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Taking responsibility
In economic terms, the poorer you are the more important
natural wealth is for your livelihood. In the UK, the food
sector alone is responsible for about 6% of GDP—a hefty
component of the economy—but in poorer countries,
ecosystem services can be even more important. Natural
capital accounts for around 90% of GDP for the 20
million poorest people in Brazil and 47% of GDP for
350 million small-scale farmers in India. For example,
subsistence farmers depend closely on the condition
of the land they farm.
At WWT, we see some of this first
hand through our work in some of
the most natural-capital dependent
countries in the world. Unsustainable
agriculture in Madagascar has
destroyed or degraded almost every
wetland. In the last 15 years more
than 50% of Cambodia’s wetlands
have been lost. These losses have
exacerbated the poverty of thousands
of people whose livelihoods depend
on the land and clean waters.
This means that every pound
spent on restoring nature in poorer
countries can deliver even more
value. Our work on Madagascar
Pochard in Madagascar and Sarus
cranes in Cambodia also helps
thousands of people who are most
reliant on nature. By restoring
the wetlands and working with
the local communities on natural
resource management, we are
also enhancing the livelihoods of
wetland-dependent people.
As well as an ecological responsibility
to act, we also have a moral
responsibility. The intensification
of land use around the world is
largely driven by consumption in
developed countries, including the
UK. For example, the water used to
produce food and goods we import
is worsening water shortages in the
developing world. Most of our tap
water comes from UK sources, but
most of the water used to create the
goods we use (“embedded water”)
comes from abroad.
Our economy and wellbeing also
depend on natural assets around the
world. In a global economy, British
companies’ supply chains are at
risk from impacts on natural capital
overseas and England’s potential
future wellbeing is eroded with
the loss of global natural capital.
Think of the oil we import from
the Middle East, the rare earth
elements that fill our phones, the
foods we enjoy all year round—all
of this consumption depends on
the environment in other countries.
Even as we start to clean up the
environment in England, we are
exporting our exploitation of nature
abroad. This is unsustainable in the
long-term and inequitable in the
short-term.