Could putting a price on nature lead to better cost-effective tracking of the impacts of global climate change? Pavan Sukhdev, a banker working with the United Nations Environment Program, says yes. Touching on the classic “Tragedy of the Commons,” Sukhdev argues that treating nature as any other market place good makes it easier to quantify and measure using cost-benefit analysis. “We cannot continue our stewardship of this planet if we keep looking at public benefits and public wealth as somehow subordinate to private wealth,” said Mr. Sukhdev. He goes on to comment that in the long run, taking action against the impacts of climate change now is much cheaper than acting later. In other words, saving what already exists today, for example biodiversity, is much more valuable than allowing it to go extinct. According to Mr. Sukhdev, his study could influence the creation of a cap-and-trade like system that might include trading water rights, forest credits, and biodiversity credits.
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Additional coverage http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/investing-nature-conservation-bring-100-capital-returns.php, http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2009/2009-11-16-01.asp