A new report, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), attempts to bring to the world’s attention the truly great economic value of ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as the benefits of taking these into account when making policies.

The value of the world’s natural ecosystems and biodiversity is something lacking in most economic analyses. Lack of value for what is truly priceless doesn’t just hurt the environment, however. It is also a sort of economic suicide. This new report, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme and supported by key EU, UK, German, Swedish, Dutch, and Norwegian bodies, attempts to bring all of this to our attention more and show some positive case studies of how taking the environment into consideration can actually save us money.

As the report says: “the failure of markets to adequately consider the value of ecosystem services is of concern not only to environment, development and climate change ministries but also to finance, economics and business ministries.”

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Pundamilia nyererei is a species of freshwater fish in the Cichlidae family. It is found in lakes in Kenya and Tanzania. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss.

In may not be a great surprise to learn that fish are the most species-rich vertebrate group on the Planet–with an estimated 32,500 member species. But what is surprising is that 43% of these species are found in freshwater habitats, such as lakes and rivers.

This rich diversity of freshwater species is all the more startling when one considers that freshwater systems represent just one hundredth of one percent (.01%) of the Earth’s surface water. According to Fishes of the World (J.S. Nelson), over 5000 new species of freshwater fish have been discovered in just the past three decades–a time period marked by expanded exploration of fish habitats and better understanding of “taxonomic boundaries” (mostly, due to more accurate genetic analysis).

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The Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX) went on an in-depth search of the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch” this month. Their findings were varied.

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There is a growing movement to assess the value–in dollar terms–of “ecosystem services” such as storm protection (from salt marshes), pollination of crops (from bee colonies and insects), natural predation of harmful insects and parasites (by birds, bats and other animals), fertilizer from animal feces, fish in the oceans, clean water and air, and cooling/greenhouse gas-controlling forests, etc.

This movement has been gaining steam–especially with the recent loss of 40% of U.S. bee colonies by a mysterious virus (causing billions of dollars in lost crops), and the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina (largely due to the human destruction of natural buffers like salt marshes and sand bars).

Earlier this year, in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Peter Kareiva et al, published a call for renewed efforts to put a dollar figure on the value of nature’s services. Putting a price on such services (defined as any function of the natural world that we benefit from) is extremely tricky and difficult, but not putting any price at all on these services, in the view of the authors, seems a serious mistake.

Kareiva, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, elaborated on this idea: “In this world, cost benefit analysis and dollars are how decisions get made…When nature and the benefits that nature [provides] are not converted to dollars then it can’t be on the table for those discussions and, in a way, nature’s not getting credit for what it’s doing.” (quoted from a February, 5, 2009 podcast report by David Biello for Scientific American)

The time has come to credit Nature for what it does for us. Not to do so, the authors argue, is to devalue Nature, and thus to encourage our collective ignorance and misuse/abuse of its services.

photo credit: Jon Sullivan, public domain

Three baby hedgehogs.

The hedgehog, water vole and hazel dormouse are among a number of British mammals that face becoming seriously endangered, research published today reveals.

Climate change and habitat loss have led to a dramatic increase in the number of mammals whose future survival is a cause for concern among conservationists, the study commissioned by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species concludes. The Bechstein’s bat, one of the country’s rarest mammals, has shown a marked decline while the number of soprano pipistrelle bats has fallen by 46% in six years.

The report, the seventh annual assessment of the state of land mammals in Britain, says that more effort is needed to help the endangered species, which now number 18 - more than 30% of Britain’s mammal species - up from 10 last year. Only two species on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan list, the otter and the lesser horseshoe bat, have increased their numbers.

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The graph below paints a sobering picture of how much fish populations have dwindled – and where they might be headed if we don’t act soon: In 1950, just 15 percent of stocks were overfished; in 2003, 70 percent were overfished or had totally collapsed

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Scientists have uncovered life in a South African gold mine, 2.8 kilometers (1.7 miles) beneath the surface of the earth. In this dark but hot ecosystem, a single biological species derives power not from the sun but from elements produced by uranium’s radioactive decay.

Remarkably, it is the first ecosystem ever found having only one biological species. In utter darkness, total isolation, with no oxygen, and in 60-degree-Celsius heat (140 degrees Fahrenheit), the cave-dwelling, rod-shaped bacterium, Desulforudis audaxviator survives.

Trajectories of evolution have fitted the bacterium with the genes necessary to exist under a variety of different conditions. One such adaptation is the ability to survive by fixing nitrogen and carbon directly from the environment.

