SPECIAL REPORT
Photo by Angie Metin
Accounting for the value of ecosystems and biodiversity is crucial in addressing poverty reduction and sustainable development challenges.
Valuing ecosystems and biodiversity in the ASEAN: The GIZ approach By Lucy Emerton, Agnes Pantastico and Philipp Gassner* cosystem degradation is threatening human development. As the recent study on “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB) found out, just one year’s worth of biodiversity loss will end up costing the global economy more than 1 trillion– close to the combined gross domestic products of all ten ASEAN Member States. It has become increasingly evident that, without tackling biodiversity loss, we run the risk of undermining the very asset base of economies, which assures the well-being and livelihoods of millions of Southeast Asians. TEEB aims to bring attention to the economic benefits of biodiversity, highlight the growing cost of ecosystem degradation, and draw together expertise from science, economics and policy to support the mainstreaming of these considerations in policymaking. It had its gen-
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esis in the March 2007 meeting of G8 environment ministers in Potsdam, Germany. TEEB is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and supported by various donors including the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. The findings of TEEB’s first two phases were released in 2010 via a series of reports, targeted at different audiences: ecologists and economists, international and national policy makers, local and regional policy makers, business, and citizens (summaries can be downloaded from http://www.teebweb.org). It is now moving into a third phase, which focuses on supporting national and sectoral activities in partner countries. Governments in Brazil, Georgia, Germany, India, Norway, and the European Commission have already committed to undertaking national and regional TEEB studies.
JANUARY - APRIL 2012
ASEAN BIODIVERSITY
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