*Global CA-CoP* *CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE*

*for sustainable agriculture and land management*

Dear Subscribers,

Please see herebelow a self-explanatory message from David Duthie of
Bioplan regarding the* Dasgupta Review - Economics of Biodiversity (Interim
Report) *commissioned by Her Majesties Treasury of the UK Government and they
invite and encourage feedback on the interim report.

Apologies for any cross-posting.

*Amir Kassam *

*Moderator*

*Global CA-CoP*

e-mail: [log in to unmask]

URL: http://www.fao.org/conservation-agriculture


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: David Duthie <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 1 May 2020 at 21:13
Subject: Dasgupta Review - Economics of Biodiversity (Interim Report)
To: bioplan <[log in to unmask]>


Dear BIOPLANNERS,

This week the Interim Report of the Dasgupta Review on the Economics of
Biodiversity
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fcollections%2Fthe-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875909709&sdata=IxfrAG1svgEVsWobYk79AqgallkwnPCk7Yy2OfKggKU%3D&reserved=0>
was released for comment and can be downloaded here
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Finterim-report-the-dasgupta-review-independent-review-on-the-economics-of-biodiversity&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875919662&sdata=SZgCkuVXawB6Tdy9H3Wvbn9FQC2H6gs2sjJz%2Bl4SujA%3D&reserved=0>.
The report is 81 pages, but the “guts” of the report comprise Chapter 2,
just 35 pages.



The review has been commissioned by Her Majesties Treasury of the UK
Government and they invite and encourage feedback on the interim report.
Please submit any written feedback to [log in to unmask] by
1 June 2020.

Professor Dasgupta will deliver a virtual public lecture. The hour-long
session – which will be chaired by Minouche Shafik, the Director of the
London School of Economics – will give participants a chance to hear
Professor Dasgupta speak about the key economic and scientific concepts
underpinning the Review. Participants will also have the opportunity to ask
questions. The lecture  will take place on Thursday 7 May at 1.00 p.m.
British Summer Time (GMT+1). You can find more information about the
lecture here
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lse.ac.uk%2FEvents%2F2020%2F05%2F202005071300%2Fbiodiversity&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875919662&sdata=bQGxAtKkf0q9Utux6ynF3s%2F609DdqW5RVNNSBRy%2F1c0%3D&reserved=0>
and
register for it here
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flse.zoom.us%2Fwebinar%2Fregister%2FWN_K971Fa8GTIaKgqU5-zTwZw&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875929621&sdata=ZdFGeGMEEJ518DFvZwBAuH%2ByF2DkXQCtFSzq4WP9aDc%3D&reserved=0>
.

Anyone interested is invited to take part in one of two open briefing
webinars, hosted by the Review team. This will be an opportunity to hear
about the interim report, ask questions, and provide feedback. The webinars
will be held on Tuesday 12 May between 11.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. and
Wednesday 20 May between 4.00 and 5.00 p.m British Summer Time (GMT+1).
Follow these links to register your interest: 12 May
<[log in to unmask],%2011.00%20a.m.%20to%2012.00%20p.m.%20BST>
 and 20 May
<[log in to unmask],%204.00%20to%205.00%20p.m.%20BST>
2020.

I have to admit, I was a little bit disappointed by the interim report,
which deliberately omits the policy recommendations which will be in the
final report to be released later in the year before CBD CoP15 (now on
hold) but then I realised that the approach the Review is taking, including
the main economic and scientific concepts that underpin the work means that
the mainstream economists inside HM Treasury are now thinking like Herman
Daly and Kenneth Boulding – finally!

In a nutshell, the report recognised that the global economy is within, and
dependent on, the biosphere, that we are depleting natural capital at
unsustainable rates, that until we deplete (use/pollute) natural capital at
less than it’s natural rates of regeneration (reproduction) the level at
which we achieve sustainable use will be that much lower (think taps and
drains and bathwater level).  I look forward to seeing the policy
recommendations that emerge from this approach!

In the absence of those conclusions, perhaps it is useful to link to a
couple of other “reports” that do make policy recommendations.

