World Bank calls on countries to take urgent steps to protect 'natural capital'

[kristopher]

34. That's more of a rant than an alternative...

Starting with the tragedy of commons as our reference, we know we have a problem to solve. How does that problem get solved. It is real, it is immediate and it is not going to wait for a revolution to occur. We either work to solve it within the system that exists or we accept the continued decline of global ecosystems while we dreaming of "what could be if only".

The proposal in the OP is an excellent step that brings currently unrepresented ecological stakeholders to the table when decisions are being made about what is "valuable".

Let's take an immediate example and show how this can work where the rubber hits the road. We want a carbon tax to discourage the use of fossil fuels, correct? *One* of the tools used to promote the carbon tax is monetized assessments of environmental costs. How far do you think we could get if we didn't make some attempt to put values on ecological systems like wetlands, mangrove swamps and coral reefs when we discuss potential losses. Without that, we are left with appeals to emotions that will simply be ignored. You can want it to be different, but that is and always has been the nature of humanity.

You don't have to like the way the financial institutions are run to understand the need to improve the existing system.