Volume 3, Issue 3: This feature highlights the Business and Biodiveristy related decisions and events at COP 9 in Bonn.
Defective compass With this in mind the European Commission and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment have jointly initiated a global study on the economic costs of the loss of biodiversity, thereby following a decision of the G8+5 Ministers for the Environment in Potsdam, Germany, in spring 2007. The purpose of the study, which is named The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB), is to prepare a valuation toolkit for ecosystem services and biodiversity tailored to ensure successful end-use by the main economic agents, including business, who are impacting biodiversity and ecosystem services (see box, above). Society must urgently replace its defective economic compass to ensure development and conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity on a global scale.
The purpose of TEEB will be not only to produce and publish credible valuations, but also to pro-actively identify and engage key user groups for the use of its valuations. Governments and companies will be encouraged to use the TEEB-methods and values as plug-in into an improved decision-making framework.
The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB) study aims at:
Raising awareness amongst decision makers, notably politicians and the business community, by describing the cost of policy inaction and the continued non-sustainable use of ecosystem services and biodiversity. Undertaking a meta-analysis of valuations of ecosystems and biodiversity, to provide a comprehensive reference document which covers a matrix of all major biomes, material services (flows) and values (stocks). Engaging important end-user groups, including business. Producing timely reports which will present the meta-analysis in the form of a recommended framework, supported by a definitive methodology and examples to be presented from COP-9 onwards, in various interim reports. An extensive final report is due at the end of 2009.
With the help of a number of partners (e.g. European Environment Agency, IUCN, WCMC, Federal Ministry for the Environment of Germany and the European Commission), a framework and a working structure for the study have, so far, been established. The team has collected and sifted through evidence from existing studies, while initiating a number of independent studies financed by the European Commission and the German Ministry for the Environment. Discussions on the topic have been initiated through several meetings and the partners furthermore received help from numerous sources and expert.
The team has received more than a hundred studies for review and inclusion in the study, from various authorities and organisations around the world. This global support, in the form of survey results, data and advice, is of utmost importance for the establishment and sustainable impact of the study results.
The study is being coordinated by the renowned Indian economist Pavan Sukhdev.Pavan Sukhdev is Managing Director and Head of Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets business in India. He is founder and now Chairman of Global Markets Centre (GMC), Mumbai, the global division’s dedicated ‘front-office off-shoring’ hub, a market first of its kind. He is also Founder-Director of the ‘Green Accounting for Indian States Project’, an initiative of the Green Indian States Trust (GIST) to set up an economic valuation and national accounting framework to measure sustainability for India, including significant economic externalities (1).
He is assisted in his task by an advisory board, which consists of prominent expert members, including from business.
The report of the first phase of the study will be presented by Commissioner Dimas and Minister Gabriel at the High Level Segment at COP-9. This will be an important platform for presenting and discussing further steps of the study.
{link mailto: Mark.Schauer@bmu.bund.de Mark Schauer, Federal Ministry for the Environment,
Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Germany).
(1)
Green Indian States Trust.org
