review is published on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review
Nature is a
blind spot in economics that we ignore at our peril, says
Dasgupta Review
A fundamental change in how we think about and approach economics
is needed if we are to reverse biodiversity loss and protect and
enhance our prosperity, an independent, global review on the
Economics of Biodiversity said today (Tuesday 2 February).
Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s review presents the first
comprehensive economic framework of its kind for biodiversity. It
calls for urgent and transformative change in how we think, act
and measure economic success to protect and enhance our
prosperity and the natural world.
Grounded in a deep understanding of ecosystem processes and how
they are affected by economic activity, the new framework
presented by the Dasgupta Review –
which was commissioned by HM Treasury - sets out the ways in
which we should account for nature in economics and
decision-making.
Professor Dasgupta said:
Truly sustainable economic growth and development means
recognising that our long-term prosperity relies on rebalancing
our demand of nature’s goods and services with its capacity to
supply them. It also means accounting fully for the impact of
our interactions with Nature across all levels of society.
COVID-19 has shown us what can happen when we don’t do this.
Nature is our home. Good economics demands we manage it better.
The Prime Minister said:
This year is critical in determining whether we can stop and
reverse the concerning trend of fast-declining biodiversity.
I welcome Professor Dasgupta’s Review, which makes clear that
protecting and enhancing nature needs more than good intentions
– it requires concerted, co-ordinated action.
As co-host of COP26 and president of this year’s G7, we are
going to make sure the natural world stays right at the top of
the global agenda. And we will be leading by example here at
home as we build back greener from the pandemic through my 10
point plan.
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Kemi Badenoch said:
Protecting and enhancing our natural assets, and the
biodiversity that underpins them, is crucial to achieving a
sustainable, resilient economy.
That is why the UK is already investing more than £600 million
in nature-based climate solutions, such as tree planting and
peatland restoration.
I want to thank Professor Dasgupta for his landmark Review. We
will examine the Review’s findings and respond formally in due
course.
Environment Secretary, said:
If we want to realise the aspiration set out in Professor
Dasgupta’s landmark Review to rebalance humanity’s relationship
with nature, then we need policies that will both protect and
enhance the supply of our natural assets.
This is what lies at the heart of the government’s 25-year
environment plan, our approach to future farming policy,
efforts to embed biodiversity net gain in the planning system,
and other initiatives such as £3 billion for climate change
solutions that restore nature globally and our new due
diligence law to clean up our supply chains and help tackle
illegal deforestation.
Sir David Attenborough said:
The survival of the natural world depends on maintaining its
complexity, its biodiversity. Putting things right requires a
universal understanding of how these complex systems work. That
applies to economics too.
This comprehensive and immensely important report shows us how
by bringing economics and ecology face to face, we can help to
save the natural world and in doing so save ourselves.
The Review argues that nature is our most precious asset and that
significant declines in biodiversity are undermining the
productivity, resilience and adaptability of nature. This in turn
has put our economies, livelihoods and well-being at risk.
The Review finds that humanity has collectively mis-managed its
global portfolio of assets, meaning the demands on nature far
exceed its capacity to supply the goods and services we all rely
on.
The Review makes clear that urgent and transformative action
taken now would be significantly less costly than delay and will
require change on three broad fronts:
- Humanity must ensure its demands on nature do not exceed its
sustainable supply and must increase the global supply of natural
assets relative to their current level. For example, expanding
and improving management of Protected Areas; increasing
investment in Nature-based Solutions; and deploying policies that
discourage damaging forms of consumption and production.
- We should adopt different metrics for economic success and
move towards an inclusive measure of wealth that accounts for the
benefits from investing in natural assets and helps to make clear
the trade-offs between investments in different assets.
Introducing natural capital into national accounting systems is a
critical step.
- We must transform our institutions and systems – particularly
finance and education – to enable these changes and sustain them
for future generations. For example, by increasing public and
private financial flows that enhance our natural assets and
decrease those that degrade them; and by empowering citizens to
make informed choices and demand change, including by firmly
establishing the natural world in education policy.
The Review will launch formally later today (2 February) at an
event hosted by the
Royal Society, with guests including His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales, the Prime Minister and Sir David Attenborough.
The government has welcomed the Review’s final report and is
expected to respond formally to the Review’s findings in due
course.
- The UK Government commissioned Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta
to lead an independent, global Review on the Economics of
Biodiversity in Spring 2019.
- The Review published its interim report in
April 2020.
- Professor Dasgupta has been supported by an Advisory Panel,
drawn from academia, public policy and the private sector.
More information about
the Panel is available.
- The publication of the Review comes ahead of COP15 for
Biological Diversity, where new long-term international targets
for addressing biodiversity loss are expected to be agreed; and
COP26 for climate change, where Nature and nature-based solutions
to climate change are expected to play a prominent role.
