Review of the Value of Biodiversity Launched By Treasury

HM Treasury has launched a review into the economics of biodiversity, led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta. The findings will be shared ahead of the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in China in October 2020.

The review aims to to assess the economic benefits of biodiversity globally, assess the economic costs and risks of biodiversity loss, and identify a range of actions that can simultaneously enhance biodiversity and deliver economic prosperity.

This evidence will be used to shape the international and UK response to biodiversity loss, including the successors to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and inform global action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals.

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke MP, launched the review through a speech in which he highlighted the scale of biodiversity loss and, in regards to the IPBES Global Assessment’s  recent findings, said:

The death of any one species is a special tragedy, and a haunting loss. But the loss of a million would be a threat to our entire existence.

He also addressed the importance of nature for food, medicines and climate regulation, and the need to understand what is at stake, saying:

we need to get to grips with the nature of value, and the value of nature. Above all, we need to understand that you cannot manage what you do not measure.

A call for evidence will be open between 14 August 2019 and 6 November 2019. If you would like to input into CIEEM’s response for this review or can direct us to useful scientific evidence, please contact policy@cieem.net.