That, at least, is the average annual value of "natural capital" and the services provided by the world's ecosystems, says Costanza whose calculations were published in the May 15 issue of the journal Nature.
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What's the worth of the Earth? According to Robert Costanza of the University of Maryland it's about $33 trillion.
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Some Freebies From Nature Breathable Air Potable Water Waste Assimilation Natural Pollination Food Production Flood Control Soil Production Genetic Raw Material Timber Production |
This astonishing figure, almost twice the global gross national product of $18 trillion, was arrived at by calculating the economic value of a set of ecosystem services -- the production of breathable air, potable water and food, and the assimilation of wastes -- across a range of ecosystems, from forests and oceans to lakes and mountains. Costanza's study joins a growing movement by scientists who are attempting to formulate the "market value" of the things the world gives us for free. It's a slippery issue, they acknowledge, but we are utterly dependent on these services and the attempt to price them will help ensure that environmental services are given greater consideration in policy debates. |
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The price of air just went up...
"There are all sorts of things we take for granted that are supplied to us easily by nature," says Paul R. Ehrlich, an ecologist at Stanford University. "But these services are being degraded over the entire planet." If we are to make any progress toward solving environmental problems, there needs to be a better way to factor in natural services that we depend on, says Geoffrey Heal, a professor of business at Columbia University.
The latest study, according to Costanza and his co-authors, is not meant to be definitive. Their aim, they say, is twofold: to couch the value of ecosystem services in terms policy makers can understand, and to stimulate debate, perhaps the study's only sure outcome.
-- Terry Devitt |
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"An ecosystem is a capital service. It provides a flow of services" worth trillions of dollars every year, says Heal.