Mark Lynas - The God Species - How Humans Really Can Save the Planet...

If this all sounds rather capitalistic, it is worth noting that the biggest losers from the current largely unregulated and unquantified degradation of natural capital are the world’s poor. The TEEB report stresses that forests and other natural ecosystems make an enormous contribution to the so-called ‘GDP of the poor’ (up to 90 per cent) and that conservation efforts can therefore directly contribute to poverty reduction. In contrast, one estimate of the ‘environmental externalities’ (the off-balance sheet costs offloaded onto the environment) of the world’s top 3,000 listed companies totals around $2.2 trillion annually. 53 Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. All of this value is going into the pockets of corporate shareholders, where it is unlikely to benefit the poor. Moreover, insisting that natural systems are priceless, as many campaigners do, is in practice akin to setting their effective price at zero. The language and practices of economics may offer the strongest tools today for use in nature conservation.

But these imputed values need to be translated into real monetary worth if the natural assets that generate them are to be properly protected. One of the most promising ways of doing this is known as ‘payments for ecosystem services’ – designing revenue streams that go to communities and landowners who need to be persuaded to keep wetlands and forests intact. In Mexico the annual rate of deforestation has been halved since a 2003 law allowed a portion of water charges to be paid out to landowners willing to preserve forest lands and reduce agricultural clearances. So far 1,800 square kilometres of forest have been protected at a cost of $300 million, both safeguarding biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the tune of 3.2 million tonnes. 54 Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. In the Maldives, whose government I work for as an environmental adviser, one of the schemes under consideration is a levy on diving trips to fund the creation and policing of marine parks. Thus those who benefit from biodiversity – the foreign tourists who marvel at the reef sharks, manta rays and myriad of brightly coloured reef fish that swim around Maldivian coral atolls – can be asked to pay to conserve it.

In other countries, ‘biodiversity credits’ are being designed that might offer a revenue stream rewarding those who protect and manage biodiverse habitats. In New South Wales, the state govern-ment’s environment department has set up a ‘BioBanking’ scheme where developers and landowners can trade biodiversity offsets. Some private companies have been making similar pioneering moves: in Borneo the local government has partnered with the Australian company New Forests to provide an income for the protection of its 34,000-hectare Malua Forest Reserve. Both individuals and businesses can purchase ‘Biodiversity Conservation Certificates’ that represent the ‘biodiversity benefits of 100 square metres of protection and restoration of the Malua Forest Reserve’ – habitat for ‘endangered wild orangutans as well as gibbons, clouded leopards, pygmy elephants, and over 300 species of birds’, according to the Malua BioBank website. 55 Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

As with carbon offsets, aimed at mopping up an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases to those unavoidably released elsewhere, a partnership between businesses, governments and conservationist groups is currently developing the concept of biodiversity offsets. Their goal is to design offsets that compensate for biodiversity impacts arising from business activities like mining and dam-building, potentially raising considerable sums to protect and enhance ecosystems elsewhere. To count as offsets, schemes must be additional to what would otherwise have happened, provide benefits that last as long as the damage they are intended to address, and deliver equitable outcomes that bring benefits to local people and communities. In addition, offsets are recognised as only being appropriate as a last resort: the so-called ‘mitigation hierarchy’, in order of importance, is avoid, minimise, restore, and only then offset. 56 Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. Like achieving carbon neutrality, the principle of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity – or even better, ‘net positive impact’ – should and hopefully soon will become part of mainstream business practice.

Protecting natural systems can provide value for money even in the most direct sense. Creating marine protected areas enhances fish stocks, providing benefits both to biodiversity and fishermen in neighbouring areas. The World Bank and UN Food and Agriculture Organisation have estimated that $50 billion is lost each year in terms of economic benefits that could be realised if the world’s fisheries were managed sustainably. 57 Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. It may seem counter-intuitive, but a reduction of fishing effort could lead to an increase in overall fish catch. This is a matter of life and death for the over 1 billion mainly poor people who are dependent on fish for their primary source of protein, and whose coastal fisheries have often been scoured out by foreign trawlers from rich nations whose own seas are exhausted.