The study, which was led by academics at Cambridge University with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), suggests further modifying nature for human use could be costing society more than it benefits it, but these “natural capital” costs are often not taken into account by decision-makers.
It echoes the findings of a landmark review released last month by Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta, the Cambridge economist, which warned that the failure of economics to take into account the depletion of the natural world was putting the planet at “extreme risk”.
For the latest study, scientists worked out the annual net value of the chosen sites if they stayed “nature-focused” compared with an “alternative” non-nature focused state over 50 years. They valued each tonne of carbon as worth $31 (£22) to global society, a calculation generally considered to be quite conservative.
Famous Grouse initiative preserves Scottish wilderness 8th March, 2021 by Owen Bellwood
Blended Scotch whisky The Famous Grouse has partnered with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to restore a 300-hectare nature reserve in Scotland.
The Famous Grouse partnered with the RSPB for a three-year project to restore Scotland’s wilderness
The Famous Grouse and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) will reinstate a site in the village of Abernethy, in Scotland.
The Edrington-owned whisky brand will fund a three-year project, which aims to restore the natural landscape of the region, and promote biodiversity through woodland expansion and peatland restoration.
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The economic benefits of conserving or restoring natural sites outweigh the profit potential of converting them for intensive human use, according to the largest-ever study comparing the value of protecting nature at particular locations with that of exploiting it.
A research team led by the University of Cambridge and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) analysed dozens of sites - from Kenya to Fiji and China to the UK - across six continents. A previous breakthrough study in 2002 only had information for five sites.
The findings, published in the journal
Nature Sustainability, come just weeks after a landmark report by Cambridge Professor Partha Dasgupta called for the value of biodiversity to be placed at the heart of global economics.
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