First, an article that does consider biodiversity conservation beyond
economic growth……

Otero, Iago et al.‘*Biodiversity Policy Beyond Economic Growth’*,
Conservation Letters, 18 (2020), e12713
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/conl.12713
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1111%2Fconl.12713&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875929621&sdata=Xi3PmKQBOp5YlZyiCQCnJ0gAXDjJojzSoOP4rI0GHPY%3D&reserved=0>
(open access)



*Increasing evidence—synthesized in this paper—shows that economic growth
contributes to biodiversity loss via greater resource consumption and
higher emissions. Nonetheless, a review of international biodiversity and
sustainability policies shows that the majority advocate economic growth.
Since improvements in resource use efficiency have so far not allowed for
absolute global reductions in resource use and pollution, we question the
support for economic growth in these policies, where inadequate attention
is paid to the question of how growth can be decoupled from biodiversity
loss. Drawing on the literature about alternatives to economic growth, we
explore this contradiction and suggest ways forward to halt global
biodiversity decline. These include policy proposals to move beyond the
growth paradigm while enhancing over- all prosperity, which can be
implemented by combining top-down and bottom-up governance across scales.
Finally, we call the attention of researchers and policy makers to two
immediate steps: acknowledge the conflict between economic growth and
biodiversity conservation in future policies; and explore socioeconomic
trajectories beyond economic growth in the next generation of biodiversity
scenarios. *



Well worth reading in full!



Finally, George Monbiont pulls no punches in his call for us to take
advantage of the economic carnage that the coronavirus crisis has presented
– see below my signature.



Wherever you are, please stay safe and sane.



Best wishes



David Duthie



****************

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****************

*Bail Out the Planet*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.monbiot.com%2F2020%2F05%2F01%2Fbail-out-the-planet%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875929621&sdata=Sr0uqubT1JQXCb%2B%2BZ22nNtHtLWLKZ2gvc%2BI4CuIgcqo%3D&reserved=0>

Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:34 PM PDT

*We have the opportunity to reshape our economies to support life on Earth.
Governments should take it. *

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 29th April 2020

Do Not Resuscitate. This tag should be attached to the oil, airline and car
companies. Governments should provide financial support to their workers
while refashioning the economy to provide new jobs in different sectors.
They should prop up only those sectors that will help secure the survival
of humanity and the rest of the living world. They should either buy up the
dirty industries and turn them towards clean technologies, or do what they
often call for but never really want: let the market decide. In other
words, allow these companies to fail.

This is our second great chance to do things differently. It could be our
last. The first, in 2008, was spectacularly squandered. Vast amounts of
public money were spent reassembling the filthy old economy, while ensuring
that wealth remained in the hands of the rich. Today, many governments
appear determined to repeat their catastrophic mistake.

The “free market” has always been a product of government policy. If
anti-trust laws are weak, a few behemoths survive, while everyone else goes
down. If dirty industries are tightly regulated, clean ones flourish. If
not, the corner-cutters win. But the dependency of enterprises on public
policy has seldom been greater in capitalist nations. Many major industries
are now entirely beholden to the state for their survival. Governments have
the oil industry over a barrel – hundreds of millions of barrels of *unsaleable
product*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fearther.gizmodo.com%2Foil-companies-are-spending-a-fortune-to-store-unused-cr-1842962500&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875939578&sdata=Zhf4hApHRt4oFkcUogVzqC%2Fxhh5EeQ1l%2FECQosW9nDY%3D&reserved=0>
 to be more precise – just as they had the banks over a barrel in 2008.
Then they failed to use their power to eradicate the sector’s socially
destructive practices and rebuild it around human needs. They are making
the same mistake today.

The Bank of England has decided to buy debt *from oil companies*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2020%2Fapr%2F16%2Fbank-of-england-failing-climate-with-covid-19-stimulus-programme-oil-firms-debt-bond-governor&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875939578&sdata=WGFqpfCBMMZSrElQzDRgHNbTuFHKMUUmX%2BM7v2GC1l0%3D&reserved=0>
 such as BP, Shell and Total. The government has given *easyJet a £600m
loan*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2020%2Fapr%2F06%2Feasyjet-secures-600m-coronavirus-loan-from-uk-treasury-and-bank&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875949533&sdata=mgnVRpzIYJTNbowgjTZxY%2BePwrkA14nGNzZEIpI8A5c%3D&reserved=0>,
even though, just a few weeks ago, the company frittered away £171m in
dividends: profit is privatised, risk is socialised. In the US, the first
bailout includes *$25 billion for airlines*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2020%2Fapr%2F14%2Fus-government-coronavirus-bailout-airlines-industry&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875949533&sdata=aj2ofcJlaBvqibponld%2FriVETII1XKrr6s3dl0yG8gM%3D&reserved=0>.
The government is sucking as much oil as possible into strategic petroleum
reserves and *sweeping away pollution laws*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F03%2F26%2Fclimate%2Fepa-coronavirus-pollution-rules.html&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875949533&sdata=1XzQIlTLT2IznEhS801WtAtCq1t9xclj2q95KIZUtOU%3D&reserved=0>,
while freezing out renewable energy. Several European countries are *seeking
to rescue*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2020%2Fapr%2F17%2Fpolluter-bailouts-and-lobbying-during-covid-19-pandemic&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875959489&sdata=1B%2F1UyUEjnY3E68A0JCZzMx%2Bpn5wVURKAlcccDoIX7M%3D&reserved=0>
 their airlines and car manufacturers.

