Putting a price on natural ‘goods and services’

ONLINE MEDIA BRIEFING: Wed 6 July 10.30 AM

Soil, water, energy, air, wildlife and minerals — they underpin our economy, but go largely unrecognised when it comes to tallying up the balance sheet.

Recent steps by policy-makers in the UK and locally are making concrete efforts to move away from a purely economic valuation of national worth. Frameworks recognising the intangible values associated with social well-being and natural resources are being proposed and debated in countries around the world, including New Zealand.

An important element of this shift is a growing recognition of essential functions, like air and water purification, pollination, pest and disease control, performed by the natural systems that underpin our economies. These ‘ecosystem services‘ can be difficult to put a price tag on, but economists are increasingly finding ways to incorporate them into the bottom line.

The Science Media Centre hosted an online briefing to launch the latest in the Emerging Issues series from the RSNZ:  “Ecosystem services”

Copies of the paper are available from the Royal Society website.

PANELISTS:

Steve Wratten – Professor of Ecology at Lincoln University, Bio-Protection Research Centre

Brent Clothier – Science Group Leader – Systems Modelling, Plant & Food Research

Bill Kaye-Blake – Principal Economist, NZ Institute of Economic Research (NZIER)

LISTEN TO AUDIO FROM THE BRIEFING:

Registered journalists can download speakers’ slides from the SMC Resource Library.