Shri Narendra Modi said there is a need to consider tigers as India's “natural capital” and to define conservation as a means to achieve development, rather than considering it to be anti-growth.

When nature is well managed, many sectors of the economy thrive – agriculture benefits from good soil and plentiful water; fisheries are rewarded with valuable catches; coastal cities are better protected from storms.

A single rhinoceros horn can bring $300,000 on the black market, but determining the full value of a rhino is more difficult. In some countries, where preserving animals and habitats are keys to tourism, losing these things imposes a steep economic cost.