Economic Value of Nature
Earth’s ecosystem has provided so much in terms of raw materials, good climatic conditions for agriculture, valuable minerals that occur in nature, and living things. The combination, interaction, and providence by Mother Nature is what keeps the world alive as it is. However, humans have not been that kind in returning a hand of appreciation to nature. In a severe turn of events, nature’s state has deteriorated while human development aspects continue to increase in huge margins (B. Field and M. Field 70). These developmental aspects, which include infrastructure, education, medicine, and industrialization, although good economic drivers, have brought more harm than good to Earth’s ecosystem. Therefore, communities, governments, corporations and international communities have come together in a move to reverse the negative effects of human development (Spoon et al. 370). This initiative to return nature to its almost original state is a significant move towards attaining environmental sustainability (Harder); sustainability that will guarantee better lives not only for this generation, but also for generations to come. This paper will strive to discuss some of the green initiatives being implemented all over the world and give factual information regarding the economic and political challenges facing the process.
Despite its benefits, the green initiative has faced many challenges in its implementation. The challenges arise due to the economic cost of implementing actual green initiatives across economic, political, and social contexts of the modern world. The challenges that arise are mostly economic and have more political explanations than they should be that nature is a matter of science which does not involve politicization of issues (Harder et al.).
According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), industrialization seems to be the main cause of carbon emissions (Harder). The carbon emissions lead to the ultimate depletion of the ozone layer. The depletion of the ozone layer exposes the earth’s atmosphere to severe substances and energies that cause significant climate change. Where politics comes is when the reduction of the carbon emissions becomes a money intensive operation and leads to the disruption of most industries which provide raw materials, labor, and revenues to the government. Without these provisions from the industrial sector, the national economy is bound to fail miserably, and the quality of life will plunder deep into a bottomless pit (B. Field and M. Field 63). Leaders all over the world agree that the only way to manage this situation is to come to a consensus about what needs to be done and get to it. Scientific studies have shown that at the rate that the value of nature drops each day, it would be more expensive to reverse the situation tomorrow than today. Therefore, every passing minute that goes by without implementation of law, policy, or environment protection programs makes the planned activities for the future become more expensive to undertake.
Sukhdev’s “Put A Value on Nature!” shows that the value of nature can be quantified. The quantification done in economics and accounting displays a figure that astonishes an individual and shows the significant rather priceless value of nature to human life. Arguably, humans often show interest on what happens and, thus, a natural aspect of life has been eroded over time to a point where it is being noticed through rivers drying up for months among other ecological calamities. For instance, when a river dries up, like in China because of deforestation, there are severe consequences for the community nearby. Some of the consequences may have a local, national, and international impact. As for China, the river that dried up may lead to challenges in the agricultural sector due to low food production attributed to adverse weather conditions and lack of water (Sukhdev). These agricultural challenges cause an even bigger challenge of food security, which has a large economic impact. The economic impact is felt when exports become less than imports. Thus, the economy becomes stagnant and eventually starts to drop. Furthermore, the nation or affected community may suffer from famine, and thus livelihoods and the standard of life will drop significantly. Therefore, to prevent such events from happening, some countries have placed bans and issued policies regarding the environment that point towards the goals of environmental stability (Sukhdev). In this instance, China banned the cutting down of trees for commercial purposes, deforestation until the river regained its normal water levels.
There have been interesting insights into the issue of the impact of nature on a worldwide level. The international community, specifically the environmental minister of the G8 countries came together to initiate a project named TEEB. TEEB was an environmental project whose purpose was to report on the estimated value of nature in economic terms and calculate what it would take to conserve and improve nature in respect to the world’s ecosystem (Sukhdev). The results of the project were insightful in many aspects. First, it was discovered that nature offers much more in terms provision of materials that people take for granted. Second, the value of nature drops each day significantly due to activities aimed at economic development while neglecting the environmental aspect of the economy (Sukhdev). Thirdly, it would cost the economy of the world so much money to reverse biodegradation and loss of nature throughout the world, but the initiative would bring sustainability in the end. Meaning, investing now in nature would provide sustainability of the environment for future days to come ensuring that the current and future generations come to enjoy the fruits of nature. Ideally, the main cause of biodegradation all over the world and the dropping value of nature generally is greenhouse-gas emissions (Friedman).
Consequently, the project shone a light on various important environmental matters that had lacked the spotlight for a very long time. The findings drove several countries to consider initiatives that would work to protect the environment and ensure its stability. Countries like Norway, which saw the drop of the Amazon forest cover, donated 1 billion dollars to two countries one being Brazil (Sukhdev). The money was going to be channeled through environmental initiatives with the goal of preserving the Amazon forest cover. The protection of the Amazon forest would have an acute positive impact on the world’s ecosystem and natural resources specifically rainfall.
Another country, the USA, had suggested a policy that would implement the reduction of carbon emissions or rather greenhouse-gas emissions in a considerable manner. The policy was envisioned to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions produced by the industrial sector significantly (Harder). These among other initiatives witnessed at national and international levels are what is needed to save nature from decreasing in value so much that it would cost us the joys of life that we know and appreciate.
Indeed, nature is very valuable and in fact priceless. However, the appreciation it receives does not precede its immense value. Nonetheless, drastic occurrences all over the world have gained the interests of environmental scientists and conservationists. They have in turn shone a bright light on the dire state of events that we call nature in this modern technological world. This information has gained the interest of shareholders and has created a need to conserve the environment which is yet to turn into a full blow international movement.
Works Cited
Field, Barry C, and Martha K. Field. Environmental Economics: An Introduction. Dubuque McGraw-Hill Education, 2017.
Friedman, Lisa. Court Blocks E.P.A. Effort To Suspend Obama-Era Methane Rule. Nytimes.Com, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/climate/court-blocks-epa-effort-to-suspend-obama-era-methane-rule.html. Accessed 29 July, 2017.
Harder, Amy. EPA Set to Unveil New Climate Proposal. Wall Street Journal, 27 May. 2014, www.wsj.com/articles/epa-set-to-unveil-climate-proposal-1401148602. Accessed 29 July, 2017.
Harder, Amy, Colleen McCain Nelson and Rebecca Smith. Obama’s New Climate-Change Regulations to Alter, Challenge Industry. WSJ, 2017, www.wsj.com/articles/obamas-new-climate-change-regulations-to-alter-challenge-industry-1438560433. Accessed 29 July, 2017.
Spoon, Jae‐Jae, Sara B. Hobolt, and Catherine E. Vries. “Going green: Explaining issue Competition on the Environment.” European Journal of Political Research, vol. 53, no. 2, 2014, pp. 363-380.
Sukhdev, Pavan. Put A Value On Nature! YouTube, 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QpKiU-NHo. Accessed 29 July, 2017.
