WWF welcomes publication of the Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity

Posted on February, 02 2021

WWF welcomes the publication of this independent review led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, which was commissioned by the UK’s Ministry of Finance in 2019.

Commenting on the review, Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International, said:

“The findings of the Dasgupta Review are clear: nature underpins our economy and our wellbeing. Our failure to recognise this relationship, and take decisive and urgent steps to reverse nature loss, is costing us dearly and putting the future of humanity at risk. To safeguard our future, we must stop taking nature for granted as an expendable commodity, value its services and transform our economies and finance systems, so they are geared towards conserving and restoring the natural world on which we all depend.

“Climate and nature positive goals need to be at the centre of how decisions are made by policy makers and businesses – and particularly economic and fiscal policies.

“This year governments have the opportunity to adopt a Paris-style agreement for biodiversity with clear science based targets to reverse nature loss and secure a nature-positive world by 2030.”

Notes to Editors

For more information or for interview requests, please contact news@wwfint.org

WWF is urging governments to take the following urgent and transformative actions:

1. Embedding nature-goals into fiscal/budgetary policy (to enhance the sustainability of all public spending and tax).

2. Implementing reforms that help shift financial flows towards nature-positive activities at scale, including global standards which enable businesses and financial institutions to fully integrate nature-related considerations into decision-making.

3. Greening global sovereign debt markets by championing nature-performance bonds (to help developing countries tackle rising debt and protect biodiversity simultaneously).

4. Supporting the establishment of a new global commission on the economy and nature (to help catalyse global cooperation, action and investment in a nature-positive economy.

5. Increasing public and private financial commitments to nature-based solutions which help mitigate climate change and reduce nature loss.

WWF’s flagship Living Planet Report 2020 revealed population sizes of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles have fallen an average of 68 per cent globally since 1970 – more than two thirds in less than 50 years. Intensive agriculture, deforestation and the conversion of wild spaces into farmland are among the main causes of this drastic decline.

The Dasgupta Review can be accessed here.