1/7 The #Dasgupta report, commissioned the the Treasury, concludes our economic system places an economic value on nature and biodiversity of £0.00. Businesses may exploit it and will not be required to pay theguardian.com/environment/20…
2/7 Of course someone has to pay, and its us - wider society. Loss of nature (our life support system) means food insecurity (no insects to pollinate, soil destroyed by chemicals), dirty water and poor air quality. It threatens our life on earth - the poorest first
3/7 Globally, businesses are paid £3-4tn in subsidies to destroy nature. Try explaining that to our children. An example of solutions: In the UK farm subsidies are changing - there will be no subsidy unless farmers contribute to biodiversity, clean water and air..
4/7 The Treasury will need to respond to the report recommending GDP is replaced, or adapted to account for losses in the natural world, and that new supernational institutions are created to protect 'public goods' such as rainforests and oceans.
5/7 Tourism relies on a few examples of making wildlife (eg Gorillas) 'worth more alive than dead' but it is one of the world's greatest freeloaders on nature - we package and sell it for profit, without facing the costs of our impacts on pollution & water etc or conservation
6/7 The costs of tourism to the public will change as 'natural capital accounting' is adopted globally. Those businesses who exploit nature will find they face additional costs for doing so. An unsustainable holiday will become prohibitively expensive.
7/7 I'm biodiversity lead for The Council for Sustainable Business, and am working with the Department for Environment and Accenture on a Biodiversity Handbook for Business that will show businesses, including tourism, their greatest impacts on nature and what to do about them
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