Don’t believe them when they tell you that they do this on our behalf.
A *recent
survey*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ipsos.com%2Fipsos-mori%2Fen-uk%2Ftwo-thirds-britons-believe-climate-change-serious-coronavirus-and-majority-want-climate-prioritised&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875959489&sdata=leXchqoxQAi50rq8MNoliw%2FLIGOBEUhW87nBfnqwGg8%3D&reserved=0>
 by Ipsos of 14 countries suggests that, on average, 65% of people want a
green recovery. Everywhere, electorates must struggle to persuade
governments to act in the interests of the people, rather than in the
interests of the corporations and billionaires who fund and lobby them. The
perennial democratic challenge is to break the bonds between politicians
and the economic sectors they should be regulating, or, in this case,
closing down.

Even when legislators seeks to represent these concerns, their efforts are
often feeble and naive. The *recent letter*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.libdemvoice.org%2Flib-dems-lead-crossparty-call-for-urgent-support-for-airlines-in-return-for-climate-action-64283.html&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875969445&sdata=PG8V9nxoBSuroMvmhqt7RCAi5uiUHWr2zTQ01MHGNz0%3D&reserved=0>
 to the government from a cross-party group of MPs calling for airlines to
receive a bailout only if they “do more to tackle the climate crisis” could
have been written in 1990. Air travel is inherently polluting. There are no
realistic measures that could, even in the medium term, make a major
difference. We now know that the offsetting the MPs call for is useless –
every economic sector needs to maximise cuts in greenhouse gases. Shifting
this responsibility from one sector to another solves nothing. The only
meaningful reform is fewer flights. Anything that impedes the contraction
of the aviation industry impedes the reduction of its impacts.

The pandemic gives us a glimpse of how much we need to do to pull out of
our disastrous trajectory. The vast changes we have made in our lives are
likely to cut global carbon dioxide emissions by *only about 5.5%*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.carbonbrief.org%2Fanalysis-coronavirus-set-to-cause-largest-ever-annual-fall-in-co2-emissions&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875969445&sdata=jpc6mXDhxzPzgH6d429nl0vhZRaY5mzAtkUbEIKxipY%3D&reserved=0>
 this year. A UN report *shows that*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Funfccc.int%2Fnews%2Fcut-global-emissions-by-76-percent-every-year-for-next-decade-to-meet-15degc-paris-target-un-report&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875969445&sdata=CFvq%2FxYErAf3g3T4l7fuYl1IYONBGx%2FGKWxOIfAAPOM%3D&reserved=0>
 to stand a reasonable chance of avoiding 1.5° or more of global heating,
we need to cut emissions by 7.6% per year for the next decade. In other
words, the lockdown exposes the limits of individual action. Travelling
less helps, but not enough. To make the necessary cuts, we need structural
change. This means an entirely new industrial policy, created and guided by
government.

Governments like the UK’s should drop their *roadbuilding plans*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2020%2Fapr%2F21%2Fcampaigners-take-legal-action-over-27bn-uk-road-building-scheme&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875979400&sdata=mPNfeOG0ei5Afcp9gZJJiaxBrx4MmXQrUOiRJr9lMEw%3D&reserved=0>.
Instead of expanding airports, they should publish plans for reducing
landing slots. They should commit to an explicit policy of leaving fossil
fuels in the ground.

During the pandemic, many of us have begun to discover how much of our
travel is unnecessary. Governments can build on this to create plans for
reducing the need to move, while investing in walking, cycling and – when
physical distancing is less necessary – public transport. This means wider
pavements, better bike lanes, buses run for service, not profit. They
should invest heavily in green energy, and even more heavily in reducing
energy demand, through, for example, home insulation and better heating and
lighting. The pandemic exposes the need for *better neighbourhood design*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fcoronavirus-were-in-a-real-time-laboratory-of-a-more-sustainable-urban-future-135712&data=02%7C01%7Cbioplan%40groups.undp.org%7Cc1e20dc9dd6d4613d75808d7edfec972%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637239550875979400&sdata=gTZWlm3lwitFOwkO%2F53oeghVOJBOok81PB7gQtOiPOA%3D&reserved=0>,
with less public space given to cars and more to people. It also shows how
badly we need the kind of security that a lightly taxed, deregulated
economy cannot deliver.

In other words, let’s have what many people were calling for long before
this disaster hit: a green new deal. But please let’s stop describing it as
a stimulus package. We have stimulated consumption too much over the past
century, which is why we face environmental disaster. Let us call it a
survival package, whose purpose is to provide incomes, distribute wealth
and avoid catastrophe, without stoking perpetual economic growth. Bail out
the people, not the corporations. Bail out the living world, not its
destroyers. Let’s not waste our second chance.

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