The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has estimated that between $150 and $440 billion dollars are needed annually to implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2011-2020), and other authors, suggest that between $23 and $52 billion dollars are being spent per year worldwide. Moreover, the OECD suggests that there has been a worldwide decline in financing for … [Read more...] about How Much Do We Care about Biodiversity?
Ecosystems and Biodiversity
Marañón River, a source of life and energy?
An extraordinary number and diversity of fish inhabit the Amazon River basin. Many, if not all of them, are of great importance in maintaining the ecosystems found along the river and its tributaries (by the dispersal of tree seeds, for example) as well as supporting both commercial and subsistence fishing. While I was aware that there were migrations of catfish (also known as … [Read more...] about Marañón River, a source of life and energy?
Where Does your Fish Come From?
The majority of marine capture fisheries resources are considered to be close to maximum exploitation worldwide, and nearly half are already completely exploited. Generally when you think about overexploitation, you imagine enormous international fishing fleets, but small scale fishing generates more than half of marine and inland capture worldwide, almost all of them destined … [Read more...] about Where Does your Fish Come From?
Belize’s “New Price Tag”
“Without prices being set, nature becomes like an all-you-can-eat buffet – and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t overeat at a buffet.” (Richard Sandor) As someone who loves adventures and the outdoors, I was more than thrilled about the tourism slogan “Belize: Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secret” and, as soon as I touched ground at the International Airport in Belize City in … [Read more...] about Belize’s “New Price Tag”
If Dollars Rule the World, Why Don’t the Bees Get a Bailout?
Attempts to put a dollar value on the natural world – so-called “natural capital” or “ecosystem services” – have produced some frankly staggering numbers. A seminal 1997 paper valued the world’s ecosystem services at US$33 trillion a year. This estimate was controversial, given that it dwarfed the entire global market economy, which at the time stood at roughly US$18 trillion a … [Read more...] about If Dollars Rule the World, Why Don’t the Bees Get a Bailout?