Print Friendly and PDF

WATCH: The economics of biodiversity

"It is neither advisable nor possible to separate diversity from other qualities of the vital living fabric of our planet's surface."

0 min read

A landmark global review of economics and biodiversity finds our global economies are "embedded within nature." Widespread failure to recognize that truth, the study found, endangers livelihoods, well-being, and the prosperity of future generations.


The "Dasgupta Review" was commissioned by the United Kingdom's HM Treasury and was led by economist and professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, a Frank Ramsey Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge.

The review warns that governments and institutions have failed to work with nature in a sustainable way in "that our demands far exceed its capacity to supply us with the goods and services we all rely on."

"Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history. Current extinction rates, for example, are around 100 to 1,000 times higher than the baseline rate, and they are increasing. Such declines are undermining nature's productivity, resilience and adaptability, and are in turn fueling extreme risk and uncertainty for our economies and well-being," the authors wrote.

Sir Dasgupta and Nobel-prize winning biologist Sir Venki Ramakrishnan discuss the report, along with Prince Charles and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and explore its implications and potential solutions in the video above.

See the full report.

About the author(s):

EHN Staff

Articles written and posted by staff at Environmental Health News

Become a donor
Today's top news

Plastics treaty draft underway, but will the most impacted countries be included?

After powerful countries delayed negotiations, some question fair inclusion of low- and middle-income countries.

From our newsroom

Displaced and distraught: East Palestine remains at risk and without answers

EHN visited residents still picking up the pieces four months after a catastrophic train derailment dumped toxics in East Palestine, Ohio.

Opinion: Restoring our waters is restoring ourselves

Using water quality research to bring healing and sovereignty to the Apsáalooke.

Opinión: Restaurar nuestras aguas es restaurarnos a nosotros mismos

Usar la investigación de la calidad del agua para sanar y dar soberanía a los Apsáalooke.

EHN welcomes two summer interns to focus on plastic pollution and Spanish-speaking communities

Allison Guy, a longtime writer and communicator in the environmental nonprofit space, and Andy Damián-Correa, a student majoring in bilingual Spanish journalism at San Francisco State University, will join our team for summer.

US lead pipe replacements stoke concerns about plastic and environmental injustice

In a federal push for lead line replacement, regrettable substitutions like PVC piping must be avoided, say health experts.