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Here is our Q & A:

1. Tell us more about how you came up with the name for your organization? I also dig your blog. Which one came first the blog or the company?

I have been deeply involved with the organic movement since the first day I walked into a health food store as a teen growing up in New Orleans. I naturally knew any business I would run would have to be related to health and preserving nature. So when my childhood best friend moved to Germany and began bragging about his “oko box” of affordable organic goods delivered from the farmers each week, his excitement really stuck with me. “Oko” is german for organic, and his descriptive stories of what arrived in his “oko box” left me feeling inspired- I knew I wanted to be part of a movement that made organic more accessible and affordable in the US with the ease he was experiencing in Europe.

Being that I have chemical sensitivities and some health probs I quickly became conscious of the connection that not only did our food need to be ecological & organic, but that every purchase we made, every product we used, every consideration must be done with the earth in mind. When I saw that there was plenty of organic baby products out there, but eco minded adults were being left behind by the organic fashion industry I decided to start “The Oko Box”. The catch for me, was it had to be affordable and break certain style barriers. I think I have a little something for everyone now, whether classy, hippy, punk, or suburban there’s a garment to love. The blog was born after the store and fairly recently, but has gained a huge following already which is a lot of fun for me! I really love to interact with customers and readers, your opinions totally matter to me.

2. The Öko Box mission is wonderful and we love that- “The Öko Box donates monthly to the National Wildlife Federation, in support of their Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program,” Please tell us more about your wonderful connection to these organizations and nature.

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World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a report in 2006 that documented the plunder of natural resources by human activity and warned that the globe itself could be outstripped in its capacity to support life, rendering the earth extinct in under 50 years.

Based on scientific data collected from across the globe, it revealed that more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by human activity in just over the past three decades, because of, among others, increased emissions of green house gases into the ecosystem.

Unless consumption of natural resources was cut and the destruction of vital ecosystems was stopped, human life and that of thousands of other animals and plants would not be sustainable hence the suggestion that the earth itself could be extinct by 2050. In short, the demise of biodiversity will be the death of life on earth, as we know it.

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A long time ago, 50 years or so, I was invited to a party that promised some unusual and tasty snacks, along with the usual supply of beer and other alcoholic libations.

Never one to pass up free food and booze, I showed up at my friends apartment , said hello to everyone, grabbed a cocktail and headed for the snacks. The table was filled with the usual cheese and crackers, veggies, liverwurst and other delights.

The center piece caught my eye, chocolate, lots of it, but not in any form I could immediately recognize. Upon questioning my host, I learned they were chocolate covered ants and grasshoppers.

“Here, try some,” said my host, “they’re delicious!”

I doubt he saw the green leaching into my face as I politely declined, saying I was on a diet.

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In fall, trees let go of leaves,

which swirl and twirl

and slip into streams.

They ride in a rush

above rocks

and over rapids.

They snag and settle soggily down.

Bacteria feed on the leaves.

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolves in seawater, that increases acidity, making it more difficult for marine organisms to grow and maintain their shells.

Scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences have studied porites, a common coral species growing along the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef, and discovered that calcification had slowed by 21% over the past 16 years. Calcification is the process used by corals to extract calcium carbonate from seawater to build their shells.

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In Mombasa, Kenya, there is a popular saying that if you have not sampled shark meat, you probably have never been to the East African coast. But it could well be a belief because I have seen people go to great lengths to afford a dish; it is a very expensive delicacy. But that is a story for another day. Let us focus on the whale shark, which is making all the news in that part of the world.

An ongoing satellite tagging expedition to the ecosystem of the world’s biggest fish is a mix of both adventure and science. I rue missing this whale shark census expedition, running from February 18 to March 2, conducted in a safari setting!

Dr. Brent Stewart, a marine biologist at the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego, California, is conducting the expedition with local collaboration from the East African Whale Shark Trust (EAWST) to study the ecology of whale sharks along the Kenyan coast. Local experts, Volker Bassen and Nimu Njonjo, have ensured public participation in the annual project at a small fee; this adds to the adventure in research and education and a huge exciting step for Kenya’s marine ecology conservation efforts.

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Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Wikimedia Commons.

That’s what makes a project just getting under way in the South Pacific so ambitious and fascinating: A U.S.-French research team led by biologists from the University of California, Berkeley, is setting out to take a genetic inventory of an entire island’s ecosystem — every form of life that’s larger than a microbe.

“This is the first effort to catalog and barcode an entire tropical ecosystem, from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the mountains,” said George Roderick, UC Berkeley professor of environmental science, policy and management, and one of the project’s principal investigators. “We’re constructing a library of genetic markers and physical identifiers for every species of plant, animal and fungi on the island, then making that database publicly available as a resource for ecologists and evolutionary biologists around the world.”

