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Herewith a rambling thread about the #DasguptaReview https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/02/economics-failure-over-destruction-of-nature-presents-extreme-risks
It's welcomed by quite a few, but there are critical voices too. Miles King highlights a phrase that is a warning light for some: "the class of assets we call nature" https://twitter.com/milesking10/status/1356519877775929344
The Review plays into the hands of a frame in which moral obligations are replaced commercial relationships, argues George Monbiot. "[It] corrupts and degrades our intrinsic values and empties public life of moral argument" https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/1356507263515697154
For James Murray, it is "a big day for mainstream economics and its continuing inability to recognise that it is, and always has been, massively broken" https://twitter.com/james_bg/status/1356531150869651457
I think these critiques should be taken taking seriously. I also think it may be helpful to look at what has 'worked' with some wicked problems in the past, or has at least helped to start things moving things in a better direction
A recognition of market value played a role in the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Slave owners were paid off by the taxpayer, while former slaves had to work for free. This is morally odious in the extreme, but it 'worked' https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/12/treasury-tweet-slavery-compensate-slave-owners
The challenge today is quite different, and the solution, if there is one, probably will be too. But consider the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, which framed climate change as market failure https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4026587/dasgupta-review-governments-embed-nature-economic-decision-risk-disaster
One of the things that flowed from the Stern Review was the Climate Change Act of 2008, which became the first step towards the current goal of [net] zero by 2050 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Change_Act_2008
Some good news, it seems, may be that the investment needed to meet this more ambitious (though perhaps still inadequate) goal may be less than one percent of GDP, which is significantly less than the Stern Review predicted https://www.theccc.org.uk/2020/12/09/building-back-better-raising-the-uks-climate-ambitions-for-2035-will-put-net-zero-within-reach-and-change-the-uk-for-the-better/
This framing helps enable actors such as the insurance giant Aviva, with £355bn under management, which says it will ditch stakes in 30 of the world’s largest oil, gas, mining and utilities companies unless they do more to tackle climate change. https://www.ft.com/content/596e8402-2dcb-45f9-915c-c5ecfabc7c7a
The actions of one insurance company, however large, do not necessarily point to system change, but they can be part of something that does. A net zero target can be a crank on a ratchet to somewhere more ambitious
Turning to the matter of intrinsic rather than market value for nature, Daniel Gay notes that the Dasgupta Review includes a recognition that nature is more mere than an economic good. Its Chapter 25 is titled: "Nature’s Intrinsic Worth: Sacredness". https://twitter.com/dangay/status/1356528649831342080
This speaks to an argument made by some advocates of the 'natural capital' approach. Gretchen Daily, for example, has argued that it can be a step towards deeper transformation. "Over the long term, I hope very much that there’s a deeper cultural shift" https://twitter.com/casparhenderson/status/1271417037613645827
In this framing, it is a better-than-nothing tool in a very imperfect world. It can help build momentum and gain allies for action one already 'knows' to be right https://twitter.com/casparhenderson/status/1351901062123368449
A critique of today’s presentation https://twitter.com/kateraworth/status/1356623318040870913
Guy Shrubsole: “yes, be wary of economists trying to financialise nature. But the #DasguptaReview also provides strong arguments...for putting large parts of nature off-limits to the market, via Protected Areas - and critiquing Govt's failures to do so properly yet” https://twitter.com/guyshrubsole/status/1356548405712080896
On protecting what is beyond price, reminded that Alexis Wright quotes Graham Swift’s novel Waterland: “There’s this thing called progress. But it doesn’t progress, it doesn’t go anywhere…. It’s progress if you can stop the world slipping away.” https://twitter.com/casparhenderson/status/1356252538568400896
Wright concludes with a reference to all life as being of equal value https://emergencemagazine.org/story/the-inward-migration-in-apocalyptic-times/
(And yes, I am aware that there is evidence of mass extinction of megafauna soon after humans first arrived in Australia tens of thousands of years ago, and in North America. The descendants of these first peoples have learned a lot since then.)
