It is important to cut through the simple oppositionism of economy versus ecology.
Pavan Sukhdev, head of the UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative, argues that the greening of economies is a new engine for growth, employment and the reduction of persistent poverty.
He has put numbers on it. It is possible to demonstrate that a wetlands outside Kampala is creating more value in water treatment for the city, than converting it to agricultural land. Pavan provides a powerful economic argument for preserving natural capital.
He is pretty funny, too. At the Opera House last week, he showed a slide of Mars to make the obvious point: “no biosphere…no economy”. He also presented a satellite photo of trawler fleets intensively clustered on the edges of a marine reserve of the Pacific US coast. “The fish don’t read the regulations”.
The Economics of Biodiversity (TEEB) reports are at:
Posted by Annie Talve on August 30, 2009 – 4:42 am
The Duck River is a tributary of the Parramatta River. A century of heavy industrial activity, often unregulated, has left its mark. Soil contamination, toxic waste, sediment build-up, storm-water sewerage and habitat destruction, have combined to put an intolerable pressure on river health in the past and have produced complex challenges to be solved in the present and future.
Parramatta and Auburn City Councils received a NSW Environmental Trust – Urban Sustainability Program grant in 2006. Called A Model for Industrial Sustainability in the Duck River Catchment, the grant has enabled the two councils to undertake a long-term sustainability program to improve the environmental, social and financial viability of the industrial precincts adjacent to the Duck River.
make stuff happen has been working with a pilot group of up to 25 businesses to design and implement better ways of managing environmental practices and impacts. The project began in September 2009 and concludes in August 2010.