Nature is bleeding money, and it’s costing all of us.
Our global economy receives $72 trillion in economic benefit from natural resources each year, according to a recent estimate from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
This “invisible” value isn’t priced by economic markets, meaning the benefits received from nature are being depleted at unsustainable rates.
In September, thousands of leaders and decision makers from 1,300 organizations will meet in Hawaii for the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress. This important gathering, held once every four years, allows us to identify the solutions nature offers to global challenges, including the economic viability of reforestation.
“Failing to properly account for natural capital is contributing to the depletion of the planet’s resources,” IUCN Director General Inger Andersen said at the Stockholm Natural Capital Solutions Summit last year. “We need to develop metrics for measuring and valuing natural capital, and this is an area where IUCN can contribute significantly.”
This “economic invisibility of nature” is something we have worked with closely at the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reforestation and conservation through the planting of 1.3 million endemic trees throughout the state.
What is the dollar value in each tree’s oxygen production, water filtration, soil retention and carbon sequestration? If economic models such as carbon markets can be instituted as a mechanism to offset climate change, why can’t we design a similar model for conservation?
Public benefits are often just hidden subsidies given to businesses, and if we looked at business through the lens of public wealth, rather than private profit, it is an entirely different picture.
For example, when a logger cuts down a live koa tree in the natural forest and sells it for $30,000, they didn’t plant the tree, raise the tree or care for it. The tree was simply harvested.
If operating costs are $5,000, that person nets $25,000 in profit. But this is only half of the story: The public benefit of the tree’s future ability to produce oxygen, reduce pollution, and filter the water has now been taken away. If the logger had to reimburse society for the loss of those benefits, it might add another $25,000 in costs.
Society is picking up the tab for the loss of natural capital. We need to recognize the cost of this natural capital and build it into our economic models. We also need to calculate and disclose these externalities to compare the social performance of companies.
Perhaps most importantly is the realization that forests can produce numerous revenue streams for land owners without ever cutting down a living tree. This can include food forest farming, ecotourism, federal matching programs and certified carbon credits, all of which provide an ongoing income stream.
As we have shown at HLRI, it is without a doubt that the permanent reforestation of these trees bears much more economic fruit than harvesting them. During the World Conservation Congress, the global spotlight will be on Hawaii. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity to create meaningful change for Hawaii’s environmental sustainability.
Jeff Dunster is executive director of the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative.
