Yesterday at the Convention for Biological Diversity in Japan, the largest ever study on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) was released.

The study (.pdf) found that although nature provides trillions of dollars of “free” ecosystem services that support life on earth, we as humans are not accounting for the value of these services.  This failure to place real value on our natural assets results in wasteful consumption and is detrimental to both our environment and our economy.

As noted in the ECO’s 2007/2008 Annual Report, biodiversity is “the foundation upon which human well-being depends for the services that the natural environment provides.  Biodiversity is inextricably linked with the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fertile soils we depend upon for our food, and the lands upon which we depend for our natural resources.”

Investing in our ecological infrastructure, rather than only on built infrastructure, supports a range of policy goals – including for human health and well-being, food security, stormwater management, and climate change mitigation.

As noted in the TEEB report: “Ignoring biodiversity and persisting with conventional approaches to wealth creation and development is a risky strategy and ultimately self-defeating” – because we will lose the essential elements biodiversity provides for our own livelihood.

The report makes several recommendations, including: creating of an improved system for full-cost accounting of our natural assets; establishing positive economic incentives for protecting and providing ecosystem services; and increasing protected areas, as a cost-effective means of protecting essential ecosystem services.