The island in question is Moorea, a 51-square-mile island that includes coral reefs, tropical forests and mountains. Researchers believe the island is small enough for them to realistically genetically catalog and bar-code while complex enough that their model will eventually apply to larger ecosystems around the world.

Moorea is home to at least 5,000 different species of animals, plants and fungi, although Chris Meyer, a research zoologist at the Smithsonian Institute, said, “I’d be disappointed if we don’t hit at least 10,000 species.”

Project investigators say they believe the three-year project, funded by a $5.2 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, could eventually shed light on the larger environmental issues we’re facing worldwide. An in-depth inventory of Moorea’s coral reefs could provide more information on the impacts of climate change, they say, while data on invasive species could offer insights into the effects of globalization. The Moorea catalog of life could also help locals better understand their own impacts on the environment from overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction and other activities.

“Virtually all the ecosystems in the world are under these same stresses, and how they are responding to them is what we need to understand,” Neil Davies, the project’s lead principal investigator and executive director of the Gump Station, one of the National Science Foundation’ long-term ecological research sites. “Like the Human Genome Project, however, this unprecedented accomplishment is, in some ways, merely a necessary first step. Its goal is to accelerate progress on the larger questions: how to maintain a healthy ecosystem and what to do when things go wrong.”

What knowledge might we eventually gain from the Moorea project? I’m guessing the more the research team learns, the more we’ll discover how much there is we still don’t know about how our complex planet operates.

Gerd, and Greenpeace International, are based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Green Options: While Greenpeace is no longer viewed as the radical environmental group by US citizens (that honor is now reserved for ALF and ELF), it’s still often considered extreme by many Americans, particularly the on the right. How do you respond to these kinds of labels? How would you characterize Greenpeace to someone concerned about the same issues as the organization (the environment, nuclear energy and weapons, world peace), but who also might be put off by the perception of GP as "radical?"

Gerd Leipold: The most extremist environmental groups in the US are the government of George W. Bush and some big corporations like Exxon Mobil, who still refuse to fully acknowledge the clear evidence of climate change and prevent the necessary action.

I think that an objective observer would come to the conclusion that what we now know about the state of the environment vindicates 35 years of campaigning by Greenpeace. While we had strong and stark messages, one certainly can say now that we were more foresighted and more realistic than those who termed us extremist.

GO: I spent some time on the Greenpeace international web site today, and while I saw plenty of examples of the kinds of direct activism most commonly associated with Greenpeace (disrupting nuclear weapons testing, whaling, etc.), I also saw a number of consumer awareness and educational efforts (tips for green living, 7 Steps Towards an Energy Saving (R)Evolution). Is that a relatively new area for GP? Does this show an embrace of more evolutionary tactics vs. revolutionary? Does the web itself affect Greenpeace’s campaign style at all?

GL: Raising awareness and stopping environmental abuse through our peaceful actions remains at the heart of Greenpeace. But we also believe that we need millions of people to become Greenpeace activists in their way and with their possibilities. Only if many people become active and live differently do we stand a chance to overcome the environmental crisis.

The web has affected our campaigning style, because it allows a faster, deeper and more responsive relationship with supporters and members of the public. The web is a powerful tool of communication and organization, and it allows global action. It also allows campaigning without having a physical office infrastructure in a country, and therefore increases the global reach of Greenpeace.

GO: Can you give us any insight into upcoming Greenpeace campaigns? What should we be looking for?

GL: Our highest priority is climate, and we are putting special emphasis on creating awareness about the reality of climate change in India and China. Over the next few months we want to influence the crucial negotiations for the next phase of the Kyoto agreement: the positive countries need to be encouraged to agree to bold targets, and any attempts by the United States to derail the process needs to be counteracted.

One of the quickest ways to reduce climate change impacts is to protect ancient forests. If we manage to keep old forest standing, then we have achieved a massive reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, we have protected many endangered animals and plants and some of the most beautiful and important ecosystems. And we can only do it if we also protect the future of the people who live in and of the forests. Therefore, rainforest protection in the Amazon, in Indonesia and the Congo is big task for us.

We have also a big campaign to stop the whaling operations of Japan in the Southern Oceans. Our whaling campaign is part of our oceans work, where we draw attention to the perilous state of the world’s oceans.

Thanks to Gerd for taking the time to answer my questions. For more on his perspective on climate change and related environmental challenges, watch this interview conducted at the symposium.

Photo source: papendreou.gr