TEEB report for national and international policy makers now available

The importance of biodiversity and ecosystems to economies around the world is the focus of a series of five reports from the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study. TEEB is a major international initiative, of which IUCN is an integral part, which brings together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to draw attention to the economic benefits of biodiversity and the financial impact if we don’t protect species and the natural world.

This latest report is geared towards national and international policy makers, to make them aware of the critical role that environmental systems play in supporting communities, be they large or small. 

Joshua Bishop, IUCN’s Chief Economist, says “with the global economic crisis, the time is right for policy makers to look for new ways to kick start their economies and to renew employment whilst, at the same time, protecting the environment. The TEEB report should show them how to do that.”

Pavan Sukhdev, study leader of the TEEB, gave a keynote speech at this year’s EUROPARC Conference in September about the costs of biodiversity loss for society to around 300 individuals all working in the field of protected area management – a field whose main goal is to conserve this biodiversity.

The aim of this report is to provide a policy tool kit for policy makers so that they can incorporate the true value of ecosystem services into their decisions. But it should also be seen as an incredibly important mechanism which can be used by protected areas for communicating their vast array of values and benefits (food, clean water, healthy soil, carbon capture etc.) to a wide range of target groups.

An interim report, released in May 2008, showed how the degradation of biodiversity and ecosystems can significantly compromise economic growth and efforts to reduce poverty.

This article was adapted from an email notice from the ICUN.