The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) has released a report with tools for Decision-makers. TEEB is an independent study hosted by the UN Environment Programme with financial support from the European Commission. It shows that the cost of sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services is lower than the cost of allowing them to dwindle.

All policy makers who factor the planet's multi-trillion dollar ecosystem services into their national and international investment strategies are likely to see far higher rates of return and stronger economic growth in the 21st century, argues the new report for decision makers prepared by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative. The report calls on more sophisticated cost benefit analysis before policy decisions are made, and demands policy-makers to accelerate, scale-up and embed investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems.

– Nature's multiple and complex values have direct economic impacts on human well being and public and private spending. Recognizing and rewarding the value delivered to society by the natural environment must become a policy priority, said Pavan Sukhdev, TEEB's Study Leader, at a press conference in Brussels on Friday 13 November.

Some progress made
Some countries, concludes the new report, have already made some progress and are now seeing benefits in terms of jobs, livelihoods and economic returns. Two examples mentioned are: (1) Planting and protecting nearly 12,000 hectares of mangroves in Vietnam, which costed just over $1 million but saved annual expenditures on dyke maintenance of well over $7 million; and (2) Investment in the protection of Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve that is generating an annual income of close to $50 million a year as it has generated 7,000 jobs and boosted local family incomes.

The report includes a number of key recommendations for policy makers, including:

• Invest in ecological infrastructure, as this can provide cost-effective opportunities to increase resilience to climate change, reduce risk from natural hazards, improve food and water security and contribute to poverty alleviation.
• Reward benefits through payments and markets, e.g. through payments for ecosystem services from local (e.g. water provisioning) to global (the REDD-Plus proposal for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).
• Protect tropical coral reefs - and the associated livelihoods of half a billion people - through major efforts to avoid global temperature rise.
• Recognize the deep link between ecosystem degradation and the persistence of rural poverty and align policies across sectors with key Millennium Development Goals.

More at:
http://www.teebweb.org