Global | Bees, Flowers and Economics

Economic activity takes resources from the Earth's natural capital stock and uses the services of its ecosystems, even if they are not (yet) included in national accounting systems.

Key points

• Key points:
• There is a common long-term relationship between the growth of GDP per capita and our ecological footprint, in that an increase in GDP is accompanied by a higher consumption of natural resources, which have a certain regenerative capacity, although for the last five decades the balance seems to be negative.
• From the perspective of economic analysis, what is happening is not at all surprising: resources are being over-exploited, and many of them are public and shared, meaning that there are no defined property rights associated with them and no ability to bar those who do not pay for them from using them.
• Reversing biodiversity loss requires a Paris Agreement of sorts on this issue, with defined commitments and targets.

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