In this blog, World Bank Senior Environmental Specialist Anupam Joshi describes how the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the southern Indian State of Kerala is a turnaround success story where the World Bank’s India Ecodevelopment Project significantly increased income opportunities for the locals, improved reserve management and encouraged community participation in co-managing the reserve.
From around the web
Mixing the Perfect Natural Capital Cocktail
July 24, 2014
This Huffington Post blog posting by Jonathan Hughes, CEO of the Scottish Wildlife Trust and co-founder of the World Forum on Natural Capital, highlights six “ingredients” to mainstream and accelerate natural capital accounting by businesses and governments around the world: Clear and consistent messages on the importance of natural capital from civil society organizations; A common framework for corporate natural capital accounting; Ensure academic research drives action; National legislatio
Our Bees Ourselves - Bees and Colony Collapse
July 14, 2014
In this New York Times Op-Ed, Mark Winston, a biologist and the director of the Center for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University and the author of the forthcoming book “Bee Time: Lessons From the Hive,” discusses the dying off of honeybee colonies around the world.
Report Says investment in Fisheries Could be an Effective Way of Saving the World's Oceans
July 09, 2014
The world's oceans could be saved if they were turned into attractive investment opportunities, according to a new report by the Prince of Wales' International Sustainability Unit (ISU) and the US Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in collaboration with 50 in10, a cros
Natural Capital Helps Businesses Put Environmental Metrics into Context
July 08, 2014
Ecosystems services, green infrastructure and natural capital are moving from theory to practice according to this article from The Guardian's Finance Hub.
Natural Capital Coalition Selects Two Global Consortia To Develop The Natural Capital Protocol
July 08, 2014
The Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) has selected two consortia to develop what will be known as the Natural Capital Protocol. They are the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Risk of Putting a Price on Nature
July 07, 2014
Putting a price on the ecosystem would help conserve biodiversity, but this approach also spells danger for those resources, writes Lorenzo Fioramonti in IOL, an independent South African newspaper.
How To Price a Forest, and Other Economics Problems
July 03, 2014
Cambridge economist Sir Partha Dasgupta has long argued for a broader measure of a country’s wealth than gross domestic product, and has worked on some of the most difficult challenges involved: How do you assign a dollar value to a forest? To human capital? How do humans understand long-term planning, and the effects of their actions on fellow citizens?
Can Natural Capital Accounting Come of Age in Africa?
June 25, 2014
In early June, a University of Pretoria conference at the Governance Innovation Centre, keynoted by Indian eco-feminist Vandana Shiva, contemplated how to go 'beyond GDP'. The current system of economic bean-counting is terribly inappropriate for a continent 'rising' in rhetoric but, in reality, being looted at a breakneck pace.
Progress Measures must Include Nature — Think Beyond GDP
June 20, 2014
As India debates environmental health versus economic growth, Rachel Kyte, vice-president and special envoy for climate change at the World Bank Group, feels it is vital to think beyond basic GDP.