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Bundesamt für Naturschutz

BfN Schriften 525 - Expert Meeting on Ecosystem Valuation in the Context of Natural Capital Accounting

Economics
BfN-Schriften
Human well-being depends on manifold values and services of nature. There is nothing new about this insight. But much remains to be done to bring this into the mainstream. One way to uncover the values of nature and its multiple achievements is the economic perspective.
Author
Beyhan Ekinci, Eduard Interwies, Michaela Matauschek und Anasha Petersen
Editor
Bundesamt für Naturschutz
Year of publication
2019
Edition
525
Language
English
Pages
122
ISBN
978-3-89624-262-4
DOI
10.19217/skr525

Description

Taking a closer look at the economics of nature opens a way of reasoning that might be especially helpful for decision-makers. One prerequisite for good governance is to real-ize and appreciate nature´s different services and their contributions and values for society.
After decades of limitation of production factors to labour and capital, economic theory has rediscovered the capacity of nature as an additional production factor that provides humans with goods and services to meet physical, social and ethical needs. This also has implica-tions for the central economic reporting systems. In contrast to man-made capital, natural capital always has multiple functions - a hedge provides pollination, pest control, a favoura-ble growth climate, erosion reduction, while preserving biodiversity. Integrating all these functions into economic accounting is, of course, a great challenge. It gives hope that this challenge will now be taken up.

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