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05/27/2008: "What Is The Value Of Biodiversity To Our Collective Future?"

What will the loss of biodiversity cost us in the long term? How much do national economies need to invest now in order to stop the trend? And what price will we have to pay if we do not act? These are the questions the TEEB - The Economics of Eco-systems and Biodiversity - project is seeking to answer.

The pilot study led by Pavan Sukhdev, who is head of Deutsche Bank's Global Market Centre in London, was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the European Union. The BMU asked the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) to co-manage the scientific contributions to the study. Preliminary results will be presented during the 9th UN Conference on Biological Diversity (COP9) in Bonn, Germany on 29 May.

"The Stern Review changed the way we look at the economic consequences of climate change. It is our hope that the TEEB Report will do the same for biodiversity. It is becoming clear that stopping the extinction of species is not merely a romantic notion, but is actually crucial for human survival."

[ Financial concerns are the only motive for democratic governments and corporations to become environmentally responsible - if it hits their profit margin then they care. ]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521105713.htm