The Economic Value of Nature

Put a Value on Nature

Our world is ruled by economics, and the constant drive for growth. However there is a major problem, we have not realized the value of nature and the immense amount of "natural capital" we destroy every year.

This video briefly explores how valuable nature is all levels; ecosystems, species, and genetics. An example of the value of species is that the job pollinators do for agriculture is worth $190 billion. For genetics, 60% of all medicines have been found in the rainforest.

We are trapped with our "inability to perceive the difference between public benefits and private profits." Because of this we have no idea how much money we are wasting by exploiting our resources.

 An excellent example of this is the shrimp farms in Thailand. If we just look at the private profits the shrimp farms produce $9,632, while the natural mangroves only $584. If we take into account the profits without subsidies then the shrimp drops to$1,220. Finally if we take into account the cost of restorations after a shrimp farm so that the water is once again productive after 5 years and how much mangroves benefit the public (protection from storms, clean water, etc.) we see a drastic change. The shrimp farming is valued at $-11,172 and the mangroves are valued at $12,392. Clearly it makes economic sense to protect mother earth.

We are far too ignorant to how nature cares for us and are therefore far to quick to exploit it. Once we understand how valuable it is protection would only make sense and the poor natives who taught us how to use it would get paid for the invaluable knowledge they gave to us. Though right now they are the ones who depends the most on the land (90% of their livelyhood) and they along with nature suffer as we destroy our capital.