World Bank turns nature into numbers

Nations might finally understand the value of preserving versus exploiting its natural resources in this new 5 year study. The World Bank is set to turn nature into numbers by incorporating the value of ecosystems into countries' national accounts. "Colombia and India will be the first countries to take part in the scheme which aims to identify their most important ecosystems before quantifying their worth."The U.N.'s third Global Biodiversity Outlook published in May warned that the world's ecosystems were at risk of "rapid degradation and collapse.""there is an alarming loss of habitat and the degradation of ecosystems in the world, we have to properly value natural capital," said Warren Evans, the World Bank's Director of Environment. Countries need to have a full economic picture of what their assets are worth, this being their natural resources so they can see the value of preserving them. After the convention in Japan, they hope to launch a 10 year plan to stop the alarming rate of biodiversity loss.

By Alicia Panczyk