IEMA Interview: ‘Sir Partha Dasgupta on finding a natural remedy to the destruction of nature. Sir Partha Dasgupta, author of the landmark Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity, tells Chris Seekings why a new approach is needed to halt and reverse humanity’s destruction of nature
Last year, the Dasgupta Review, a landmark review into the economics of biodiversity, concluded: “To detach nature from economic reasoning is to imply that we consider ourselves to be external to nature. The fault is not in economics; it lies in the way we have chosen to practise it.”
Authored by Sir Partha Dasgupta, the hard-hitting document provides a damning assessment of how traditional economic models have failed to accurately value the goods and services provided by nature, and argues that humanity has collectively “mismanaged its global portfolio of assets” – with dire implications for the environment. It has been compared with the influential 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, but also attracted its fair share of controversy, with critics claiming that it ignores fundamental problems with capitalism and allows for the pursuit of endless growth.
As one of the most eminent economists of the 20th and 21st centuries, Dasgupta is not afraid to confront these critics, forthright in his assertion that a new approach to economics is required to tackle the biodiversity crisis facing the world today.’
No Comment