Pioneering report equates biodiversity to cash in hope of encouraging conservation By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor, The Independent, London, UK Thursday, 21 October 2010 Nature and the services it provides are worth trillions of dollars annually to human society, and governments and businesses must formally recognise this to halt the continuing degradation of the natural world, a groundbreaking UN report said yesterday. The enormous economic value of forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs, as well as the social and economic consequences of their loss, must be factored into political and economic policies in all countries, according to the new study Continue reading
Stats
Putting a Price on Biodiversity Loss
What exactly is the cost to society when one million hectares (8,861 sq. miles, an area roughly the size of Costa Rica) of Brazilian rainforest disappears? The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) just released Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature, a report that aims to precisely answer that question. The report highlights government and business development policies that consistently fails to value the true cost of natural resources depletion. The report makes an excellent case for biodiversity loss valuation in all governmental decision-making processes. The report also highlights the strong link that exists between ecological conservation and a society’s ability to Continue reading
Charcoal: A Fuel in Urgent Need of Solutions
Sub-Saharan Africa today produces about the same amount of greenhouse gases from charcoal production and consumption as all of Europe’s transport combined.
If nothing changes, emissions are likely to triple by 2030.
To meet MDGs, fight energy poverty, report says
The chief economist for the International Energy Agency says the international community must mobilize to target the 1.4 billion people worldwide without electricity, and to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Can biomass energy efficiency result in increased biomass fuel consumption?
One of the most curious facts about energy is that economies use more of it even as they use it more efficiently. This strikes us as strange because many of us have heard that making cars, buildings, and factories more energy efficient is the key to cheaply and quickly reducing energy consumption, and thus pollution.